If you want to enjoy the earliest spring-flowering bulbs in your garden, the time to plant them is autumn.

Keys to the contemporary garden are the concepts of simplicity and balance.

Butterflies and bees add that little extra touch to our enjoyment of life in the garden. And butterflies and bees also tell us something interesting about the place where they are found. If you see a butterfly fluttering around in your garden, this is a good sign that your garden is doing its part in the balance of nature. And that’s nice to know! Bulb flowers are wonderful for attracting these beneficial insects.

Gardening teaches children useful skills and it’s good for their personal development. Besides that, it gives them a chance to do things outdoors and get their hands in the earth. They see the natural world changing with the seasons and can experience the joy of seeing the results of their own work. Planting bulbs is a little gardening job that’s both fun and easy!

What could be nicer than a surprise gift? Give yourself a nice little gift for later: while getting your garden or terrace ready for winter, plant some beautiful flower bulbs. By planting bulbs in September, their wonderful flowers in a wide range of colours will give you a delightful surprise next spring. By that time, you probably will have forgotten you planted them. That doesn’t matter, though, because you’ll only truly be surprised unless you suddenly think, ‘Oh, of course! Those were the ones I planted back then. And now I’m enjoying that gift to myself.’

It might sound a bit odd, but the Italian recipe for lasagne actually has something in common with flower bulbs. That’s because, just like lasagne, you can plant flower bulbs in layers. When you plant your bulbs layer by layer in the autumn, you will be rewarded early in the spring – and for long thereafter – by a succession of beautiful flowers. Your garden or patio will then be the place to enjoy the first until the last of your ‘lasagne flowers’ in bloom.

Grape hyacinths are one of the very first flower bulbs to provide us with spring colour.This is much appreciated because they give the garden its first signs of life after a cold grey winter. Every little grape hyacinth that peeks above the ground seems to be saying “Enough of all that gloominess – I’m back again to cheer things up!”Once they are all in bloom, they turn your garden into a happy little celebration of spring.

What if you don’t have a garden but you’d absolutely love to experience the natural world at work? Well, you can! If you have a balcony or patio, you can watch what happens to flower bulbs from the moment you plant them in September to when they produce flowers in the spring.

Would you like to enjoy the first flowers to bloom in spring but not have to plant them out every year?It might seem odd to have all the benefits of something without all the work, but in this case, you can!This is because you only have to plant botanical tulips once. After that, their pretty shapes and colours will brighten up your garden year after year.

In addition to tulips, daffodils and hyacinths, you can also plant special Dutch flower bulbs. These flower bulbs are not as well-known, but this is exactly what makes them so special. The special spring-flowering bulbs are available in various colours, sizes and flowering periods. If you want a special garden, use these flower bulbs and let your imagination run free! Here is some information from Bulb.com about eight special kinds.