Fall-Planted Bulbs

Each July or so I order my bulbs from Brent & Becky's to plant in October. Their pictures and descriptions are so enticing and it's so easy that I usually order quite a few. Click, click, click. And then the box arrives in October and I'm overwhelmed by the work of actually planting them. It's such a relief when I finish that task. It's worth it in the spring when green things poke out of the snow. Here's what I planted this year:
Narcissus 'Kiss Me' and 'Tripartite:'

Tulip humilis 'Lilliput' and 'Persian Pearl:' I'm not a huge fan of growing tulips in my yard because first of all, they're attractive to rabbits and there's nothing worse than watching your work and money go to waste when the rabbits mow your bulbs to the ground. And second, the foliage on most tulips is unattractive after the flowers are done and takes a long time to die so I can clean it up. But these tulips are super tiny and I thought they might be worth a shot. The Lilliput bulbs were about the size of a large pea.

Muscari aucheri 'Blue Magic:' I haven't grown grape hyacinth before because I thought the standard purple variety is too common. But this variety is an interesting blue color. Hopefully I don't regret planting these as I hear grape hyacinth can spread like crazy.

Crocus chrysanthus 'Goldilocks,' 'Cream Beauty,' and a bag of mixed varieties: I love growing crocuses because they're the first thing that starts growing in my garden in the spring. But most crocuses are rabbit candy. However, I've had pretty good luck with the chrysanthus species. And I figure that since they're cheap and fairly easy to plant, if I keep adding more each year I'll just overwhelm the rabbits with volume. I already have some of the 'Goldilocks' and I planted this new batch among my dwarf irises ('Pauline' and 'Pixie') because they bloom at the same time. I like how the purple and yellow look together.

Eremurus 'Orange Marmalade': I haven't grown any foxtail lilies before, but I thought they would be a good perennial addition to my tropical bed. The catalog says they get 4-5' tall. I'm not going to plant castor beans next year because the beans are highly poisonous and look like candy, so I put these at the back of the tropical bed to be the backdrop instead. We'll see if it works. I've found heights listed in catalogs to be unreliable.

One note from my spring-planted bulbs this year - all the 'Karma' series dahlias seem to grow 5-6' in my garden, not the 2-3' listed in the Brent & Becky's catalog. They're beautiful flowers and grow well, but are way taller than listed.