Fall is the best time to plant spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths. Spring bulbs can be used in lots of different ways – from borders edged with tulips, to naturalized clumps of daffodils, and crocuses blooming across the lawn.
Planting bulbs in containers is a simple way to dress up your porch or patio with spring flowers. The simplest strategy is to just plant bulbs in the containers and wait for spring. However, if you don't want to look at bare soil, it's a great opportunity to get creative and top your containers with other flowers.
Adding topper plants is essentially a type of companion planting for flowers. A good companion plant should thrive in the same conditions as the bulbs and avoid being overly vigorous or invasive. If they bloom at the same time, their colors and growth habits should complement each other. Many annual flowers make excellent partners for spring-flowering bulbs. Here’s our guide to topping potted bulbs, plus some of our favorite picks.
Companion Planting Bulbs in Pots
There’s nothing wrong with choosing a single bulb type for a container, or even a mix of colors of one type of flower. On the other hand, there are some benefits to adding toppers. Additional flowers, if chosen wisely, can give you more continuous seasonal color in containers. Toppers also allow you to create more interesting containers with a mix of flower colors, sizes, and textures. They also help disguise fading bulb foliage after the blooms are done.
There are a couple of strategies for topping potted bulbs. You can plant a fall annual, like pansies, on top of the bulbs now for fall color. You can also add spring and summer annuals next year to create continuous flowers or a mix of bulbs and annuals in one pot. Just be sure you combine flowers that have similar growing needs – from sun to soil type and water.
To maximize flowering, add a low-nitrogen bulb fertilizer, such as Espoma Organic Bulb-Tone, available from Amazon, at the time of planting, and again after flowering. In spring, you can feed both bulbs and topper plants at once with a bloom-booster formula, like Miracle-Gro Water Soluble Bloom Booster.
Also, remember that bulbs in pots are more exposed to cold than those in the ground. In colder regions, you may need to insulate or move containers to protect the bulbs.
1. Pansies or Violas
All pansies (Viola x wittrockiana) are types of violas, but not all violas are pansies. Both, however, make excellent companions for potted bulbs. They grow 6 to 10 inches (15 to 25 cm) tall and come in a variety of pretty colors. Violas and pansies grow best in the cooler weather of spring and fall. Plant them on top of bulbs in fall and again in spring for shoulder season color.
As your spring bulbs bloom, they’ll mingle with the pansies or violas. These petite annuals will look best with taller bulbs, like daffodils or tulips. They also look nice with hyacinths, but will be a closer height match.
Get fast color with this Expert Gardener Multicolor Blotch Pansy 6-Pack from Walmart.
2. Calendula
Calendula (Calendula officinalis), often called pot marigold, grows as an annual in cool climates. It’s easy to grow and has bright, cheerful, daisy-like flowers, typically in shades of orange and yellow. In a container with bulbs, it’ll provide blooms from spring right through fall.
Calendula can grow 1 to 2 feet (30 to 60 cm) tall, so pair them with taller bulbs for a pretty mix of color and flower shapes. Good companions include daffodils, tulips, and alliums.
Sweet Needs Calendula ‘Pacific Beauty Mix’ is a top-rated seed mix from Amazon that offers great value for money.
3. Sweet Alyssum
Sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) is an annual that thrives in full sun to partial shade and produces clusters of fragrant, tiny flowers. They grow low and are often used as edges and borders or as “spill” plants in containers. Sweet alyssum tolerates some cold and can be used in pots in the fall in warmer climates and in the spring everywhere.
Pair sweet alyssum with potted bulbs for a pretty and fragrant mix of flowers. You can grow them around the edge of the pot and allow them to spill over, or plant them throughout, so they fill in the spaces between tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, and other bulbs. Because sweet alyssum tolerates colder weather and grows low, you can mix it with very early, short bulbs, like crocus or snowdrop.
This Seed Needs Heirloom Alyssum Flower Seed Packet Collection, from Amazon, contains four stunning varieties.
4. Marigolds
Marigolds (Tagetes spp.) are great, easy annuals to grow in beds, along borders, and in containers. They bloom profusely throughout the summer and into the fall. If you want an annual that takes over once spring bulbs fade, marigolds are a reliable choice.
Add marigolds to a pot of daffodils, hyacinths, or tulips for a little spring overlap and a mix of colors. Once the bulbs are done blooming, the marigolds will keep the pots full of color and hide the bulbs’ foliage.
Marigolds are quick and easy to grow from seed – try this Organo Republic Non-GMO Heirloom Marigold Seed Mix from Amazon.
5. Forget-Me-Nots
Forget-me-nots (Myosotis sylvatica) are delicate woodland flowers that grow best in partial shade.
Technically a perennial, many people grow it as an annual or biennial. Forget-me-nots make good groundcovers, growing only about 5 inches (13 cm) tall, and bloom with a profusion of small, blue spring and summer flowers.
Set forget-me-nots against taller flowering bulbs in a container for a good contrast. For example, grow tulips with forget-me-nots around and between the bulbs. The taller, sun-loving tulips provide some shade for the shorter flowers, and the difference in flower sizes provides a nice contrast.
Green Promise Farms' Sea Heart Forget Me Not from Walmart is a particularly lovely variety with two-toned pink and blue flowers with green and white foliage
6. More Bulbs
Another option for variety is to layer different types of bulbs in one pot. Gardeners often use the “lasagna method,” layering bulbs by size for staggered blooms.
Start with a layer of soil in the container, followed by your largest bulbs (allium or tulips), more soil, medium bulbs (daffodils, hyacinths), and finally more soil and your smallest bulbs (crocus, snowdrops).
A carefully crafted bulb lasagna will give you continuous blooms from early spring into summer as one flower follows the next. You’ll also get some mixing and overlap.
Whether you add annual toppers or layer more bulbs, these combinations will give you colorful, long-lasting displays for your patio or garden.
