OK, you’ve just bought your first house and you want to plant something before the snow flies.

Before you dig up everything and move it around, I’d suggest waiting a year and starting a notebook about what you like and don’t like. It could be that the ugly bush at the corner of the house has fantastic blooms in the spring. It could be that the thick mat of vines is actually a good ground cover for the soggy corner of the garden. Maybe the new vegetable bed belongs in the sunny spot next to the garage.

Instead of starting a total makeover, plant spring-flowering bulbs. They don’t take a lot of digging, money or time.

Go to a local plant nursery or store that does a lot of garden business and pick up a manageable number of healthy bulbs. Five daffodils can offer quite a punch; 100 bulbs might end up sitting in the garage all year.

Follow the directions about planting depth and pick bulbs that seem heavy for their size.

What kind of bulbs should you choose? Here are five no-fail varieties to try.

Daffodils

You can go big and bold with large-cup hybrids or choose refined poet types (look for “poeticus” somewhere on the package). Either one will come back year after year in our region.

Tips: Daffodils look good in clumps. Plant three to five bulbs 3 to 5 inches apart, preferably behind big-leafed hosta that will hide the leaves long after the blooms are gone. You don’t want to cut off the leaves while they are still green because that’s what feeds the next year’s blooms. Generally speaking, the bolder the bloom, the more annoying the leaves (so a poet type might do better near the house and a large-cup type might be better in an area that doesn’t have to be as neat).

Snowdrops

If you plant any one bulb this fall, make it a snowdrop. They don’t look like much on the package – small white drops of milk at the end of a little stalk – but they are tough little soldiers that bloom in a snow drift in late February or early March.

Tips: Plant them next to a door or where you get out of your car. Three to five are plenty for a touch of pure joy – the promise of spring – when you need it most. Snowdrops play well with others and their leaves remain neat, so you don’t need to worry about cleanup.

Tulips

They come in so many shapes and colors, so you can easily get carried away. In fact, these flowers triggered tulip mania in Europe in the 1630s, so expensive that some used them like currency, as if they were gold coins.

Tips: Some people find tulips to be a bit finicky, but at Dirt Cottage they bloom every year on the north side of the house and under trees. They don’t like to be near downspouts or low areas that retain water, and they prefer sun. Squirrels really like tulips and will steal the bulbs. To thwart the little rodents, you can pin down some chicken wire over the planting hole or try sprinkling hot pepper flakes over the tulip patch right after you plant. After they are established for a year or two, the squirrels seem to lose interest, or maybe they’ve already eaten all of the good ones.

Grape hyacinth and crocus

They are cute, bloom early and can grow in a garden bed or out in the lawn.

Tips: You can mow right over them after they are done blooming. These are no-fuss, no muss little troopers.