The arrival of cool autumn temperatures is a signal to gardeners that it’s time to prepare for the coming spring.

Bulbs have arrived at garden centres ready for planting: tulips, daffodils, crocuses and many more come pre-packaged in their small bulbs or tubers, and practically all you have to do is bury them in the ground. They already contain all the minerals and energy required to grow. Now the only thing they need is a long exposure to cold temperatures and soil moisture. Then, when the snow finally melts, they’ll be the first flowers to pop up in the spring. And you won’t want to miss that!

OH, SO EASY TO GROW

Dig, drop, done: Nothing could be simpler than planting bulbs. But if you want to do it just right, here are some of the pertinent details.

When: Bulbs can be planted right away in mid-September, otherwise, you can wait until as late as the end of October. But make sure to plant them at least one month before the ground freezes for the winter.

Where: Plant your bulbs in an area that receives six or more hours of sun. This can include a spot under deciduous trees since they’ll be leafless when the bulbs are in bloom, allowing the sun to shine through their barren branches. Bulbs prefer well-drained soil, so avoid anywhere that puddles tend to form after a heavy rainfall.

Planting: Dig a hole about three times deeper than the bulb is tall. Place bulbs with the pointed end up, spacing them at three times their diameter. You may find it helpful to sprinkle them with mycorrhizae (beneficial fungi). Mix one-third compost into the soil and use it to fill in the hole. Tamp the soil down lightly. Water well to stimulate growth, since the bulbs will start producing roots in the fall. You can also cover the planted areas with about eight centimetres of mulch for a bit of winter protection, especially in very cold areas. Once you’re done planting, no further maintenance is necessary until spring.

Pro Tip: There’s a persistent myth that you need to dig up bulbs after their leaves turn yellow and store them somewhere for the summer, then replant in the fall. The truth is, bulbs actually do better when left in the ground all summer. After all, that’s how they grow in the wild, isn’t it?

GOING SQUIRRELLY?

While squirrels are not interested in all spring bulbs, they do love tulip and crocus bulbs and often dig them up almost as soon as they are planted. To prevent these critters from getting at your bulbs, plant them deeper into the ground about 20 centimetres or more, then cover the planted area with a sheet of chicken wire, bending down the edges about 5 centimetres. (You can remove it in the spring.) Another option is to apply blood meal or chicken manure—two fertilizers whose odour helps to hide the smell of bulbs.

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

MAKING BULBS LAST

All spring-flowering bulbs are perennial and will come back and bloom for years when conditions are right. Here’s what to do to ensure the return of your spring blossoms.

1. After flowering, add an all-purpose slow-release fertilizer to the soil, according to the manufacturer’s instructions.
2. Remove spent blossoms from tulips. (This isn’t necessary for other bulbs.)
3. When the foliage turns yellow and wilts in late spring, cut the plant back to the ground.
4. No maintenance is required for the rest of the summer since the bulbs will be dormant.
5. Avoid locations where the soil is constantly soggy, as this can cause the bulbs to rot.

BULBS TO DISCOVER

There are so many spring bulbs to choose from: literally hundreds of varieties in every shape and colour imaginable. Check out a few of our top picks.

1. Camas (Camassia quamash)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

From a rosette of lanceolate leaves, looking much like an ornamental grass, this plant grows 70 to 90 centimetres tall. Late in the season, it blossoms into pyramidal spikes of blue, purple or white star-like flowers. Unlike other bulbs, this plant from Canada’s West Coast prefers soil that is always a bit moist. Bonus: You can also grow it for its edible bulb!

2. Autumn crocus (Colchicum ‘Lilac Wonder’)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4 TO 9

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

This curious bulb flowers immediately after planting, so get it into the ground as soon as it arrives in the store! While the blooms appear in the fall, the long, broad leaves don’t emerge until spring, growing to a height of 12 centimetres. The large goblet-shaped pinkish-lilac flowers grow straight from the ground. Be aware that all parts of this plant are poisonous.

3. Crocus (Crocus spp.)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

Beautiful clusters of small cup-shaped purple, white, yellow or bi-coloured blossoms arise directly from the ground, without a stalk. They are surrounded by a small clump of grass-like leaves. This early-flowering spring ephemeral grows six to 10 centimetres in height.

4. Crown imperial 3 (Fritillaria imperialis)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

A spectacular plant with a cluster of large drooping bells in red, orange or yellow atop a sturdy upright stem. This early blooming flower grows 80 centimetres to 1 metre in height. As the name suggests, it is crowned 4 with a tuft of narrow green leaves that resemble a pineapple. One drawback is its scent—the whole plant smells somewhat of skunk. It requires very well-drained soil to succeed.

5. Garlic (Allium sativum)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 9

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

Yes, garlic—the culinary kind—is a bulb! Simply plant the individual cloves in the fall like any other hardy bulb. Of course, it isn’t grown for its flowers, but rather for its delicious and aromatic bulb that doesn’t mature until late the following summer. You can also harvest its curiously coiled scape (flower stalk) in early summer: It’s considered a true delicacy. Garlic scapes grow to about 30 centimetres to one metre in height.

6. Glory of the snow (Chionodoxa forbesii)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

This small, easy-to-grow bulb bears 8 upright clusters of star-shaped flowers in early spring, usually blue with a white eye, but sometimes white or pink. There are only two to three very small linear leaves at its base, and it grows 12 to 18 centimetres in height. It will multiply on its own over time.

