 Remember last year’s tiny blue crocus popping up through the snow and daffodils splashing yellow across the garden? If you want spring color next year, you need to plant bulbs this fall. Several flowers begin as spring flowering bulbs, including tulips, daffodils, crocus, hyacinth, allium, and fritillaria. And they'll all be in the stores this month.With some planning now and bulb layering next month, you can have them all. Pawl Hollis, owner of Rail City Garden Center, says you can plant three or four layers of bulbs in the same container or garden plot – kind of like a bulb lasagna.
 Spring flowering bulbs come in a range of forms, colors, and bloom times, from February’s crocus through May’s late blooming tulips to June’s alliums. Bulb (and corm) sizes vary from half-inch minis to four- to five-inch giants. This variety allows you to enjoy a riot of color over several weeks. And with bulb layering, you can plant for both long bloom and variety. Buy bulbs of early through late season varieties to extend the bloom period.
You can also manipulate the bloom timing by the planting depth of the bulbs. Planting the same type of emperor tulip bulbs, for example, in the bottom, middle, and top layers of a container will produce a staggered bloom, with the shallowest planted bulbs blooming first and the ones planted deepest ending the show a week or two later. Bulb layering starts with the pot or planting bed. It should have good, cultivatable soil – the type that drains readily but holds enough moisture for the bulbs. Your container can be broad and should have some depth. Nancy Strickland, owner of Dry Creek Garden Center, suggests the pot be about 18 inches deep. Put in a layer of amended soil, and then add the first layer of bulbs. Be sure the pointy end is up and leave room below the bulbs for root growth. Hollis adds that bulbs planted in a container can almost touch.
 If you are planting in the ground, choose a sunny spot. Prepare the earth so it is well-turned and loose to a depth of at least 18 inches. Add bone meal or super phosphate. You should leave more room between the bulbs in a flower bed than you would in a pot so they can reproduce. Most bulbs come with spacing suggestions. Again, plant the largest bulbs in the deepest layer and add tiers of smaller and earlier blooming bulbs as you fill in soil. You can easily plant three layers of bulbs. You may want to add annuals to the bed in the spring. They will camouflage the bulbs’ foliage as it dies back. If this seems like a lot of choices, it is. That’s the fun of it. Neil Van Lierop, owner of Van Lierop Bulb Farm in Puyallup, Washington, says, “There is no scientific way to do it. Just experiment and have fun.” Suzanne M. Williams is a Reno-based freelance writer. One-hour project
Layering Spring Bulbs
Layer your favorite spring bulbs into a container pot and you'll have a pot full of color to greet you in the spring. Start gathering your bulbs this month, advises MaryAnn Lee, plant manager, Dry Creek Garden Center, and be ready to plant when the days cool in October.
 
  
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