In my post last year about planting 2000+ spring bulbs which you can read here, I mentioned how most of them were purchased at Walmart and the rest were purchased online from Jackson & Perkins.
I have come to realize that doing so means that you most likely won’t be able to find additional bulbs from Walmart if you were wanting to add to your collection with the same variety.
I wanted to beef up some of my beds with more of the same bulbs but they were not available any longer. Even when I tried to find some similar in color to what I already had, the options were not the best nor did they have the bags of larger quantities like I purchased last year.
So, back online I went. It was the end of the season so a lot of online suppliers had their bulbs on sale or clearance or at least discounted somewhat, and I love clearance prices especially on plants and bulbs. See my post here about that. There are a lot of very intricate and exotic tulips out there are that are absolutely stunning. However, they cost more. I shy away from those and try to keep my purchases as inexpensive as possible. As long as the bulbs are pretty and colorful, I’m good.
This is what I picked up to intermingle with what I planted last year along with a bunch of larger bags of mixed tulips and daffodils which are not in the picture:
From Park Seed I ordered Purple Crocos, Golden Cotton Candy Tulip and Daffodil Blend, Queens Garden Mix Tulips, Queensland Tulips, Affair Tulips, Butterfly Kisses Tulip and Daffodil Mix, and Siberian Squill.
From Holland Bulb Farms I ordered some purple Allium, Striped Squill, Wood Hyacinth, Fondant Hyacinth, Purissima Tulips, Alibi Triumph Tulips, Pastel Tulip mix, Exotic Emperor Tulips, Pink Impression Tulips, Orca Double Tulips, Lovely Lingerie Tulip and Daffodil Mix, Golden Cotton Candy Tulips, Night in Paris Tulip Mix, Happy Day Tulips, Pink Lemonade Tulips, Buttered Popcorn Tulips, Bumblebee Tulips and Curly Sue Fringed Tulips.
From Burpee I ordered Blushing Lady Daffodils, 450 bulb bag of mixed daffodils, Carnaval de Rio Tulips, Foxtrot Tulips and Murillo Tulip Mix.
Then when I was out shopping one day, I picked up from Lowe’s a bag of 50 mixed tulips and some Fragrant Collection tulips.
From Walmart I picked up a cut flower garden mix, Tulips & Muscari Mix and a mix of Crocos and Chionodoxa.
All of these bulbs were purchased on sale whether bought from an online retailer or a local store. I ordered some online at one point and then went back and ordered more after I could not locate what I wanted from my local stores to bulk up last year’s plantings. So that is kind of why I ended up with so many and so many different varieties. All total I planted another 2407 bulbs this year! Woo hoo! Can’t wait to see what they look like next Spring!
About two-thirds of them went into the ground and the rest went into pots. The pots will get moved into place come spring so I can put them exactly where I want to see a burst of that particular color. Once they are done blooming, I will plant the bulbs out in the yard and get rewarded again with blooms the following year.
Now let me show you where they all went. First will be pictures of the new bulbs that were planted, followed by a picture of the area with last Spring’s blooms.
In the blueberry bed I added 120 Night in Paris tulips. They will blend well with what was planted before.
In the English Garden extension area I planted 40 Golden Cotton Candy tulips adding to the daffodils that were planted there last year.
This is what I call the Teepee area. I added the Fragrant Collection, Curly Sue and Fondant Hyacinth to this bed for a total of 71 additional bulbs. They will blend nicely with last year’s bulbs.
In the center of the English Garden is a large circular bed with a Clematis in the middle. In that circular bed I planted 15 purple Allium around the Clematis trellis surrounded by 15 Exotic Emperor mixed with 83 Pink Impression tulips. This is my first time ever growing Allium. We’ll see how it goes.
The English Garden backs up to a deck. There is a trellis dividing the garden from the deck. In the bed at the base of the trellis I planted 50 of the Cut Flower Garden tulips, 15 Fondant Hyacinth and 80 purple Crocus. Interspersed on the other side of that garden I sprinkled the 25 Murillo tulips.
Then I added an additional 60 bulbs from the Queens Garden Mix in the pond side bed. These same bulbs were planted here last year so I just wanted to thicken them up a bit. I should have bought more. Maybe next year.
On the back side of the gazebo is where I had planted the Lake of Fire Tulips. I could not find these tulips anywhere so I improvised and tried to find similar colors to bulk up what was already there. I planted 60 Happy Day Tulips, 10 Orca Tulips and 56 Purissima Tulips.
In this same bed but around the other side of the gazebo underneath a pine tree I planted 40 Blue Squill and 100 Striped Squill. These are very small and knowing that now, I should have ordered and planted about 3-5 times more. We’ll see how they look and maybe get some more next Fall. I am anxious to see how these look. I hope they fill in the area like I am envisioning.
There are beds on either side of the stream that runs into the pond. In these two beds I evenly divided up and planted 40 of the Tulips and Muscari mix, 50 of the Crocus and Chionodoxa Mix and the 50 mixed tulips. These beds definitely need some attention. A bit of spring color will be a good start.
Under a tree by the horseshoe pits I planted the 50 Wood Hyacinth bulbs otherwise known as Spanish Bells. I tried to naturalize them a bit. They look so petite and woodsy. I think they will be amazing in that spot.
In an area I call the “kids’ garden” – just because it is next to the sandy area and swing – I planted up 15 of the Exotic Emperor tulips 30 of the Golden Cotton Candy Tulips and 60 of the Pink Lemonade tulips.
The daffodils (500 of them) were planted in batches all over the yard. Up and down the driveway in various nooks and crannies. At the base of trees, in bed corners, next to trellises, next to planters, etc. Anywhere I thought a little pop of color would be nice. It should be quite a show come Spring.
The rest of the bulbs went into pots. I filled 8 large planters with the following:
60 of Pink lemonade.
60 of lovely lingerie tulip and daffodil mix.
60 of Bumblebee tulips.
70 of Alibi tulips.
60 of Happy Day tulips.
40 of Affair tulips and 20 of Foxtrot tulips.
Tulipa Affaire 
50 of mixed daffodils.
And 20 of Queensland tulips surrounded by 41 of Pink Impression tulips. These are going to be so pretty!
Tulipa Queensland 
Then 10 smaller pots with the following:
2 pots filled with 25 of the Pastel mix tulips.
3 pots filled with 16 of the Pink Impression tulips.
2 pots filled with 30 of the Buttered Popcorn tulips
1 pot filled with 20 of the Carnaval De Rio tulips.
The last 2 were filled with 20 of the Butterfly Kisses blend.
As I said the potted bulbs will be moved out into the yard after they are done blooming. I have several new beds planned and some that need to be redone so there will be ample room in which to tuck these bulbs into in the Spring.
I really can’t wait to see all of this Spring color. I am so excited!
Are you planting bulbs this Fall? Did you try some new varieties?