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GLT's Grow: Great Bulbs For Spectacular Results

Michael Button
/
Flickr via Creative Commons
Put the work in now and you'll be tip-toeing though the tulips by May.

In the midst of autumn, it's a great time to prepare for spring and ensure that your landscape is a stunning site with an array of colorful bulbs.

  • Tulips are a great place to start when selecting bulbs to plant in your yard. The tulip is actually one of the most domesticated crops in the world, along with marijuana, potatoes and apples.
  • Plant your bulbs with with a soil auger on a drill. Yes, it sounds odd, but it can speed up the process.
  • Pointy end up, please. Root end down. You can't miss 'em. They look kind of hairy.
  • An early tulip to choose is the Purple Prince. It's a favorite of Murph. It's very tall and regal looking.
  • The Viking tulip has been popular for hundreds of years. It's scarlet and short.
  • Try the Princess Irene tulip with an orange and purple color combination. It's short.
  • Branching out from tulips, try Dutch Iris, crocus, daffodils and hyacinth. They tend to be deer-resistant.

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Reporter, content producer and former All Things Considered host, Laura Kennedy is a native of the Midwest who occasionally affects an English accent just for the heck of it. Related to two U.S. presidents, Kennedy appalled her family by going into show business.