Writer and "plantsperson" Lucy Bellamy (Brilliant & Wild) promises a "bulb-rich year" for gardeners, selecting more than 150 bulbs for A Year in Bloom: Flowering Bulbs for Every Season. Lavishly photographed, Bellamy's collection is a vibrant coffee-table book and an inspirational guide for planting to enjoy year-round blossoms. Organized by season, the bulbs of A Year in Bloom were nominated by renowned gardeners worldwide; as people who "grow and observe bulbs every day," they enthusiastically share tips for cultivating their favorites.
While enhancing landscapes with breathtaking beauty and fragrance, flowering bulbs are also valuable as pollinators, and contributors offer advice on considering sustainability and biodiversity when choosing bulbs. A profusion of two-page photo spreads--tulip gardens, meadows of grape hyacinths, lilies in dappled shade--are interspersed with pages dedicated to individual flowers. From "gardeners happy to rootle on their hands and knees" seeking early spring snowdrops to plant-lovers content to force a paperwhite narcissus to bloom in an indoor pot in winter, anyone eager to anticipate flowers through the seasons will savor A Year in Bloom. --Cheryl McKeon, Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza, Albany, N.Y.