With its sunny yellow petals and sunset-orange center, the dahlia 'Moonshine' puts on the perfect summer show.

We're programmed to order bulbs in the summer and plant them in the fall, nudged along by catalogs that seem to arrive earlier each year. With these late bloomers, however, most need to be planted as the ground warms up in the springtime. It is so much easier to find room for bulbs in late spring than it is in autumn, when the garden is at its fullest.

Summer bulbs share with tulips and daffodils the miracle of arriving dormant, with everything needed to bloom and thrive wrapped up in a gnarled little brown lump. Some, like lilies, are perfectly hardy and can be planted in November, to multiply and bloom for years when correctly sited (sun, good drainage). I leave dahlias and calla lilies in the ground year-round, too, and if they are mulched and given well-draining soil to prevent winter rot, they come through the cold just fine.

Now In Bloom Hydrangea aspera needs moist soil and semi-shade like the familiar mophead hydrangeas, but there the similarities end. Tall and rangy with large, soft leaves and flat, mauve lace-cap flowers, this hydrangea brings a touch of the tropics to temperate gardens.

While daffodils, tulips and crocus look their best planted in drifts, the summer bulbs can be integrated into beds and borders just as you'd use perennials. Not that people don't grow ghettos of dahlias, all sticking up and tied rigidly to their respective stakes, but if you can keep the slugs off them in a mixed border, dahlias can look quite natural and provide a long note of color from midsummer until the first frost. Or grow any of the summer bulbs in pots, where their lovely and sometimes intricate flowers are shown to best advantage. Then they can be brought center stage when in bloom, and tucked aside during the dreaded stage when the foliage withers slowly away.

Many lesser-known summer-blooming bulbs are worth a try. Acidanthera bicolor is from tropical Africa and looks like an elegant gladiolus, with white, star-shaped flowers blotted in purple, a sweet scent and graceful, swaying foliage. It is one of the best-smelling and loveliest flowers I've ever seen, and blooms late in the summer when white looks especially good. Dierama pulcherrimum (angel's fishing rod) is from South Africa and is hardy here when mulched, forming a large clump with pink flower bells dripping from airy curves of wand-like foliage. Eremurus, or foxtail lilies, are so gorgeous I keep trying to grow them despite the fact they always die out in my garden. The bulbs look like big, flat spiders, and the bloom grows to a 5-foot spike covered in hundreds of little pink, white, yellow or apricot flowers. Could someone please tell me how to keep these going? Tigridia pavonia, or tiger flowers, are as exotically beautiful as an orchid. Three petals surround a spotted and outlined center, all in shades of orange, scarlet, lilac, pink and cream. And if you really want to feel like a successful summer bulb grower, plant one clump of crimson flag (Schizostylis coccinea) a pretty little late-bloomer with grass-like foliage that is romping through my garden unrestrained.

If you'd like to try some of the more unusual bulbs, many can be found at the Arboretum Foundation Fall Bulb Sale Oct. 7, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Call 206-325-4510 for information.)

Valerie Easton is a horticultural librarian and writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine. She is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" from Sasquatch Books. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.