The beautiful picture that you have you in your mind's eye of a great looking garden early next spring relies on one thing: planting Holland bulbs this fall. Tulips, daffodils and the like are planted now (through the late fall). Flower bulbs that are planted in autumn put down roots before our Canadian winter sets in. These roots act as an anchor for the plant and a conduit for nutrients from the soil come spring. All of the energy that the plants needs is stored in the bulb itself. Think of it as a package of nutrients ready to push the flower and leaves up come spring.
Interestingly we can grow tulips, hyacinths and many other spring flowering bulbs here in Canada much better than they can in the southern U.S. states due to our slow, cool spring and our long cold winter. If you want to prove to yourself just how well we grow tulips in our cold climate, make plans to visit the largest public display of tulips outside of The Netherlands at the Canadian Tulip Festival, held each May in Ottawa.
