Here it is, August, and I’ve already received my first flower-bulb catalog, full of spring bloomers. Our own local nursery, the Satsop Bulb Farm, will reopen on September 15. It is time to plan!

Tulips are one of my favorite spring-blooming bulbs, but, for the most part, they are one-season bulbs and are best grown in containers if deer roam the garden or if mice take advantage of mole tunnels to chew on them.

I replace my pink and white tulip bulbs every year. I have wondered why these “double-late” bulbs, Angelique and Mt. Tahoma, do not return to bloom again the following spring. Constance Casey, a former New York City Department of Parks gardener, writing in Slate in 2006, provides a good description of why tulips like these must be replaced every fall:

A daffodil bulb plugs away year after year, casting off baby bulbs that break away like garlic cloves and are ready to flower come spring. A tulip bulb, by contrast, goes through the underground drama of matricide. After flowering is over, the mother tulip bulb — the plump one that was planted in the fall and produced a nice big flower — disintegrates. Her stuffing is sucked out to create a bunch of smaller daughter bulbs. Tulips’ basic principle is that small bulbs make small flowers or no flowers. Very few, if any, of the daughter bulbs are up to the job of making big flowers; thus, the gardener’s disappointment.

But not all tulip bulbs are matricidal. The Darwin Hybrids, sometimes called “perennial tulips” can continue to flower annually for as long as 10 seasons. The red and yellow tulips I have in most of the planters in my front garden are Darwin Hybrids. They are so called because they are a cross between a wild tulip from Central Asia (the Fosteriana or Emperor tulip) and the Darwin tulip (a member of the single-late tulip class).

The Emperor tulips are very perennial. Darwin tulips are taller, known for remarkably huge flowers and bright colors, but are without any perennial qualities. A cross between the Emperor and Darwin tulips resulted in the creation of the Darwin Hybrid, which has the best qualities of both the Emperor and the Hybrid tulips.

For most of the plant boxes in my garden, I choose the red and yellow Darwin Hybrid types. When I moved here from California, I noticed many gardens had this color combination. I thought there must be a reason why. I chose those colors from among the tulips that Satsop Bulb Farm offered. The red and yellow tulips they offered were Darwin Hybrids. However, there are Darwin Hybrid tulips in many other colors, running the gamut from shades of red to orange and yellow. There are also white Darwin Hybirds.

The Darwin Hybrid is one of many types of tulip. There are 15 groups or “divisions.” Examples of the divisions include the Lily-Flowered and the Parrot Tulip classes.

As you plan for your spring-bulb color, decide if you want to purchase perennial tulips or if you want to change your display every year. If the former, then look for the Darwin Hybrids. If you want to swap out every autumn for a fresh look the following spring, then choose from the hundreds of tulips within the 14 other divisions. Look for a variety of bulbs at the Satsop Bulb Farm or from one of the many other companies that sell their bulbs online or through a catalog.

Mary Shane, a Master Gardener since 1998, lives in the Val Vista area west of Montesano.