Plant Spring Blooming Bulbs in the Fall

Last Updated on October 1, 2022 by Ellen Christian

If I want to have colorful spring flowers, I need to plant spring blooming bulbs in the fall.  This year, I’d love to add some colorful pink tulips to our gardens.

For some reason, I tend to have a lot of yellow flowers and very few flowers of other colors.  I need to brighten it up a little bit and get some variety. 

Plant Spring-Blooming Bulbs in the Fall

There isn’t a lot of fall gardening I can do in the northeast but spring-planted bulbs bring beautiful flowers too. Marty and I are considering adding a butterfly garden at the corner of our property.

We took down the weeping willow tree last year and it’s opened up an area of my yard that used to be too shaded to plant in.

I’d like to add a garden with a walkway and a stone bench to that area. I think that the pink and purple tulips will really make that area pop and if I include crushed stone, it will hopefully help keep the weeding down to a minimum.

Weeding is NOT my favorite task in the world. Here are a few spring-blooming bulbs you can plant in the fall in my area (zone 4/5). And, check out these fall gardening tips.

Tulips

Tulips are probably one of the most common spring-blooming bulbs in my region. When we purchased the house, there were tons of yellow and red tulips that the chipmunks have gladly eaten over the years.

Since bulbs only last for so long, we have very few of the originals left. Tulips are one of the most affordable spring blooming bulbs. Here are a few tips for protecting your bulbs from animals.

Check out these flowers that can take full sun all day long. Add a few of them to your garden this year.

Daffodils

I love daffodil and narcissus bulbs and we have a few of these in one of our corner gardens. The flowers don’t last very long, but most animals don’t like the taste of daffodils bulbs so they tend to last longer than other choices.

 

Crocus

We have a few wild crocus in the backyard that are leftover from years ago. They are one of the first bulbs I see in the spring so I always get excited when I see the purple flowers against the melting snow.

They tend to be fairly small so to get any real color you will need to plant quite a few.

Hyacinth

There are a few different sizes of hyacinth bulbs that you can plant. We have the smaller ones in the front yard and I love the vibrant purples and pinks when they bloom.

Group them together for a bigger pop of color.

If you want flowers that bloom a bit later in the season, you can always plant irises, lilies, and dahlias. We have quite a few flowers that bloom in the summer so I generally focus on spring-blooming flowers.

Our winters are very long and I look forward to those very first spring bulbs when they bloom. Now it’s time to start thinking about what to plant in your window boxes.

What are your favorite fall flower bulbs? Have you considered fall maintenance that needs to be done? Or, check out these fall bird feeding tips.

• Are lilacs edible?