Tulips, daffodils, and other flowering bulbs cover different areas owing to the size of the bulb and the square footage of the planting area.  Of course, if you prefer denser effects you can adjust the numbers.

How to Plant

In general you will want to plant the following bulbs in these quantities:

• Tulips:   2″ apart or 9 tulips per square foot
• Daffodils:   7 in a clump or 7 regular daffodils per square foot
• Smaller Daffodils:   12 in a clump or 12 small daffodils per square foot
• Freesias:    2″ apart or 16 freesias per square foot
• Anemones:    2″ apart or 16 anemones per square foot
• Peonies:    12″ apart or 1 peony per square foot
• Giant Squill:   18″ apart or about 4 per every 3 square feet

The quantities differ when they are to planted in pots. The bulbs should be planted almost touching which will double or triple the number per square foot depending on the desired effect. You can also layer bulbs with larger bulbs like tulips and daffodils planted deeper and smaller bulbs planted on top of them so that their roots are not competing.

I planted heirloom freesias which were tiny with 100 to a pot and effect was gorgeous. Underneath were planted tall narcissus which were blooming at the same time.

Planting these heirloom freesias tightly together, gives a dense show. These antique freesias spread by dividing and also by seed and mine are developing beautiful seed pods right now! I will harvest the freesias and keep them in a cool, dark place until I replant them next fall in fresh potting soil as they have now spent two years in the same pot and will be very crowded as they will have grown larger. Daffodils can be replanted, but the tulips will not rebloom as well, as they divide after bloom into several smaller bulbs.