Flowering bulbs are among the most popular of all ornamental plants, and they have enjoyed striking popularity for many years.  Bulbs are renowned for their hardiness, color and variety, and there are enough types of bulbs to please even the most discriminating gardener.

With so many bulbs to choose from, it can be difficult to choose the right ones, so we present here a quick rundown of some of the most popular varieties of bulbs for the garden.

Crocus
Crocus bulbs typically bloom in early spring or in late winter, and they feature tubular shaped flowers ranging in size from 1½” to 3” long.  Crocuses come in a rainbow of colors, and they are a staple of many gardens.  Other types of crocus, such as the saffron crocus, bloom instead in the fall, and the flowers can rise from the bare ground weeks, or even only days, after the bulbs are planted.  It is important for crocus bulbs to be planted as soon as they become available in the fall.  The best way to plant crocus bulbs is two to three inches deep, with a spacing of three or four inches between bulbs.  Crocus bulbs should be planted in good quality soil with good drainage, and they should be provided with full sun or partial shade and watered regularly during their growing and blooming seasons.

Dahlia
Dahlias bloom from summer through fall, and they also come in a wide variety of colors, shapes and sizes.  The size of dahlia flowers can range from two to twelve inches, and the height of the plants themselves can vary from just under a foot to more than seven feet for certain stake varieties.  It is best to plant dahlias after the last frost of the spring, and the roots should be set between four and six inches deep.  Tall dahlia varieties should be spaced four or five feet apart, while shorter ones can be spaced from one to one and a half feet apart.

Dahlias should have access to full sun, but in areas where the summers are very hot they may benefit from partial shade as well.  It is important to observe a regular watering schedule during the bloom and growth cycles of the dahlia.

Dahlia bulbs can be left in the ground if the winter temperatures do not go below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, but most gardeners prefer instead to dig the dahlia bulbs up at the end of each growing season.  To do this, you should wait until the foliage has yellowed, then cut the stalks back to approximately four inches.  The clumps of the roots should be permitted to dry in the sun a few hours, then placed in boxes in a single layer and covered up with either sawdust or dry sand.  The bulbs should be stored in a cool dry place over the winter and replanted the following spring.

Galanthus Nivalis
The galanthus is more commonly known as the snowdrop, and it is one of the first plants to bloom at the end of the winter.  These plants are typically six to eight inches in height, and they feature one bell shaped flower on each side of the stalk.  Snowdrops are best suited for colder climates, and the bulbs are best planted in the autumn of the year.  The bulbs should be planted from three to four inches deep and about three inches apart.  Snowdrops typically do best in full sun or partial shade, and they like regular watering during their blooming and growing cycles.

Flower gardening is becoming more and more popular every day.  Flowers can brighten everyone’s day, they smell nice, and are a great hobby.  Flower gardening is simple, inexpensive, and loads of fun.  Flower gardening can be done for yard decoration, simply as a hobby, or even professionally.
There are some decisions that have to be made before even flower gardening can be started.  You must decide if you want annuals that live for one season and must be replanted every year, or perennials that survive the winter and return again in the summer.  When buying and planting, pay attention to what kind of flowers thrive in your climate as well ass the sun requirements.
When flower gardening, you must decide what type of look you want before planting.  For instance, mixing different heights, colors, and varieties of flowers together in a “wild-plant style” will give your garden a meadow look and can be very charming.  If short flowers are planted in the front of your garden and work up to the tallest flowers in the back you will have a “stepping stone style”.
You can order seeds for flower gardening from catalogues or buy them from a nursery.  Most people will go to the nursery and buy actual flowers and then transplant them.  After you have prepared your garden area and bought flowers, it is a good idea to lay the flowers out in the bed to make sure you like the arrangement and that they will be spaced properly.
One of the easiest processes in flower gardening is the planting/ if you have seeds just sprinkle them around in the flower bed.  For planting transplants dig a hole just bigger than the flower, pull the container off, and set the flower in the hole right side up.  Cover it with the loose soil and press down firmly, then water.

Maintaining a flower garden is even easier than planting one.  Although they might make it on their own, a bag of fertilizer applied in the early spring is a good idea.  Pinch back any blooms after they start to fade and keep them good and watered.  To save yourself work during the next season of flower gardening, rid your garden of all debris and spread out organic nutrients like peat moss or compost.  Don’t forget to turn over the soil to properly mix in the fertilizer and rake smooth when finished.  If you have perennials planted be careful not to disturb their roots in this process.

Flower gardening is as easy as 1, 2, and 3: simply decide what to plant; plant it, and water, water, water!  Flower gardening is undoubtedly gaining in popularity and gives anyone excellent reason to spend some outdoors and test out their green thumb.

