MO-Bot Member Speaker Series: Planting Fall Bulbs in Perennial Gardens

Please note: this is a special lecture at the Missouri Botanical Garden’s for Members.
Planting bulbs in fall is one of the easiest ways to add spring color to any garden. We are used to seeing them as they are commonly planted: big blocks of color in public spaces which bloom for a short period and then are switched out for summer flowering plants, or tucked here and there in home gardens often as an afterthought. How can we add all these lovely flowers into a coherent garden design in the same way we routinely incorporate other perennials in order to avoid the extremes of both careless afterthought and regimented mass plantings? Taking into account the different maintenance needs for each type of bulb, we have suggestions for a more sustainable use of fall-planted bulbs which will blend well with selected perennial plants and help form a seamless transition from the starkness of winter to the lushness of summer.