Choosing and planting bulbs in autumn

Autumn is one of the most rewarding times of year for gardeners. As summer colour fades, now is the perfect moment to plan for the seasons ahead. By choosing and planting bulbs

These are fleshy, rounded, underground storage organs, usually sold and planted while dormant. Examples include daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, lilies, onions and garlic. The term is often used to cover other underground storage organs, including corms, tubers and rhizomes.

in autumn, you can fill your garden with vibrant flowers from late winter through to early summer, bringing much-needed colour and nectar

Sweet liquid mainly produced by flowers to attract pollinators. Honeybees make honey from nectar.

for pollinators when little else is in bloom.

If you're dreaming of drifts of daffodils, cheerful crocuses or elegant tulips next spring, autumn is the time to get planting. Most spring-flowering bulbs need a period of cold weather to develop properly, making autumn the ideal season to choose varieties and get them into the ground or containers.

Designing with bulbs

Colour is a personal choice, and bulbs come in almost every shade imaginable. Whether you prefer a harmonious palette of similar tones or a vibrant mix of contrasting colours, there's a bulb to suit every garden style and space.

Worthy companions

It's also worth considering which plants will share the border with your bulbs. As bulb foliage naturally dies back after flowering, it can begin to look untidy. Summer flowering perennials, such as hardy geraniums and lady's mantle, as well as ornamental grasses help disguise fading leaves while providing colour and texture later in the season.

Shade-loving bulbs die back gracefully underground as the tree canopy opens up above them. To follow their spring blooms, you could either plant deciduous

Deciduous refers to plants (mainly trees and shrubs) that lose their leaves seasonally, usually during autumn. This is a natural process triggered by the season's shorter days and lower temperatures and allows plants to conserve energy during the winter months.

shrubs or use ground cover perennials, such as tiarella, epimedium, pulmonaria, shade-tolerant hardy geraniums and ferns.

Bulbs for pots and containers

Planting bulbs in pots is a simple way to bring vibrant spring colour to patios, doorsteps and small gardens. Choose containers with drainage holes and fill them with peat-free multipurpose compost

Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost: Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

, adding grit if needed to improve drainage. For the best display, plant bulbs more closely together than you would in the ground, taking care that they do not touch. 

You can also create a longer-lasting show by layering bulbs in pots, placing later-flowering varieties such as tulips at the bottom, then adding mid-season bulbs like daffodils and early-flowering crocuses near the surface. Position containers in a sunny spot and keep the compost moist during dry spells to enjoy a succession of blooms from late winter into spring.

Create the natural look of bulbs in grass

Planting bulbs in grass is an easy way to create a more natural-looking spring display, while supporting early pollinators. Daffodils, crocuses, snowdrops and smaller species tulips are particularly well suited to this approach, gradually spreading and returning year after year. 

For the most natural effect, scatter bulbs across the lawn and plant them where they fall, avoiding formal rows or patterns. Leave the grass uncut after flowering until the foliage has died back completely, allowing the bulbs to store energy for next year's blooms. Over time, naturalised

Naturalised plants are those that have been introduced to a place outside of their native range and have become established in the wild there, surviving, reproducing and spreading without help. Sycamores, snowdrops and sweet chestnuts are naturalised plants in the UK.

bulbs can create beautiful drifts of colour that bring seasonal interest to lawns, meadows and orchard plantings.

Bulbs for Christmas colour

For a festive indoor display, plant bulbs that have been specially treated to flower earlier than they would naturally. Paperwhite narcissus and hyacinths are popular choices, producing fragrant blooms in time for Christmas and brightening homes during the darkest days of winter. 

Plant them in pots filled with compost or decorative containers designed for forcing

Artificially speeding up a plant’s growth, flowering or fruiting, usually by manipulation of temperature and light. Rhubarb and chicory can be forced in late winter by covering with a forcing jar or bucket, or by placing potted plants in the dark, to produce earlier, paler, sweeter growth. Hyacinths and other spring bulbs are often forced, so they flower earlier indoors.

, then keep them in a cool, dark place until roots have formed. Once shoots appear, move them into a bright position indoors and enjoy their colour and scent throughout the festive season.

Picking the perfect shade

A few suggestions of bulbs grouped by colour, from pales to brights. Mix and match them or go wild and have a rainbow fiesta of blooms all spring.

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