By Joan Reis, U. C. Master Gardener

Every event in one's life can be made better with a little planning. This is especially true for gardeners. One of the highlights of the gardener's year is the transition from the dreary winter landscape to a gorgeous spring garden full of crocus, daffodils and tulips. Among Napa County Master Gardeners, plans are already underway for an equally breathtaking late-spring tour of gardens nurtured by members.

In both cases—your own spring garden and the Master Gardeners' June tour—the time has come for preparations. It's time to order the bulbs that will bloom in your garden from next February to June. Plan to plant all your bulbs by the middle of October, before the major rains. Even if you mistakenly plant some bulbs upside down, you'll still probably get blooms. Still, it helps to remember to set the bulb pointed end up in its planting hole.

Bulbs are the most forgiving of plantings. The flowers are already completely formed inside and just waiting to burst out. Planting dozens of bulbs can be the most rewarding thing you do in your garden this fall. Your payoff will come next spring; you only have to wait out the winter while the bulbs are underground doing the work.

To plan for your spring extravaganza, choose just a few varieties from the tempting smorgasbord you'll find soon in your local nursery, in catalogs and on the Internet. Check out the bloom period. The label will indicate when the bulb will start to bloom and how long the bloom will last. Because my garden will be on the Master Gardener tour, I'll be planting late-blooming tulips, alliums and ranunculus, all of which promise flowers in early June. One allium I'm contemplating is 'Globemaster,' a real showstopper with its huge, globe-shaped blossom.

If you are impatient for early blooms, consider crocus. They emerge in February along with the very early freesias, daffodils and narcissus like 'February Gold,' a robust early bloomer. There are also varieties of all of these bulbs that bloom in March and April, along with muscari (grape hyacinth), hyacinth and tulips.

Limit the variety so that you can buy in bulk. The cost per bulb will be lower, and instead of a few spots of color, you will have a heart-stopping display. For the best prices, shop for the classics. 'Thalia' is a wonderful, tall white daffodil. 'Angelique' is a favorite double pink tulip shaped like a peony. The tulip 'Apricot Beauty' has a sweet fragrance; 'Negrita' is a rich royal purple; and 'Pink Impression' is huge, with tall, strong stems, perfect for making a statement.

Plant bulbs in masses or arrange them in drifts. For bulbs that bloom at the same time, plant lower-growing ones in front of taller ones. Plant early bloomers in back of later bloomers, so the latecomers can hide the early bulbs' spent leaves.

Don't wait to plant bulbs. They are not like seeds that can sit for months on a shelf. Remove soil to the required depth in an irregular area about one and one half to two feet square. Place the bulbs in randomly, and cover gently with the reserved soil. Bulbs have all the food they will need to bloom next spring, but you could place some organic fertilizer underneath the bulb so that it will be available for the following year's bloom. If your soil is heavy clay, dig in some organic material first to loosen it up.

Spring perennials that bloom the same time as your bulbs can double the effectiveness. Consider candytuft and alyssum. When planting bulbs in perennial beds, plant some muscari above the bulbs. The green leaves of muscari seldom die out and will serve as a warning that bulbs are below.

The hardest part of planting bulbs is digging the holes. For individual plantings, mechanical drills work well. Traditional bulb planters demand lots of wrist action and take a fair amount of time when you are planting a lot of bulbs, so I like to just spade up a section of earth, lay down the bulbs and cover the whole lot up again.