The whole "spring bulb" and "fall bulb" labels can be confusing. Tulips/Daffodils/Crocus/Hyacinth and the like, for example - planted in the fall, but people generally call them spring bulbs because that's when they bloom. However, the bulbs you see for sale in the fall are the hardy plants that generally want a cold period and will survive the winter and come back year after year, like those I mentioned above. What you see for sale in the spring are the non-hardy bulbs and bulb-like plants that will not survive in the ground over winter, such as Dahlias, Caladiums, Elephant Ears, Glads, Cannas. Some people treat these as annuals, and others lift the roots and store them from year to year, replanting each spring. Of course, as you move further south, eventually you reach a zone for each of these things where it will be hardy outside through the winter, i.e., they will be perennials - for Glads and Cannas, we're probably talking US zone 7, a little further south for the other things mentioned. Still, they are traditionally sold in the spring because the merchants want to cover the whole range of both cold and warm zones with one sales period. The confusion comes because there are a lot of things you see packaged bare-root like bulbs which are for sale in both fall and spring - such as the Astilbe and Bleeding Heart you mention above and lots of other perennials. As you say, the packages look identical with the same contents and one shows fall planting and the other shows spring planting. These are the things that are successfully divided and transplanted any time they are dormant, which is from fall until they start to grow in the spring, so they are sold at both times. Lilies are a true bulb that is also in this category - the bulb never goes completely dormant, so they can put out new roots any time you transplant and will do well either spring or fall planted. As Cranebill mentions above, the best results for any given growing season will come if you get them in during the fall before, but I have always had success with them in the spring. Also, as Cranebill mentions above, if in doubt when spring comes, plant it anyway. The worst that can happen is that it won't grow, which is ASSURED if you don't plant it. - Steve

Thanks, Al. I do not especially mind the extra work of it. I was afraid to leave them in the pots much longer, though, as we have horribly hot summers here. I thought the heat might kill the bulbs. They must be hardier than I thought, though, to have survived in the bags in the cupboard from last fall to this spring. I was so surprised that they came up at all given the state they were in just before they went into the pots!

Would Lamium with silvery leaves and either white or 'pink' flowers be an option? I'm guessing you'd want to naturalise the bulbs as the maples sometimes have a lot of near surface feeder roots and wouldn't appreciate the annual ritual of bulb lifting. Smaller bulbs, such as snowdrops, species tulips, and some of the multi-flowered Narcissus could come up in open patches or through the Lamium. Vinca minor would give a deep green cover under the maple and would probably flower. It works pretty well for disguising/distracting from withered brown leaves. Apart from a few 'hang on a see what's for Christmas' Narcissus (such as Earlicheer) most of them have finished by late spring, early summer and are ready for lifting if necessary. (Leaves have browned, dried off, fallen away. Check that your area is not plagued by Narcissus fly. They lay their eggs just where the leaves have left a hole. When they hatch the maggots settle in to the middle of the bulb and feast on next year's flower and leaves. Disheartening - and squishing the little pests is no consolation at all.)

Also planting Lent lilies - pseudonarcissus Lobularis and Obvallaris - 2000 (but very small bulbs - can use a crocus planter). I have been planting bulbs in my little wood for the past 4 years and try to do a few thousand every year (I buy wholesale) - mainly narcissus but also camassia, leucojum, a couple of thousand small blue bulbs (l;ast year) and galanthus. This year, I am also planting 500 snakehead frits and 500 gladioli byzanticus. A well known galanthophile (Heyrick Greatorex) lived in the next village so there were thousands of bulbs which had naturalised over the last 50 years - mostly doubles) already in the wood. I have expanded from a minuscule home garden (tulips in pots) to my allotments and lately, 5.5 acres of poplar wood. In fairness, I live in the bulb-growing capital of the UK - East Anglia so bulbs are cheap, local and truly excellent. After ignoring the allotment since buying the woods, I am reviving it in some shame, with an order of 700 tulips - 200 species and the rest for picking. The list is long but includes a couple of doubles for the first time (Showcase, Belle Epoche and another deep purple one). The tulips love the rubbish sunny soil in the allotment and return reliably. I looked at the Costco links and almost fainted at the costs! I spend around $300 on bulbs and expect at least 4000 bulbs- narcissus, for example, cost around $32 for 500 (wholesale) while tulips for picking (smaller bulbs) can be had for$10 per 100 (Gedneys, GeeTee) and bigger bulbs (Peter Nyssen) are around $16-18 for 50