Guest Author - Kimberly Cassandra Cannon

This article’s content is for the gardener who lives in a warmer climate. A climate that rarely sees snow let alone temperatures below a mere 30 degrees. Warm climate gardeners will never see a white Christmas and they do not have four seasons, yet they challenge themselves with creating what is known as a spring garden with bulbs.

Unbelievably, there is a way to use bulbs in your spring garden despite the warmer weather. You just have to know how to do it. So grab a journal and take notes on how to do warm climate bulb gardening.

By now, autumn has begun in the warmer climates. The leaves have begun to fall and the warm-seasonal bedding plants are all dried up, waiting to be thrown into the compost pile. Now embarks enough reason to get to the nursery (if you have not already) and select a new selection of cool-season annuals and bulbs available for the spring garden.

Time to shop:
Get to your local nursery and look for healthy-looking specimens of spring bulbs. If they are mushy and molded, keep looking. There are also, mail-order nurseries, another option for selective and unique types, although you may have to pay for express at this late date. While you’re at the nursery, select a few cool-season annuals to put in to give color impact before the bulbs start performing. Keep in mind, tallest in the back and shortest in the front, is not a rule in stone. Your garden is your paradise. Break out of the norm and exhibit what is pleasing to your eyes.

Color in the garden:
The selection process of so many colors to choose from is the fun part. There are so many colors, types and sizes of bulbs to choose from and the many ways to display them. Nothing is more breathtaking than to see a pictorial of over 100 hyacinths and daffodils in contrasting tones of purple and yellow as a sea of vivid and remarkable color.

Using color in many different formats such as warm colors, pastels and even contrasting ones is what brings attention to a garden. Play with interesting waves of hues and tones and remember a colorful garden need not be every color on the rainbow. Instead, opt for utilizing it in interesting ways. For example, try complementary colors like red/green, violet/yellow or blue/orange.

If your garden is small and shady, pastels will give a sense of depth and as they appear to recede. Alternatively, if your garden is rather large and sunny, a warm color palette would be better since warm colors appear to advance toward the viewer, as the colors are very upfront and powerful.

BBeds and borders:
Creation of design is another factor with bulbs. With a background palette of greenery, colorful bulbs will stand out like prominently. There are a few basic designs that any one person can do without the help of a landscaper. Try a border with curves and varied angles for an informal garden; if you are more conservative, a straight lined border constrictive and formal will fit quite perfectly for this type of landscape. The only difference between a border and a bed is that a bed is isolated in the center of a garden, whereas, the border usually marks out the edge of a garden.

Once a preferred shape is decided, apply either spray paint or flour along a garden hose to outline a specified shape and using a flat-head shovel, edge out bed/border. This will give a clean look and help to deter grass blades from spreading into garden bed.

This is part 1 of spring bulbs in warmer climates. Look for part 2 in the next several days for a conclusion of bulb gardening in this challenging climate.