Bulbs are among the most popular of all flowering plants for the garden.  Bulbs have long been renowned for their beauty, their hardiness and their variety.  This article provides a small sampling of the many types of bulb plants available to the average gardener.

Muscari Armeniacum
The muscari, or grape hyacinth, is one of the most popular of all bulb varieties, and it has been for many years.  The grape hyacinth features narrow, grassy leaves that appear in the fall and can survive through the cold and snow of winter.  The leaves of the grape hyacinth are small, urn shaped and blue in color, and they grow on attractive eight inch tall spikes.  The flowers on the grape hyacinth bloom in the spring of the year, and these bulbs should be planted in the fall in order to bloom the spring.  The bulbs of the grape hyacinth should be planted two inches deep and three inches apart for best results.  The grape hyacinth prefers full sun or light shade, and it benefits from regular watering during its growth and bloom cycles.

Daffodil
The daffodil may be the most easily recognizable of all bulb plants, and it rewards its gardener with a generous display of beautiful blooms.  Besides the traditional white and yellow varieties, daffodils also come in shades of orange, apricot, pink and cream.  Daffodil bulbs should be planted twice as deep as they are tall, and they should be spaced between six and eight inches apart.  Daffodils benefit from full sun and regular watering during their growth and bloom periods.

Tulip
Tulips may just be the most well known and easily recognized of all bulb plants.  Indeed, in the minds of many tulips are synonymous with bulb plants.  The tulip has long been prized for its beauty, and tulips continue to be one of the most popular types of flowers among casual gardeners and professional growers alike.

In addition, tulips are among the most hybridized of all flowers, with hybrids available in a staggering array of shapes, sizes, colors and textures.  Some of the most popular tulip hybrids include pastels, spotted tulips, bicolor tulips and tricolor tulips.  There are also hybrids in the brightest hues, and even a variety that is almost black in color.  The tulip comes in a variety of shapes as well.  In addition to the classic egg shaped bloom, there are varieties with blossoms resembling the shapes of peonies and lilies.

The blooming season for most varieties of tulips runs from mid to late spring.  Most tulips need a period of extended cold in order to look and bloom their best.  Feeding with a high quality, nitrogen rich fertilizer will encourage multiple blooming.  The fertilizer should be applied before the first bloom for best results.

In mild climates, it is best to refrigerate tulip bulbs for six weeks before they are planted.  While it is possible for tulip bulbs to remain in the ground, most gardeners treat them as annuals and replant them each year.  Doing so is often the best way to get the best blooms year after year.

Tulips like full sun, and they benefit from a regular watering schedule during their growing and blooming periods.  It is best to plant tulip bulbs in the fall, and tulip bulbs should be planted three times as deep as the bulb is wide.  Therefore, a 2” wide bulb would be planted 6” deep.  It is important to leave sufficient space between the planted bulbs as well, from four to eight inches depending on the size of the bulb.

Many people find great delight in growing miniature roses. This is because they make excellent additions to any garden. They are versatile and can be grown as bushes, as hybrids with climbing varieties, as edges and hedges, and even in containers. Additionally, they are fairly easy to grow and can grow in a variety of climates. If you are starting out as a rose gardener, trying with miniature roses can lead to success and help you build confidence in your abilities to grow rose varieties.

One of the greatest advantages that miniature roses have is their hardiness. They are remarkably resilient to a variety of weather and growing conditions. Special winter protection is not needed for miniature rose plants grown in hardiness zones six through ten. Just plant them and they will likely survive the winter. If you live in more northern zones, like five and four, it is also possible to have miniature roses that survive the winter. A good mulch, properly applied, is usually enough to do the trick. This means that you are likely to be able to grow miniature roses just about anywhere.

Another thing that makes miniature roses so desirable in nearly any garden is the fact that they are so versatile and look good in a variety of garden settings and filling multiple garden roles. They look great as edging, making hedges or creating an attractive border. They can look good in an English style garden, allowed to run amok and grow all over, or even in an ornamental Japanese style garden, pruned to fit in with the carefully balanced design. Additionally, they make great accent plants in rock gardens, and look equally attractive standing near an entranceway in a container like a garden urn. Micro minis, which grow to a diameter of about half an inch and can be pruned to be near the ground at five inches tall (although they can grow in height to four feet high), can even serve as ground cover.

And because roses bloom in constant cycles from spring to the end of fall, your miniature rose plants will look throughout the entire plant growing season. They are also attractive because miniature roses come in many varieties. Although not quite as many specific varieties as regular sized roses come in. The colors of miniature roses, however, run the same spectrum as full sized roses. They are usually no more than 2 inches across, however. But miniature roses grow closer together, often on bushes, creating a riot of color within tightly spaced leaves.

