The Top 10 Bulbs to Plant this Fall

Gardening is sometimes about delayed gratification, especially when you plant bulbs! You won't get instant color like you do with annuals or perennials, but you will get flowers next spring— exactly when you need color after a long, grey winter! Best of all, most bulbs return year after year, so they're a great investment in your garden. You can plant them in containers, too, if you're short on space in your garden beds.

First, make sure a plant is suited for your USDA Hardiness Zone (check yours here). Then plant bulbs with the pointy ends facing up in mid to late fall before the ground freezes. If you're not sure which end of the bulb is up, which can happen with squashed-looking types of bulbs, plant them on their side in the hole. Nature will figure it out! Also, read the label to learn how deep to plant. Finally, pay attention to height. Plant taller types in the back of beds and the itty-bitty ones up front or in rock gardens. It's also more aesthetically appealing to plant several bulbs close together, rather than one bulb here and one bulb there, which looks sparse.

After the blooms fade, don't be too impatient to clean up the foliage! While it's fine to snip off the flower stems at the base of the plant to neaten things up, wait until the leaves turn yellow and die back to remove the foliage because the plant needs the leaves to make food for next year’s flowers.

Here are some of our favorite spring-flowering bulbs to plant in the fall: