bulb combinations?

[Maria2007]

Hi, I'm about to buy my spring-flowering bulbs & I wondered if anyone has any good bulb-combinations to suggest for a smallish garden? Also, anything to avoid (given that it's the first year I'm doing this, I'm new to gardening).

See Pannacotta's notes above.

But if there's a variety you really fancy only available in bulbs in the Autumn, I have got them to grow happily by planting them much closer than it says on the packet, ie almost touching, shoulder to shoulder (as they end up when they are very happy and start clumping so you have to separate them).

You could do worse than try half a packet like this, half a packet planted in the more orthodox manner. The real probl;em with snowdrops is to get the little blighters to come up at all sometimes.

Yes, get the cyclamen to enjoy indoors tyhis autumn /winter, then banish them into the ground in the spring.

Also, the bonus with buying cyclamen already in flower is that you buy the ones with the flowers you really like.

Disclaimer.

I genuinely do not believe that plants are little people, even though some of the above posts might read like that.

i was once impressed by a catalogue picture of black 'queen of the night' tulips' teamed up with white 'Mount Tacoma' paeony-style tulips.Well they looked amazing in the photo but when they actually grew they flowered at different times !
This time I am going for a pink and white combination
diamond&producttype_id=47283

Sorry - no idea why that link didn't work but they are pink diamond and white dream.

Finding this thread very interesting and thanks to whoever mentioned the Peter Nyssen site which seems way cheaper than the others
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Catinthehat2: LOL about believing plants are little people I've often wondered if people kind of think that, when talking about how & when a plant is 'happy' or 'unhappy', what it 'likes' or 'hates' etc! It used to make me laugh in the past. I have to confess though that I'm sort of starting to think of my own plants as....errrrmmmm, well not little people exactly, but you know....

Katiestar: Yes, I ordered from Peter Nyssen for the prices. Lets see whether the bulbs live up to the promise though.

The other thing that I wanted to mention- which a gardener friend of mine talked to me about- is that the most important thing when buying bulbs is where will they be sited. So: what the soil & light conditions are. Then after all that's sorted, flowering times is the next important thing. And colour combinations the third. Oh and another detail: some of bulbs (e.g. alliums) flower &, from what she said, then have pretty ugly leaves. So an annual or something else needs to be planted at their front to hide the leaves...

When I ordered my own bulbs I didn't know all this so ordered just in terms of flowering times & colour combinations. Anyway, we live to learn!! (especially in gardening...)

so much to think about... which I really can't do with a wriggling 2yo!! So, I've ordered a catalogue from the Peter Nyssen site .