As much as summer dragged along with heat and drought, fall has moved at a very fast clip. November is an ideal month for planting in Virginia, especially the spring flowering bulbs. December can be fine and will work, but is often chilly. If your bulbs arrived in September, hopefully you stored them in an unheated location. As long as they receive their required chilling days, the wait will not hurt them.

I remember planting my first tulip bed. I was much younger and more energetic. With 100 tulips to plant, I dug the entire bed, down to six inches, put in a half inch of sand, tulips on top and finished it with soil to ground level. That was the first and last time I ever dug a special bed for bulbs. A good long handled trowel will make quick work of 100 tulips, daffodils or lilies.

When planted properly, each bulb is three times its size deep. This leaves tulips deeper than crocus, lilies deeper than tulips, etc... The bulbs are graded by size and sold accordingly. The gardener wants the highest grade or largest bulb. In some cases they may include a little sidecar or extra nose, as it's called with daffodils. Do not take them apart, that extra nose will produce another flowering stem.

You can also order your bulbs so that they will flower over an extended time. Listings will say early flowering or late flowering, the earliest bulbs will be much shorter than late flowering. A big mistake to avoid is putting late flowering bulbs in a hot spot or early spring bulbs in a cold spot. There is no reason to purchase late flowering if you don't take advantage of it. A hot spot might be the south side of your house, versus a cold spot, underneath a deciduous tree, facing east or north. The early bulb will end up flowering mid-season or late in that cold place and the late season daffodil will flower prematurely in the hottest spot of your garden or against the wall facing south. Another reason to pay attention to the little micro-climates on your property. Getting it right might mean three weeks difference in bloom time.

A very popular fall root is the foxtail lily or eremurus. Not actually a lily or a bulb, the roots spread out, like an open hand and are very fragile. The best method to plant these delicate roots is to dig an over sized hole, about twelve inches deep. Put rich compost in the bottom up to about seven inches. On that put a thick layer of turkey grit, which can be found at local farm supply stores. Lay the bulb on the grit and cover it thickly with grit. What you are doing is putting a pocket of grit around the crown or center of the root to keep it from rotting. It wants lots of food but a dry core. Fill the rest of the hole with compost. Your eremurus will last for many years with this method. Other roots and bulbs respond well to the same treatment, I use it with Cyclamen purpurascens, eucomis, or any bulb that comes from a rocky habitat.

Lastly, when your bulbs arrive, plant the lilium first. This will make a big difference in how many flowers each stem produces. The longer they sit out of ground and are in warmth, the fewer flowers they will produce. Tulips like to be planted when the ground is cool and daffodils can go in as soon as they arrive.