Pocket-Sized Miracles: Spring Bulbs for Every Garden
Discover the wonder of spring bulbs — from snowdrops to tulips and everything in between. These small wonders bring early colour, cheer and life to every corner of the garden.
There’s something truly magical about flowering bulbs. Take a handful of these dry, inanimate, lifeless little things, throw them in the ground, wait a few weeks and, like the mythical beanstalk, they burst into life with a bounty of beautiful blooms. Marvellous!
Flowering bulbs are more popular than ever, and with good reason. The range available to us humble home gardeners has increased dramatically. Alongside the species, there are now a staggering number of cultivated varieties in a bewildering array of forms and colours. Did you know there are over 3,000 tulip cultivars alone?
Anyone else feel like we’re drowning in choice?
Winter and spring bulbs light up borders and pots, bringing early cheer as we slowly emerge from the cold, dark depths of winter. Even though they’re tiny, those first snowdrops, cyclamen, aconites and crocuses are worth more than their weight in gold. They are loved by gardeners desperate for colour outside rain-streaked windows, and loved even more by emerging bees, drowsy and famished after hibernation.
The miracle of bulbs
So what are these incredible little things? Let’s take a closer look. Strictly speaking, a “bulb” is an umbrella term for a range of underground food storage organs. They are not seeds. A seed is an embryo wrapped in a seed coat, whereas a bulb is a dense layered structure containing an immature plant, complete with flower bud, leaves and stem. Everything the adult plant needs is already tucked inside. The unassuming bulb really is amazing.
Bulbs come in all shapes and sizes, from the hefty Crown Imperial fritillary (about the size of an orange) to alliums, tulips and daffodils, right down to the bean-sized muscari, crocuses, snowdrops and aconites.
There are “true bulbs” such as alliums, daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and snowdrops. Then there are corms (crocuses, gladioli), tubers (cyclamen, wood anemones), tuberous roots (dahlias, ranunculus) and rhizomes (bearded iris being the most recognisable).
On the whole, spring-flowering bulbs are easy to grow. You buy them in their dormant state from nurseries, garden centres or online. The process is simple. Dig a hole, pop them in soil or compost, and voilà, come spring you have flowers.
For a really striking display, consider the colour palette first, buy early and late flowering cultivars to extend the season, invest in good-quality bulbs and a free-draining compost mix. Spacing bulbs closely (finger-width apart) in pots makes a huge difference, producing a real oomph! as does planting at the right time. The nuances vary by species, but fundamentally this is simple, rewarding and almost stress-free gardening.
What to plant now?
These autumn-planted bulbs cover a long season, flowering as early as December through to late spring and on into June. These include all the classic spring bloomers: snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, tulips and alliums.
You can plant them any time in autumn, even midwinter if the ground isn’t frozen. In the northern hemisphere, October to December is ideal. Over the winter, dormant bulbs rehydrate and begin building strong root systems from the basal plate, long before shoots emerge. Those shoots are surprisingly powerful, capable of pushing through snow, frost, gravel, even lifting a misplaced plant pot. Slowly, the leaves unfurl and the flower stem rises.
We gardeners may take it for granted, but it is truly astonishing.
Buying spring bulbs
Every September or October I order my favourites, plus a few newer cultivars to trial, and plant them in phases through the autumn. I have over 50 pots to plant up, so I need to break up those planting sessions, otherwise I get rather grumpy.
I’ve never been one for fashions or fads, so I’m never tempted by early-bird discounts floating around in July and August and I truly don’t care if stocks of La Belle Époque are running low. Personally, I prefer the boring-old (but supremely elegant) single and the lily-flower forms. The fringed ones are quite fun too.
By November, garden centres and online retailers often discount stock, and by December or January many offer clearance bulbs at half price or more. Admittedly, the longer you wait, the less choice you have.
But if you are on a budget and not fussed about the latest trends, those late bargains can be very handy. Or even if you’re just greedy for more! Just be aware that these will need to be planted straight away and they will probably flower smaller as they’ve had less time to establish roots.
The bulb suppliers that I can recommend include DutchGrown, Farmer Gracy, Peter Nyssen and J Parkers (Look at J Parkers Wholesale for bulk orders). We have had the odd hiccup with Farmer Gracy, wrong varieties sent, but refunds were issued (albeit too late when you have already planted and waited weeks for “apricot tulips” that turn out bright scarlet! Oof!!).
This season most of my bulbs are from DutchGrown and J Parkers Wholesale. I’ll be creating “How to…” video content for DutchGrown. They are a small family-run business with top-size bulbs, shipping across the UK from London. Their dahlia tubers this year have been phenomenal.
Some packets advise planting from September, but late-summer heatwaves are now so common that it rarely makes sense. Besides, borders are still full of late-flowering perennials and annuals. Planting among them would be farcical.
