As I've mentioned before, I grow the great majority of my bulbs in frames, so "companion planting" isn't an issue there. However, I do grow a lot of more common bulbs in the garden, and here are some ideas that have worked for me. 1. When you see photos of tulips in the wild, they're blooming at snowmelt time, with dry grasses around them. This effect can be suggested by planting the brown New Zealand sedges such as Carex petriei and interplanting them with bright species tulips (T. hageri has proven especially perennial here, also T. tarda and T. urumiensis). These sedges are invasive by seed in some climates, though not in my garden. Other bulbs that are attractive in this setting are Iris reticulata and Muscari latifolium (invasive in some climates, not here). Another grass that can be used this way is Deschampsia caespitosa, which does not "run." 2. Muscari azureum and M. armeniacum are not always to be feared, as long as you plant them under large shrubs and trees where their increase and lank foliage will not annoy you. Here they grow (in addition to places I wish they didn't) under a border of small ornamental trees and shrubs such as Acer griseum, Cornus mas, Stewartia, and Viburnum burkwoodii. The area can be sprayed with Round-up when the Muscari is dormant to hold down the weeds. This setting is also appropriate for Cyclamen hederifolium. (C. coum is more often grown in shady rock gardens in this region.) 3. If you, too, have made the mistake of planting sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum), you can plant Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides campanulata) under it. Use the pink or blue kind. This robust bulb flowers at the same time as the woodruff and is just as ineradicable. 4. Spreading dwarf shrubs can provide just enough winter protection for winter-growing foliage of marginally hardy bulbs. I have some Muscari macrocarpum doing well under the contorted form of Chaenomeles (flowering quince), although this species is not generally regarded as very cold-hardy. 5. In this cool Mediterranean climate, I have found the best Narcissus for naturalizing in rough grass are cyclamineus hybrids such as 'February Gold' and 'Jenny', and also the species Narcissus pseudonarcissus ssp. (?) obvallaris, or "obvallaris," or however one is supposed to call it. They tolerate ground water running above them during winter, and complete drying in summer. 6. Some regard Crocus tommasinianus as a weed, but it is the best species for growing in lawns, because its leaves lie flat, so that mowing doesn't bother it as much as it would species with erect leaves. Do buy the named deep-colored clones such as 'Whitwell Purple' for best effect. 7. If you don't like to see Colchicum foliage in late spring, hardy geraniums will cover it up at the right time -- but be sure not to plant the kinds that seed all over (there are a few sterile hybrids). 8. Nepeta mussinii, a low-growing ornamental "catnip," flowers all summer and is a good perennial to follow spring bulbs (you can cut it back to the base in fall to give the bulbs room). Origanum libanoticum (current name?) and its hybrid 'Kent Beauty' can be used in the same way; however, steer clear of the taller ornamental oreganos such as 'Herrnhausen', which are ferociously invasive. In the rock garden, prostrate shrubby penstemons such as P. newberryi serve the same purpose. Lately I've also planted the biennial Campanula incurva, a prostrate version of Canterbury bells (C. medium), in a bulb bed. Bulbs will grow up through low sedums and the more restrained helianthemums. If your climate permits it (mine doesn't), I see no reason not to mix spring bulbs with the low-growing Alstroemeria species such as A. pallida and A. hookeri, which will bloom later, though that still leaves a bare period in late summer; the alstros, given a deep root run, will do their growing much deeper than their smaller companions. Jane McGary Northwestern Oregon. USA