Don't get stuck in a bulb rut. Plant something different this Fall for a spectactular display next Spring! Hyacinths are stately, upright plants, and should be planted in clumps or drifts rather than in straight lines to soften their stiff appearance. Muscari, or grape hyacinths, are as fragrant as they are colorful. Small, vibrant, early-spring bloomers, muscari also are wonderfully inexpensive. Originally found blooming on hillsides in the Mediterranean and Central Asia, anemone, or windflower, sprouts forth with cheery daisylike blooms in a rainbow's selection of colors. Learn more about the different types of bulbs to use in your gardens this spring.
The lovely member of the onion family produces a 5-inch ball -- or umbel -- of tiny, vivid purple flowers atop a bare 2-foot-tall stem. Protruding stamens give the umbel a soft outline. Rosenback's allium makes a striking accent in the garden or as a cut flower.
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The egg-shaped, 2-inch, purple-red flowers bloom in early summer to midsummer, eventually drying on the plant. The strappy leaves are round in cross-section, short, and hollow. Keep the soil moist while it's growing.
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Everything about giant allium is giant. The 8-inch spherical purple flower clusters sit atop thick, straight stalks 5 to 6 feet tall. The low, strappy, blue-gray leaves start dying back around the time the flowers bloom in late spring.
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