7. Common hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4 TO 9

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

Broad lanceolate leaves form a rosette from which a robust stem emerges bearing about 40 star-shaped flowers in a wide range of colours: blue, purple, pink, red, yellow, white and more. The common hyacinth blooms in early spring and grows to a height of 20 or 30 centimetres. Intensely perfumed, if you plant 10 or so hyacinths together, you’ll be able to smell them from afar!

8. Grape hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

This charming little bulb produces a rosette of linear leaves and a spike of small ball-shaped cobalt blue flowers mid-season. It grows about 15 to 20 centimetres tall. Oddly enough, the plant produces its first leaves in the fall, then renews them in the spring. It multiplies fairly quickly by division and self-sowing.

9. Reticulated iris (Iris reticulata)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4 TO 9

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

One of the first blossoms of spring, this iris’s flowers are huge compared to the tiny size of the plant, which grows to a height of 15 centimetres. Most flowers are blue or purple marked with yellow and white, but there are many other colour variations.

10. Trumpet daffodil (Narcissus spp.)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

The classic daffodil, readily recognized by its early to mid-season bloom whose central crown juts out like a trumpet. The petals can be yellow or white; the trumpet, white, yellow, orange or even salmon. Each stem bears only one flower, but the bulb can produce multiple stems. Grows between five to 55 centimetres tall, depending on the variety.

11. Small-crowned narcissus (Narcissus spp.)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

With its compact central crown, each flower seems to have a little eye that winks at you. There are many colours to choose from—petals range from white, yellow or orange; the crown, white, yellow, orange, salmon, red or green. Plus, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Many produce more than one flower per stem, while others are fragrant, and different varieties have variable flowering seasons from early to late season. Grows to a height of 30 to 45 centimetres.

12. ‘Purple Sensation’ ornamental onion (Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4 TO 9

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

There are several varieties of ornamental onions, but the most widely available, easiest to grow and least expensive is ‘Purple Sensation.’ Reliable and long-lived, its tall flower stalk is capped with a globe of small purple stars that towers over a large rosette of ribbon-like leaves. This late-flowering beauty grows from 60 centimetres to one metre in height. Plant it in the background to hide its foliage, which begins to turn yellow even as it flowers. Bonus: it makes an excellent dried flower!

13. Turkestan onion (Allium karataviense)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

As low-growing as its cousin ‘Purple Sensation’ is tall, this small late-flowering ornamental onion grows only 25 to 30 centimetres. This plant offers two draws: first, a beautiful ball of white to pale pink or crimson-red flowers up to 20 centimetres in diameter on a short stalk. Second, beautiful, broad, blue-green leaves, that grow almost horizontally. They’re impressive before, during and after flowering.

14. Siberian squill (Scilla siberica)

HARDINESS ZONES: 2 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

This small bulb produces two to four narrow leaves and several bell-shaped bright blue flowers with a dark median stripe. Blooming in early to mid-spring, Siberian squill grows to a height of 10 to 15 centimetres. It naturalizes abundantly by self-sowing to form mats of blue flowers over time.

15. Common snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 7

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

Along with winter aconite, this is likely to be the first flower to bloom in your spring garden. Each bulb produces only two to three grass-like green leaves and a single flower stem bearing a pendulous white flower touched with green. A small spring ephemeral, it grows to only 10 to 15 centimetres tall. Flowering improves each year as it quickly forms a dense clump.

16. ‘Fusilier’ Tulip (Tulipa praestans ‘Fusilier’)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

A small botanical tulip with up to five orange-red flowers per bulb. This plant blossoms in the early spring season, and grows to a height of 35 centimetres. Like most botanical tulips, it’s very perennial, flowering again and again for decades.

17. Darwin Hybrid tulips (Tulipa Darwin Hybrid)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

A very large mid-season tulip, this is the most perennial of all hybrid tulips—they continue to come back year after year. Mainly available in yellow, orange and red, though if you look, you’ll also find other colours. A reliable bloomer, it grows to a height of 55 to 70 centimetres. Among many available varieties, 'Apeldoorn’ and 'Impression’ series are popular.

18. Triumph tulips (Tulipa Triumph)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4–8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

With hundreds of varieties, Triumph tulips come in almost every colour imaginable (with the exception of true blue). The choice is yours! A mid-season bloomer, these tulips grow to around 20 to 60 centimetres tall, depending on the variety. Be forewarned, however, these are not the longest lived bulbs, so you’ll need to plant new ones after two or three years.

19. Grecian windflower (Anemone blanda)

HARDINESS ZONES: 4 TO 8

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

A small plant with two or three attractively cut leaves that grows 10 to 15 centimetres tall and produces a single daisy-shaped flower. The flower itself is three to five centimetres in diameter and comes in shades of blue, mauve, pink or white. It flowers early in the spring season and is very long-blooming for a bulb: up to six weeks. Plant the wrinkled, small rhizome soon after you bring it home, first soaking it in water for 24 hours so it swells up. It naturalizes very well.

20. Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

HARDINESS ZONES: 3 TO 7

Photography: iStockPhoto/E.

Along with the snowdrop, this flower is generally one of the first of the season to bloom. The tiny plant bears only one short stem and two fringed leaves, forming a collar under a single buttercup yellow flower, growing to a height of just five to eight centimetres. The wrinkled tubers are not very tolerant of dry storage, so plant them soon after purchasing, soaking them in water for 24 hours beforehand to plump up.