Just like other roses, most miniature roses need a great deal of sunlight and water. While there are some shade tolerant varieties of miniature roses, most of them, like regular sized roses, need five to six hours of sunlight per day. You can determine whether or not your miniature roses are receiving enough sunlight by looking at the leaves. Miniatures that do not get enough light have wide spaces of stem between the leaves. While this is common in regular sized roses, in miniature roses it is common for the leaves to be close together.

The main drawback to miniature roses, however, is the fact that they give off little or no fragrance. They may beautiful to look at, but they do not smell nice as other roses do. If, however, you have plenty of other scents in your garden, you will not miss the scent of miniature roses. Besides, some plants have such overpowering smells that they can be a nuisance. Planting miniature roses among other plants will ensure that you have an attractive garden without an overpowering variety of aromas.

Miniature roses in your garden can be an excellent addition. They are easy to grow, easy to care for, and are extremely hardy in a variety of growing and climate conditions. Additionally, it is possible to purchase varieties that are resilient to diseases and insect pests. This makes them even hardier. And, no matter what kind of garden you have, it is possible to find a way to incorporate roses into its design if you use miniature roses. They are among the more versatile of plants, and they are a delight to grow, blooming in cycles so that you nearly always have beautiful flowers.

There are not a whole lot of roses that enjoy being in the shade. Miniature roses and some climbing and shrub roses are usually fairly shade tolerant, as roses grow. Most roses prefer five to six hours in the sun. However, it is possible to find some rose varieties that do okay in partial shade. You will not find a rose variety that thrives in full shade, however. This is because roses need the sun just as much as they need water. And that is quite a bit.

No matter what variety you choose, most roses will bloom less even in partial shade. However, it is possible to choose roses that do okay in the shade, and that do not noticeably lose any blooms. Rose plants that feature large and prolific blooms make up for the loss of blooms, and many roses of pales colors actually look better in the shade. The shading helps them fully show their colors, where they would be a bit washed out looking if they were in the sun all day.

Here are three varieties of rose that give beautiful performances, whether they are in the sun or in partial shade.

Ballerina

This rose flower variety is hybrid musk with five petals. It is a dainty flower and it grows in clusters. The flowers are pink and white, and the musk shrub holds them aloft quite beautifully. It is a hybrid that came into being in 1937 and has provided a delightful fragrance ever since. The Ballerina rose variety is noted for its disease resistance. Because it is naturally resistant to disease and tolerant of partial shade, this is a variety that is relatively easy to care for. This flower can also bloom into the autumn, creating a long blooming season and providing an extra bit of time to enjoy their beauty. The Ballerina also features attractive hips. It can be trained to be a climber, albeit a small, reaching about six feet. Ballerina’s versatility makes it an excellent choice especially for beginners who are looking for something to provide them with a measure of success in growing roses.

Knock-Out Rose ‘Radrazz’

It may have a long and kind of odd name, but the Knock-Out is, in fact, a real knock out. It is the rose variety that is the most shade tolerant of any rose variety. The color of the blooms is bright, cherry red. These blooms are in a perpetual state of growth and new blooming. They start in the early spring and continue the cycle through the summer, autumn, and even into winter’s hard frosts. Not only is the Knock-Out tolerant of partial shade, it is also very resistant to disease. It is easy to grow and won the “Member’s Choice” award for the 2004 American Rose competition. Knock-Out is a superior choice for beginners, at it practically guarantees success. This rose is also drought resistant and its resistance to blackspot makes it possible to help this rose variety to thrive even in places of high humidity. It is a very versatile rose that can grow in a variety of hardiness zones, ranging from zone four to zone nine.

Playboy

Playboy is a rose variety that is perhaps the most dramatic of the shade tolerant roses. The foliage is glossy, and it sets of the blooms rather well. The blooms themselves are the height of drama. They begin a shade of yellow and the progress to orange. Finally, they reach a deep red color as the blooms fade. This transformation is one of the reasons that Playboy was the Gold Medal winner in 1989. The flowers are quite large and are semi-double blossoms. Not only does it have a very dramatic appearance and is beautiful at all stages, but Playboy is also disease resistant. It is fairly easy to grow, and it has an aspect that makes it especially suitable for a border or a hedge.

No matter which of these three rose varieties you choose, you are likely to have a positive rose growing experience. These roses are tolerant of partial shade and so it makes it possible for someone without full sun to enjoy the rewards that come with growing beautiful roses.