October can feel like the month when gardening starts shutting down, but one of the year’s best opportunities is sitting in bags and boxes at garden centers right now. Plant the right spring flowering bulbs this fall, and you’ll get weeks of color next year without buying trays of annuals or starting dozens of seeds. The University of Minnesota explains that hardy spring bulbs need a cold period to break dormancy and begin flower development. Fall planting also gives bulbs time to establish roots before frozen ground arrives. Better yet, combining bulbs with different bloom times can turn one October afternoon of planting into a display stretching from late winter into early summer.
