I garden in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Altitude is about 100' and I am within a mile of saltwater. However the site is exposed to the northeast and though winter temperatures tend to be mild, if we get a blast of icey air flowing out from the interior of the continent, my garden takes it in the teeth.
The soil is a heavyish loam, but not sticky when wet. This is unusual in Victoria, where many gardens are on blue marine clay that is impossible to work when wet — or when dry! The site was at one time a swamp and even now when the area has long been developed and the land drained, I have a quagmire in winter, sometimes with standing water in low spots.
Some bulbs do well for me in selected positions, but those positions are few in number and getting pretty crowded.
Specialties of the house include Cyclamen and Trillium. Lilium martagon does well in shady positions. Leucojum vernum I have tried many times, but find it does well only in one very small location; this is a mystery to me for which I have no explanation.