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First year gardening so I'm on a steep learning curve. I was at my local nursery today and saw that they had a whole slew of early to mid-spring flower bulbs out for sale and it got me excited for next year. However, I've never done any planting of bulbs before so I was wondering how I go about laying out a garden bed/border that will use these different blooming spring bulbs. I want to get a consistent flow of new blooms opening up as the year progresses without having to worry too much about additional bedding plants being plugged in.

Will planting snowdrops in close proximity to other later blooming bulbs cause problems or is that okay seeing that the snowdrop should be finished by the time the next bulb is getting ready to bloom or, is the idea that I use one bulb for an area then when they are done fill in with bedding plants?

Is there a website or good book I could be reading to help out with this?

Chef Flambe
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    If rabbits and/or deer are a problem in your area, you'll be planting breakfast, lunch and dinner for them if you plant non-species tulips, and basically be fighting a losing battle trying to keep them out of your garden. Plant daffodils instead of tulips in that case, because daffodils are poisonous to them and they'll leave them alone. That DOES limit your color palette, though. Species tulips are the same tulips found wild in Europe and Asia. They're smaller, more delicate, and deer/rabbit resistant, give you many more colors to choose from, and will reseed and fill in nicely. – Jurp Sep 03 '22 at 10:18
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    Definitely consider alliums, as they'll bloom later (June-July) and can give you some height and "pop" in the summer. – Jurp Sep 03 '22 at 10:19
  • Get a book...... – blacksmith37 Jan 31 '23 at 16:34

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Okay, just found some material telling me I can do lasagna planting of bulbs which is exactly what I was wanting to do. Layer the later spring bulbs deeper than the earlier spring bulbs working my way up to the crocus bulbs at 2 inch depth. Then fill in with some ground cover plants so the area doesn't look desolate.

Chef Flambe
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    Don’t forget height of flowers also. I saw a large planting of short daffodils hidden behind a low hedge. If you are happy to propagate in the future, space the bulbs a little. – Polypipe Wrangler Sep 03 '22 at 07:04
  • Bulb depth depends on plant type more than flowering time (i.e. both late and early daffodils would be the same depth.) – Ecnerwal Sep 03 '22 at 16:47
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