Spring blooming tulips, daffodils and other bulbs are a colorful way to get your garden season off to a good start early next spring. But to have flowers in May, you have to plant the bulbs anytime between now and the end of October. The sooner you get to the garden center or the catalogues, the sooner you will be assured of getting the bulbs you want to buy.

If you aren't sure you know which bulbs to buy, a pre-selected collection of different bulbs is a great way to get started. My first bulbs were a collection I bought at Keukenhoff Gardens in Holland. Typically these will contain different colored tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, crocus, squill (Scilla siberica), snowdrops Galanthus nivalis) and maybe something else thrown in.

Daffodils are my all-time favorite and I wouldn't enjoy spring very much if I didn't grow the 18" tall yellow trumpet 'King Alfred.' But the small 8 to 12 tall narcissi 'Jack Snipe,' 'Tete-a-Tete', 'Ice Wings' and 'Thalia' good for small spaces.

If you have more space and are looking to create that naturalized look, collections of mixed daffodils are a good buy. Daffodils are usually a dollar a piece, but the collections can be priced at 20 for $10 all the way up to a half bushel for $65, for instance.

Plant your bulbs as soon as you get them. They like a spot that will be sunny in spring and that is well-drained. Work a little compost in to the soil and plant them root side down with the neck 4-5 inches below the soil surface for large bulbs and 2-3 inches below the surface for smaller bulbs. Bone meal is not necessary but it won't hurt.

If you are going to plant just a few bulbs, you can dig the holes with a hand trowel or an special bulb spade. If you are going to plant a whole bed, it's better to dig up the whole area. Set the bulbs in and then backfill the dirt. If you are planting a lot of bulbs, you might want to get a bulb auger you attach to a power drill to dig the holes.

After the bulb has bloomed next spring, cut off the stem but leave the leaves which help replenish the bulbs underground. Remove the leaves after they have turned yellow/brown in early summer. Apply natural organic fertilizer in the fall. Dig them up every few years and divide them if they begin to show fewer flowers.

Tulips are the most majestic of all the bulbs, especially the 24 inch tall Darwin hybrids in their bright reds and yellows.

Pastels are all the rage right now in tulips with some very interesting shades of pink, green and peach for the more color-conscious gardeners. Don't overlook the lesser known tulips including:

Emperor tulips, a.k.a Fosteriana. These 12 to 18 inch tall, long stemmed tulips are close cousins of the first tulips ever grown. 'Red Emperor,' 'White Emperor' and yellow 'Sweetheart' are old-fashioned classics.

Species or botanical tulips most closely resemble the original tulips found in the wilds of Turkey over 400 years ago. With some of them you have to look closely to see the tulip resemblance but do give them a try. Look for "Tarda,' 'Turkestanica,''Lilac Wonder,''Saxatillis,' and up to a dozen more. Buy a botanical tulip collection if you have extra room if you want to try a little bit of everything.

Kaufmanniana tulips are known as the waterlily tulip because when they open their flowers resemble water lilies. "Heart's Delight,' 'Stresa' and others are good examples.

Greigii tulips are low-growing, 6 to 8 inch tall tulips with variegated or mottled foliage and pretty two-tone flowers. 'Red Riding Hood,' 'Golden Tango,''Corsage' and 'Plaisir' are just a few of the varieties in this interesting family.

Plant tulips root side down with the neck about 6 inches below the soil surface. Cut off their stalk after the flower has died next spring but leave the leaves to store nutrients for the bulbs below.

I've found that the larger Darwin tulips tend to last only a few years in my garden. But by then I am ready to replace them with the newest looks and colors. The species, Kaufmanniana and greggi tulips last much longer almost becoming true perennials.

Fragrant hyacinths and first-to-bloom crocus are the other two pillars of the bulb garden. Planted in a sunny well-drained site both will last for years and years. Crocus can be naturalized in a lawn as long as you don't mow the lawn until the flowers are spent and the leaves are beginning to wilt. Luckily this time usually coincides with the first lawn mowing.

The fritilaria family is rapidly finding its way into more gardens. President Thomas Jefferson grew Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis) and you can, too. Persian Bells (F. persica) grows 3 to 4 feet tall and produces stalks of purple-black flowers. Guinea Hen (F. meleagris) is only 8 inches tall and produces white and purple checkered downward facing flowers. All fritilaria need plenty of fertilizer after they have bloomed to get them to re-bloom the following year.

But before you get mesmerized by the photos of bright yellow daffodils and pretty pink hyacinths, you need to think about where you can plant these beauties. Certain bulbs look better in certain environments.

If you have an existing mixed perennial and annuals border, you can plant almost any type of bulbs. But once the bulbs have flowered you still have those scraggly leaves to deal with for another month or so. Place your bulbs towards the back of this border so they can be hidden by the new perennials that come up later in the spring.

One of the best all-time bulb and perennial combinations is daffodils nestled in amount clumps of daylilies. Daffodils bloom in early spring and the daylilies come up and take over the bed in early summer. I've done this in my own shady garden, with daffodils and species tulips planted among Hosta under a maple tree that doesn't leaf out until late spring.

Daffodils, tulips, Fritillaria Crown Imperial and persica are tall flowers from bulbs that can be tucked in your ivy bed or other ground cover. Crocus, species tulip and chionodoxa are smaller flowering bulbs that do well in rock gardens.

You can buy most of these bulbs at any well-stocked garden center. But there are a number of good catalogues that may be of interest to you.

-- Van Bourgodenien, 245 Route 109, Babylon, NY 11702-9004, 1-800-622-9997, www.dutchbulbs.com. A good basic catalogue with nice color photos.

-- McClure & Zimmerman, 108 W. Winnebago, Friesland, WI 53935. 1-800-883-6998, www.mzbulb.com. An extensive catalogue with good prices.