5 spring bulbs to brighten a garden after winter

Spring bulbs are among the first blooms to appear as the snow recedes and the garden thaws. Here are a few bulbs that can brighten your garden.

• The snowdrop is one of the earliest of the spring bulbs, with pearlike buds that push up through the snow in late winter.
• In very cold weather, the buds stay closed. They'll open during the day when the sun shines.
• Snowdrops look best in informal woodland settings, in rough grass, under deciduous trees or shrubs or among low ground covers.

• The white, yellow, blue, purple and bi-coloured blooms open before the daffodils.
• They can be naturalized in grass or planted in groups beneath shrubs and trees.
• Dutch cultivars are the largest of all the crocuses. They come in white, blue, lilac, red-purple and golden yellow.
• Sometimes, they're striped with different colours.

• No garden is complete without clumps of golden yellow, trumpet-flowered daffodils dancing in the spring breezes.
• Daffodils are among the most versatile of all bulbs. Not only do the bulbs increase each year, but their bitter taste repels rodents.
• They grow well under deciduous trees and in open woodland.
• The daffodil's trumpet is frilled or flared at the outer edge. The six overlapping petals are usually pointed at the tips. Colours vary.
• The double-flowered varieties have cups that are indistinguishable from the petals.
• Most are all one colour, such as the yellow 'Ingelescombe.' Some of the newer ones are bi-coloured, like the orange and yellow 'Texas.'

• In the drab days of winter, the scented blooms of hyacinths bring colour and cheer into normally flowerless rooms.
• Although hyacinths are widely used for indoor forcing, they're suitable for the garden or planters in mild areas.
• Most hyacinths are derived from a single species. The modern varieties have the characteristic large, single-spike flowers known as Dutch hyacinths.
• The sweetly scented flowers are available in white, cream, yellow, salmon, pink, red, light and dark blue and purple.
• The Roman hyacinths have smaller flower spikes than the Dutch hybrids, and they produce several to each bulb.
• The individual flowers on Roman hyacinths are more loosely set than Dutch hyacinths.

• Tulips, like many other bulbs, produce a very dramatic effect with relatively little attention.
• They almost never fail to flower the first year after planting.
• The typical flower is goblet shaped with six petals, but they come in many different varieties.
• Some tulip flowers have very pointed petals, and some are double. Still others open flat into star-shaped blooms or into twisted and fringed shapes.
• The so-called bouquet tulips produce five or six flowers per bulb on a branching stem. They provide a spectacular garden accent.
• Lily-flowered tulips have long pointed petals and a goblet shape, slightly constricted toward the top.

When the winter chill recedes, many of us are eager for the first signs of spring. These spring bulbs can give your garden a bit of colour and help you welcome the warmer weather.