Flower bulbs for a contemporary garden

If you want a sleek, elegant, uncluttered garden featuring the latest colors and shapes, the obvious choice would be a contemporary garden. A contemporary garden design often limits the number of colors to no more than three. This flower bulb recipe will give you this kind of look. It uses white, yellow and blue as the three colors, but you might want to use pink, lilac and very deep purple – or, if you’re bolder – go for pink, deep red and orange. Contrasting two closely related colors (like blue and purple) with a really vivid color (like bright orange) will give the most beautiful effect.

Ingredients:

20 daffodil (Narcissus) ‘Goblet’
30 tulip (Tulipa) ‘White Dream’
40 hyacint (Hyacinthus) ‘White Festival’
40 grape hyacint (Muscari) aucheri ‘Mont Blanc’ (purple grape hyacinths with a white top)

Preparation method:

This recipe is suitable for a border measuring a little more than 6 square yards. Mix the varieties of bulbs and distribute them evenly over the surface. Then plant them at a depth of around 5 inches. The best planting time for flower bulbs is from September through December.

Flower bulbs for a traditional garden

A traditional spring garden is all about flower bulbs and spring-flowering plants such as forget-me-nots. Using both of these kinds of plants will result in absolutely wonderful creations. Several kinds of flower bulbs are even suitable for ‘perenniallizing’: ornamental onions (Allium) and grape hyacinths (Muscari) will return year after year if planted in a sunny place.

Ingredients:

20 ornamental onion (Allium) atropurpureum
30 nodding star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum) ‘White Star’
60 hyacint (Hyacinthus) ‘Aiolos’
30 white forget-me-nots

Preparation method:

This recipe is suitable for a border measuring a little more than 6 square yards. The time to plant can be anywhere from September through December. Divide the ornamental onion (Allium) and Nodding star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum bulbs into groups of three to five bulbs and plant them per variety in the border. In the empty spaces between these clusters, scatter the hyacinth bulbs. Next spring, carefully plant the forget-me-nots between the emerging flower bulbs. Provide some fertilizer as soon as the shoots produced by the bulbs emerge.

Flower bulbs for a charming garden

If you want a garden overflowing with plants, the perfect choice would be a charming garden. The natural use of vegetation in this kind of garden often produces intriguing shady spots. It might seem strange, but certain flower bulbs deliver wonderful results in shady places such as beneath trees. And so will the following recipe.

Ingredients:

30 hyacint (Hyacinthus) ‘Prince Jewel’
30 tulip (Tulipa) ‘Hollywood’
30 tulip (Tulipa) ‘Montreux’

Preparation method:

This recipe is intended for a border measuring a little more than 6 square yards. Mix all the tulip bulbs in a large container or wheelbarrow. Then scatter them among the perennials and plant them where they have landed to produce a charming, nonchalant look. The best time to plant flower bulbs is from September through December.