Tiptoe through the tulips — and the alliums and other flowering bulbs

It’s time to get those trowels and gardening gloves out and hit the planting beds!

No, you aren’t dreaming, and it isn’t May.

September is here and now is the time to buy your tulips, daffodils, alliums, bluebells and other spring flowering bulbs. You know, the ones you see blooming in May and early June that you can’t buy at the nurseries?

Now is the time to check the local nurseries and garden centers, and you need to get on it before they’re all gone. There’s still time if you want to order bulbs, but, don’t delay. It’s a miserable chore to plant bulbs when it’s near freezing and the ground is all wet.

I know, you planted lots of tulips last year and they didn’t come up. Well, there are bulbs that will come up even if the tulips bite the dust — alliums! That onion family is one tough bunch. A. afflatunense’s “purple sensation” is a gorgeous softball-sized globe of tiny purple flowers floating atop 24- to 30-inch stems of green. I have never had a failure with these hardy bloomers. A very inexpensive bulb, they also produce a lot of seeds in dried heads that look like modern pop sculptures in the late garden.

Alliums can be addictive with their interesting seed heads.

Try A. christofii’s “star of Persia” for flowering heads the size of cantaloupes with bursts of delicate silver amethyst star-shaped flowers.

I’ve seen both of these bulbs for sale locally, but you’ll probably have to hunt the many other varieties down online or in catalogs.

Tulips are the most colorful of the spring bulbs and the most likely to fail in a bad winter or be eaten by moose if they live to bloom.

If you plant a big bag of inexpensive tulips as background, you can sprinkle a few of the fancier tulips here and there.

That hot pink tulip that keeps coming back year after year in front of the greenhouse is the Triumph’s “Don Quichotte.”

I used to hate that plastic pink, but it’s so persistent you have to love it. Another reliable Triumph is the soft orange “princess Irene,” whose delicate purple flames give her an antique look. Try the double flowering tulips that look like small peonies and come in gorgeous wine reds, orange blends or fringed like the new purple “mascotte” from Roozengarde.

Go out on a limb and get something different in daffodils this year as well.

Try the peony-like doubles and the flat wide split coronas.

Moose won’t eat daffodils and they’re tough as nails. I’ve had the fragrant double “white lion” go through the worst winter can throw at it.

The bicolored split coronas’ “cassata” and “cum laude” look like pretty crinolines in pink and yellow on white.

Visit daffodildepot.com for some amazing varieties and check out “Slim Whitman,” “sushi” and “akita” for some real eye candy.

The earliest bloomers are usually the tiniest.

Siberian squill or Scilla siberica’s hazelnut-sized bulbs bloom in sky blue drifts in May. These bluebells spread via seeds and shoots on their bulbs naturalizing happily in the nastiest spots in my garden. They do come in a white form, but, in May it might just look like blobs of snow. These are easy bulbs to find locally and very affordable, so get plenty.

Plant your bulbs close together in clusters for best effect.

Make sure you have good drainage so they don’t rot.

Raised or sloping beds work well, but, make sure the soil isn’t heavy and compacted.

You don’t need to feed these bulbs this year as they’ve stored plenty of food in the bulb for the coming show.

In spring you can sprinkle some bulb food on the beds. I prefer to give everything a dose of bone meal, alfalfa meal, and Epsom salts, a 1:1:1 mix.

The peonies, lilies, roses and my bulbs generally respond well to this top dressing in spring. Don’t forget to water as you plant them.

A general rule of thumb is to plant bulbs at depths a bit deeper than twice the diameter of the bulb or about five inches for tulips.

A good Web site for specialty bulbs is McClure and Zimmerman’s at MZBulb.com or by calling 1-800-883.699. No photos, but lots of unusual varieties.

For ideas in color combinations, try Colorblends.com.

If you’re ordering online, visit Washington Bulb Company at Tulips.com, located in Skagit Valley, Wash. It has a good selection of spring bulbs common and unusual.

For more information on tulips visit DirtDivasGardening.com.

Brooke Heppinstall, artist and gardener, is the owner of Wool Wood Studio & Gardens, an art studio and nursery specializing in Alaska-grown perennials and shrubs. Visit online at www.woolwood.-blogspot.com.