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The double early tulip, "Willem van Oranje," just about glows in the dark with layers of copper, peach and rose-colored petals. - Mark Golbach

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Gardens are not made

By singing 'Oh, how beautiful!'

And sitting in the shade.

-- Rudyard Kipling

How true. I, for one, am sitting at the computer browsing hundreds of perfect images of spring-flowering bulbs. Both paper and online catalogs have arrived, and I'm lost in a haze of trying to figure out what to order and where to squeeze in more plants -- always a confusing task in high summer.

For years, I shied away from bulbs, in part because my garden has few areas with the sun they require. But my success with "minor" bulbs like grape hyacinths (Muscari), snowdrops (Galanthus) and crocus convinced me to move on to the big time: tulips.

So last year, I took the plunge, went online and ordered about five dozen tulip bulbs from Old House Gardens, which specializes in heirloom bulbs. I'd never planted tulips because I was concerned that, unlike daffodils, tulips tend to die out in just a few years rather than thrive. I hated to waste all that planting effort, to say nothing of the money. So these were planted willy-nilly, purely as experiments. I was more interested in having flowers for indoor arrangements, so I didn't really worry about their planting neighbors outdoors.

I won't know my tulip rate of return until next spring, but this first year was glorious. Everything came up, and our long, cool spring meant they bloomed and bloomed. In fact, I experienced something that I'd never seen before -- something that other gardeners confirmed they witnessed in their gardens as well: overlapping bloom times. But this wasn't just a few early tulips or daffodils hanging around for their late blooming siblings. This was a case of overlapping bloom of plants that tend to flower in different seasons -- one after the other -- now flowering all at the same time.

I had late-season tulips like "Black Parrot" still flowering when the first alliums (ornamental onions) opened nearby. At the same time, late daffodils (Narcissus poeticus variety) were blooming with an early daylily (Hemerocallis dumortieri) -- all in the last few days of May. Just another side effect of our changing climate, I guess.

What I also discovered with my experiment was that some of these tulips were so fragrant and so stunningly beautiful that I will plant them as annuals for cutting if they don't come back next spring. For now, I'm ordering "Orange Favorite" and "Prinses Irene" from OHG to plant in the traffic island in front of my house. They should shout out to passing motorists and look good with that school bus yellow paint that outlines the island.

Last year's batch of OHG tulips included the strangely twisted and pointy "Acuminata." It was a talker, with its elongated petals that are unique among tulip types. I'm definitely ordering more. "General de Wet" was so fragrant, I could smell it almost as soon as I stepped out the door, while the double "Willem van Oranje" was lusciously layered with copper, peach and rose petals.

But the showstopper was "Schoonoord." In 1935 Louise Beebee Wilder said it was "an old variety but invaluable." It's a flower that I never want to be without now that I've grown it. The green- and yellow-striped buds opened into lushly double white flowers touched with gold. Anyone who saw them in a vase thought they were peonies. Schoonoord drew me out into the garden day after day in every light and weather to enjoy its changing beauty. Luckily, I ordered enough bulbs that I felt free to cut as many as I wanted to bring indoors.

This year I'm going to also order from third-generation bulb growers Brent and Becky Heath to expand my range of bulbs. I am currently trying out a variety of lilies from Brent and Becky's Bulbs, and those are getting the true test. The bulbs not only arrived while I was on vacation and thus sat in the box for a couple of weeks, but I've planted them in the traffic island, where they will get the maximum sun and minimum gardener's attention.

The Heaths' Web site is excellent, with glorious photos of each bulb (often two or three images) as well as a consistent text format that gives all the critical details about each bulb. I'm lusting after white and pale yellow "Silver Chimes" daffodils, which are listed as having "an amazing fragrance" as well as being excellent perennializers, and "City of Haarlem" hyacinths, which are a primrose yellow that matures to ivory. They'll both be perfect with the "Schoonoord" tulips -- and nearby yellow primroses. This year I'm planning and planting for indoor and outdoor effects now that I've finally had a chance to experience both.

BULB SOURCES

Here are some of the best sources for bulbs, both old favorites and new introductions:

Brent and Becky's Bulbs: www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com

Colorblends Wholesale Flowerbulbs: www.colorblends.com

McClure and Zimmerman: www.mzbulb.com

Old House Gardens: www.oldhousegardens.com

John Scheepers Inc.: www.johnscheepers.com

Van Engelen Inc.: www.vanengelen.com