Last time I wrote about buying bulbs, I was raving about Narcissus. They are hardy, they aren't tasty to rabbits and squirrels, and they naturalize.

Not so Tulips.

Most of the tulips you'll find in big box stores and even many garden centers are hybrid tulips. That means they've been bred for particular traits – mostly color, height, and bloom time. They're gorgeous, but they often don't come back reliably. You may get them back for a year or two, but not much longer.

However, there's a whole category of tulips you may not know about: species tulips. These are tulips that have not been inbred, so they're hardier and often have more flowers than the hybrids. What's more, they'll naturalize, which means they'll spread, either by seed or by sending out runners (stolons).

And they're gorgeous! Lots of them have interesting leaves, too, so when they're done blooming, the garden still has something nice to look at.

My favorites are Tulipa gregii, Tulipa fosteriana, Tulipa bakeri, Tulipa praestans, and Tulipa Kaufmanniana. Most of these are quite short and flower in early spring.

Tulipa kaufmanniana bloom quite early. They are often only 6" tall, and the flower petals open wider than the hybrid tulips. Often they have some interesting markings or color differences in the center. The 'Ancilla' cultivar, for example, is rose red and soft pink on the outside with a white and yellow center. They're enormously cheerful when winter seems forever.

Tulipa bakeri is a mid-season bloomer, and there's a spectacular cultivar called 'Lilac Wonder' that has a yellow heart and lilac pink petals.

Fosteriana tulips are taller, often 14-16", and they bloom somewhat later. They have names like 'Flaming Purissima' and 'Orange Emperor.' They have strong stems and can stand early winds, and they bloom early enough that their foliage is ready to go when you're planting annuals. Some Fosteriana tulips look like the hybrids you're used to, and some open more fully, like the Kaufmannianas. 'Juan,' for example, is a bright orange that opens quite wide and has purple mottled foliage.

Tulipa praestans 'Fusilier' and 'Unicam' are also splendid red tulips that grow about 10". 'Unicam' has white edges on the leaves, which makes its interest last longer than its bloom.

Gregii tulips bloom after the Fosterianas, and they too often have interesting mottled leaves. My favorite of these is "Red Riding Hood," which is a solid red with a black heart and lovely foliage.

Plant tulips 5-8" deep: the rule of thumb is plant them three times as deep as the size of the bulb. They like well drained soil; that means they don't do as well in clay as they do in soil that's got some sand (or gravel) mixed in, and they like to dry out after they bloom. They like full sun, too. The deeper you plant them, the better protected they are against squirrels, rabbits, and other animals. If you have serious animal problems, you can try planting mothballs next to the bulbs.

All these tulips look best when massed together and interplanted with some of the great smaller spring bulbs like Chionodoxa, Scilla, and Muscari.

Chionodoxa, or Glory of the Snow, is a shortish plant with purple, or blue-purple flowers, that naturalizes beautifully. Plant it by the hundreds, among your narcissus and tulips.

Scilla, or Siberian Squill, is a darker blue, also short early flowering plant that looks best in drifts.
Muscari, or Grape Hyacinths, are little cone shaped bundles of tiny blue or white flowers that bloom in mid spring. All three of these small bulbs will fill in the feet of your larger tulips and narcissus and give your garden pop and depth. They're all small bulbs, and you want to plant 8 – 10 of them per square foot. Plant them 3" deep.

If you can, the easiest way to plant bulbs is to dig out the whole area and then place the bulbs and replace the soil. If you're planting bulbs among perennials, you'll need to dig them in individually. Be sure to plant them with the end that grows roots down. If you're not sure which end that is, it's usually the fatter end. If you still can't tell, plant the bulbs on their sides.

If you're planting a lot of bulbs, you may want to invest in a bulb planter. I know of a couple of types: one has a cylinder at the end of a handle. It also has platforms for your feet, so you can step on it and it will dig out a cylinder of soil. Don't do this in wet soil: you'll get one hole and that's it; the soil will stay in the tool. Another tool is a big drill head. Attach it to a portable drill, and it drills holes as deep as you want them. Both of these will save your back some discomfort.

Mix a little bone meal or bulb food in the hole with the bulb for extra luck.

You can find a good selection of bulbs from online sellers.

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