The Bulb Queen’s Top Five for Fall

Tulips

“They’re so incredibly beautiful and showy and transient,” enthuses Courtney. “I love the way sunlight just goes right through the petals, and if you see them in the right light, they glow. They’re big and in-your-face,” she says. “They just won’t be denied.”

Tulips are easy to care for and make great cult flowers, but the drawback (at least in our climate) is that they’re not long-lived. “They really only last two-to-three years,” Courtney explains. “Year one is the best: they all flower and they’re at their fullest and most beautiful. But every time they bloom, they diminish in size until eventually that blooming is sporadic,” she says. “So if you want to keep up a strong display, you have to replace them. But as far as beauty and perfection? They’re worth the effort.”

Her favorite (right now, anyway) is ‘El Niño’. “It really is spectacular—it’s a later-blooming tulip, really tall with a huge bloom, hot orange with red streaks and spots.”

Daffodils

These are a favorite because they multiply every year. Beyond making great cut flowers, they’re one of the first large flowers in the spring. “I also really like the way they smell, the way they look—that really cool form, the big trumpet; nothing else is like that. Plus, they’re true perennials in Maine.” Not only that, but they’ll increase in number. “In ten years, you’ll have a huge clump. Divide that and replant at will,” she advises.

Hyacinths

While these are common and easy to find, their real selling point? “It’s the scent—unbelievable. I love forcing these and having them around the house for that scent alone.” Short and cheerful hyacinths look like one big, puffy bloom, but in reality that “bloom” is made up of dozens of tiny fragrant flowers. “They also come in all kinds of colors,” adds Courtney, “so they’re an easy way to add interest to your display.”

Scillas

The tiny ones, also called Siberian squill, “are relatively unknown, really cute, and one of the first things to bloom in spring, even before daffodils,” Courtney says. Her other favorites, sort-of cousins of the scilla, are chionodoxa (also called glory-of-the-snow). “These cheery flowers come in white, blue, and pink, but that blue is the most amazing sky blue. After a muddy March and April, it’s such a refreshing sight to see.”

Fritillaries

“I really like fritillaries, so I have a few favorites: Fritillaria imperialis (‘The Premier’) and a late-bloomer with smoky plum blooms, Fritillaria persica. You can’t go wrong with Fritillaria meleagris, ‘The Checkered Lily’, either,” she says. “They’re so beautiful and so diminutive, one of those plants that’s not super showy, but has this beautiful, nodding, bell-shaped flower with an almost checkered pattern on the petals.” Like tulips, she warns, most fritillaria aren’t great as perennials here in Maine; after a number of years, they do disappear, but while they last, “they’re just so amazing and so unusual in the spring garden.”