By March most Chicago residents are thoroughly sick of winter. We desperately want to see some sign of new life. The first plants to announce the return of spring are bulbs, but if you want the boost of spring flowers early in the season, you have to plant them in autumn of the previous year.

             Bulbs can be planted up until the ground freezes. That means you can still plant them now in the Chicago area.

            The earliest bloomers and the easiest to start with are snow drops (Galanthus) and Crocus. The bulbs are small and the plants themselves are small (6”) and are the earliest bloomers in spring. Snow drops are white and you can plant crocus in white, yellow and purple. These bulbs can be planted in the very front of your flower beds, and, for that matter, in your lawn as well. Their leaves are small and they can be mowed along with the grass without injuring their ability to bloom in following years.

            Grape hyacinths (Muscari), a blue flower, also bloom early in the season. (April).

            The most common among the later and taller bulbs are daffodils (Narcissus) and tulips. These are taller plants (12-24”) and bloom later in the season. Daffodils are mainly yellow and yellow and white. Tulips, as everyone knows, are the most gorgeous of spring bloomers, with spectacular red and multi-colored flowers blooming closer to May. Both daffodils and tulips have many varieties that bloom at different times. A shrewd gardener can stagger bloom time by planting different varieties. One example: while many muscari bloom in April, you can mix them with the "comosum" variety that does not bloom until later in May.

          More on bulbs in my next post.