Bulbs look best planted in borders or naturalized in grass, where they will increase naturally if left undisturbed.
Some types, however, may become congested and need dividing or you may wish to propagate them to grow elsewhere.
Bulbs increase as you would expect once they are planted in the backyard and also will form some clumps.
The simplest technique of proliferation is just to lift a recognized bunch and split it up prior to replanting.
Daffodils, for example, can be lifted about six weeks after flowering when the foliage has started to dir down.
Clear soil from the bulbs and pull off any offsets to be replanted along with the healthy parent bulbs.
The offsets of bulbs are best removed when growth is just beginning.
Lilies produce offsets, but these are joined firmly to the parent and should be severed with a sharp knife.
The new corms of crocuses and colchicum are produced on top of the old ones, which are dead and should be separated and thrown away.
A few bulbous plants, including anemones, form knobby tubers with several growing points.
These can be lifted and cut up with at least one growing point on each division, before being dusted in fungicide and replanted.
This is what they called dividing bulbs.
Once the plants have been cleaned and divided, they can be potted up individually and then kept in a shaded cold frame until they have recovered.
Divide plants grown from rhizomes, such as the flag iris, when they get congested.
Lift the clump and cut away the oldest parts.
Replant only the newest growth.
Trim the leaves by about half to prevent wind rock.
Replace the pieces of rhizomes on a slight ridge of soil, covering the roots but leaving the tops exposed.
A few types of lily bulb, including the tiger lily, create tiny bulbs known as bulbils or even bulb lets at the leaf axils up the shoot.
These should be removed about a fortnight after the plant has flowered and planted out or potted up.
The largest will reach flowering size within a year.
Bulbs can be encouraged to produce bulbils by burying about half the ripened stem at a 45 degree angle in a bed of leaf mould after flowering.
Bulbils will form on the under ground portion.
Stem rooting lilies produce bulbils under ground if they are mulched by means of a fat coating of movable natural substance.
These bulbils know how to be alienated as soon as the lily stem dies down in autumn.