Succession Garden

• Comb the garden catalogs and consult your local nursery to devise a list of all the types of bulbs which do well in your climate. Then plot a list by bloom time, from earliest snow crocus, spring beauties and snowdrops, to mid-season tulips and daffodils, through summer-blooming irises and on to fall-blooming crocus. Choose only a small number of each type of flower.
  
  Dig out an area 8 inches deep and amend the soil with sand, compost and bone meal. If digging creatures bother your bulbs, put a layer of hardware cloth both under and over the bulb plantings. Mix all your naturalizing bulb varieties in a sack and plant them randomly in the fall, at their recommended depths, in the prepared area. Sink shallow terra-cotta pots and plant shorter-lived bulbs like showy tulips within these for easy lifting and replacement. Cover with soil, water lightly, and top with several inches of organic mulch for the winter. You'll be treated with a spring floral display that lasts for months.
  
  

Color Swaths

• Tulips make a breathtaking visual impact when planted in color masses, particularly in gently undulating patterns suggestive of flowing water or a walking path. Maximize the "wow" factor by combining the main color with an accent color, and then creating a temporal lead-in to the main display. For example, deep orange tulips can be powerfully accented with a black to dark purple variety like Queen of the Night. Plant a few clumps of the black variety along the edges of your flowing swath of orange--and include a small handful of purple randomly scattered within the main orange-colored planting. Build viewer's intrigue as the tulip season approaches with a light scattering of orange and dark purple crocus, followed by a few orange species of tulips and dark-blue grape hyacinths.
  
  

Labyrinths and Patterns

• Inexpensive spring-flowering bulb mixes make it easy to design temporary patterns in your lawn, as delightful and ephemeral as a sand painting. A full-scale meditative labyrinth pattern provides a space for quiet reflection on spring's return. Other patterns could outline a blooming outdoor aisle for a spring wedding, or even spell out a name to celebrate a child's birthday or other holiday. Use white string to lay out the patterns on the ground in the fall, and a sharp edging tool to cut out turf for bulb planting. Top the bulbs with compost and soil and press pieces of turf back around them. When the spring display is done, simply mow over the foliage.