I always wait until the frosts arrive and by then I can pull annuals and lift tender perennials like dahlias, salvias and cut down other late performers. With the borders then a little emptier, I have the space to plant without damaging the remaining plants. Some of those tender plants are lifted or potted up into plastic pots and placed undercover for winter protection. Dahlias are dried and stored in the garage.
Are bulbs perennial?
Most spring bulbs are reliably perennial, flowering year after year and slowly clumping and seeding about. Some, like snowdrops, bluebells and winter aconites, establish best “in the green” (bought in leaf just after flowering). They are pricier than dried bulbs, but more reliable. Local plant fairs in March are good hunting grounds. Once established, clumps can be lifted and divided to spread around your garden.
The exception to the perennial question is border tulips. Species tulips are perennial, but the large, showy hybrids (that we adore so much) often fade after one season. They can still be glorious, but far less dependable.
Tulips: perennial or not?
Let’s take a closer look at the tulip. Species tulips evolved in the steppes of Persia and the Himalayan foothills, where they enjoy baking summers, freezing winters, sandy stony soil and sharp drainage. That is a world away from our mild, soggy temperate gardens… and clay.
Dutch growers overcame those ecological and environmental necessities by mastering climate control (heat, cold, humidity), alongside sandy well-drained soils and irrigation. They recreated the tulip’s ideal growing conditions.
Contemporary border tulips are grown on an industrial scale, specially bred and hybridised, then carefully harvested at their peak. They are primed to survive the first winter in your garden as a fully fuelled bulb, flowering triumphantly in spring.
However, once spring has passed, the fat tulip bulb you planted in autumn has been literally emptied. All that remains are the dry scales and the emergence of a new and weaker bulb. Roots continue to power the leaves and, in turn, the leaves power the formation of the new bulb and tiny bulblets (offsets). Once the leaves yellow, all growth ceases and the bulb goes dormant.
Those poor tulip bulbs are then at the mercy of our less-than-ideal soils, not to mention the UK’s temperate, mild and soggy maritime climate, where summers are often damp (2025 being a real exception) and winters are ruled by rain and flood rather than ice and snow. The diminished parent bulb and tiny offsets throw up feeble leaves and underwhelming blooms, if any.
In a perfect world, those little offsets build and recharge over the years, eventually forming another garden-worthy bulb, and sometimes they do. If you have cold, dry winters and sandy, well-drained soil, you may well find tulips behave more like perennials because it is closer to their natural habitat.
Understandably, the lack of reliability means that many gardeners treat tulips as annuals. After that first fancy bloom, they are unceremoniously ripped out and tossed on the compost heap. Honestly, it feels like a waste, considering both the financial price and the environmental cost of buying and growing them on an industrial scale.
I fully appreciate that our gardens are all different, with varying soils, aspects, microclimates and weather patterns. I know gardeners who planted tulips decades ago that are still flowering today. There is no one rule, but for many of us tulips can be unreliable.
That said, some tulip types are more perennial than others. Darwin hybrids, Fosteriana varieties like ‘Purissima’ and Viridiflora tulips like ‘Spring Green’ tend to return better. These few simple tips can also help:
Planting bulbs extra deep in well-drained soil
Avoiding excess water, especially once the leaves yellow
Deadheading promptly to conserve energy
Feeding with liquid seaweed after flowering
Letting bulbs have a warm, dry dormancy
My very unscientific tulip trial
In 2021, after my usual over-the-top terrace display, I replanted faded tulips “in the green” into my Flower Garden borders. The following spring, most re-flowered, some just as well, others diminished.
Over the next two seasons many faded away, but a handful stayed strong: Negrita, Greenstar, Daydream, White Triumphator and Ballerina. These last three remain vigorous and still pack a punch.
Coming up…
More bulbalicious tips, techniques, and general planty chat as we dive further in… planting those spring bulbs and how to protect them from mischievous and malevolent forces. Yes, I’m looking at you, Ratty & Nutkin.
I’m so glad you stopped by today. If you enjoyed this post, a quick heart, share, or comment goes a long way to help this little garden corner keep growing.
Best wishes and happy gardening,
Elliott 🌿
Bonus: Spring bulbs worth considering...
Galanthus (Snowdrop) 🌱 🐝
Eranthis hyemali (Winter Aconite) 🌱 🐝
Crocus 🐝
Scilla
Chionodoxa (Glory of the snow)
Iris reticulata 🐝
Iris × hollandica
Narcissus (Daffodil)
Muscari (Grape Hyacinth) 🐝
Hyacinthoides (Bluebell) 🌱 🐝
Hyacinth
Tulipa spp (Tulip) ➕🐝
Fritillaria ➕ 🐝
Camassia 🐝
Allium ➕ 🐝
Convallaria majalis (Lily of the valley) 🌱
Allium siculum (Sicilian honey garlic) 🐝
🌱 Establish best when planted in the green.
➕ Wide range of cultivars with different plant heights and overall sizes.
🐝 Flowering bulbs favoured by bumblebees.