Starting New Flower Bed

I'm starting a new flower bed for my mother (who is 88 years young) and lives in Berea, KY. I would like to have some early spring and spring flowering bulbs in this bed in order to have bloom throughtout the entire growing season. I already have plants or have order plants for transplanting which will bloom during late spring through fall. Question, do I purchase flowering plants (hyacinths, daffodils, tulips) this year in order to have bloom? Will they then rebloom next year as normal planted bulbs?

wlmicroman,

If you want bloom this year, you can get potted flowering bulbs at garden centers or nurseries and then transplant them into your garden. The only drawback is that they might need to be a little deeper than what the pot offers for good performance in subsequent years. There are some online sources that offer "pre-planted" bulbs that come in plantable trays that you plant directly into the garden for this year's bloom, thoguh I have not tried them. I know Brecks used to have such trays but don't know if they still do.

However, if you're concerned about next spring, buy your bulbs online this summer or early fall to have them delivered at the appropriate time for planting, which in your mother's area I would imagine would be September through November. Or, you can get them in bags at nurseries or Home Depot/Lowes garden centers and take them home and plant. You can generally get bigger and better bulbs online. You'll be rewarded with beautiful boom next spring! Good luck. It is wonderful that your mom is still a flower/gardening enthusiast after so many years in her long life.

Steve

Steve --- thanks for your quick response. I will follow your advise and purchase potted bulbs as soon as I see them available in my area and plant them for my mother. Next fall, I will purchase on-line the permenant bulds for her garden.

I just saw little peat pots of tulips (about 4 inches out of the potting mix) at our Lowes this week for 69 cents each. Also bigger pots with maybe a dozen tulips (only about an inch out of the ground) for $6. each.