Spring bulbs bring color to your garden early in spring. Do you have a lot of grass in your yard or a boring patch of grass in front of your house? Plant weathering bulbs this fall! Planting early flowering spring bulbs is also very good for pollinators. In this blog, you learn how to easily plant spring bulbs in the grass to create that romantic meadow.
Which bulbs are suitable for planting in the grass for a colorful lawn?
Spring and autumn flowering crocuses
Crocuses are great for planting in the grass because they bloom early in the year. In fact, they bloom as early as February, even before the grass needs to be cut. You can also plant them well under trees. Crocuses bloom well before the trees have leaves, so they get plenty of early spring sun.
Did you know that there are also crocuses that bloom in the autumn? We planted them here around the peonies. We cut the leaves off the peonies at the end of summer and then the autumn crocuses start blooming beautifully. You could also plant this variety in the grass but be careful when you mow the lawn in the fall. If you remember where you planted them you can skip that bit and mow later when the foliage has died back.
Chionodoxa or glory-of-the-snow
Another cute early bloomer for your lawn is glory-of-the-snow or Chionodoxa. The bulbs are slightly less well-known than the crocuses, after which we even named an entire school vacation in the Netherlands, but certainly no less beautiful. The flowers are usually blue but we planted the pink variety in our garden, the chionodoxa forbesii pink giant.
How do you plant crocuses in grass?
Make sure you plant the bulbs a little deeper, around 10 to 15 centimeters deep. This will prevent birds from pulling your bulbs out of the ground to eat them in the fall. Bulbs don’t take a lot of water so make sure you plant them in a place where the water can drain away well in winter. Is your meadow or lawn in the winter underwater? Then choose another spot for your bulbs. Then plant them in pots or raised planters, for example. Mixing a handful of gravel or perlite into the planting hole can also help.
How to plant early flowering Chionodoxa or Glory-of-the-snow
The small bulbs are less bothered by birds and rodents and do not need to be planted as deep as crocuses. Just below the surface, about 5 inches deep is already deep enough for these spring bulbs. Now that you know how deep the bulbs should be, you are probably wondering where is the best place to plant the Chionodoxa? Do you have an empty and boring spot in the garden in spring? For example, under leafy trees and shrubs or in the grass? Does it get a little sun in late winter? Then it is definitely a good place for your bulbs!
An easy method to plant small naturalizing spring bulbs in grass
Planting with a traditional bulb planter in thick grass is often difficult. To get through the strong roots of the grass, you can use a dibber. The sharp metal tip easily pierces through the grassroots. Because the bulbs of crocuses and Chionondoxa are smaller than tulips, they fit well in the created planting hole. Fill the holes with compost or potting soil for some extra nutrition in the spring.
Early and late flowering bulbs are good for bees and other pollinators
Because crocuses bloom as early as February, they are a good nectar source for bees. At the end of winter, they often come out for the first time in search of a quick snack. You can combine them well with the also early blooming Glory-of-the-snow.
Autumn crocuses bloom late in the season when the summer flowers have already died back due to the cold nights. Therefore, the flowering autumn crocuses provide one last source of pollen before the really cold winter sets in. We have combined autumn crocuses with beautiful autumn aster in our garden. They give the autumn a beautiful purple glow and the flowers attract many insects.