AMAZING METAMORPHOSIS; UGLY FALL BULBS HOLD BEGINNING OF SPRING GLORY : BY CAROL BIDWELL STAFF WRITER.

It's brown and knobby, with a pointy top and roots that give it the look of a really bad hair day.

It's hard to believe that from this ugly bulb comes a flower.

But have patience. Have faith. Put it in the ground, cover it with soil and stand back. In a few weeks, you'll see a hint of green peek through the dirt. In a few months, leaves will reach skyward.

And come next spring, a riot of beauty will spring from that ugly, lopsided, oniony-looking thing.

You've just become a fall bulb planter, and it didn't take a college degree in rocket science - just a few bulbs, an empty spot in the garden and the belief that beauty would happen.

It's that interval between planting and blooming that confounds most novice bulb growers, said Brian Sullivan, display gardener at Descanso Gardens in La Canada Flintridge, which provides gardeners with a how-to showcase of tulips and other bulb-grown blossoms each spring.

``People come here when we have all the flowers in bloom in March and April and say, `How do I get this now?' Well, the answer is, you're at least three months too late.''

Right now - this minute, this weekend - is the time to buy bulbs, plentiful in just about any local nursery, if you want to get spring color. Valley gardeners can plant tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, crocuses, cyclamens, alliums, freesia, amaryllis, narcissus, iris, lilies, ranunculus, snowdrops and more, said Lauren Bonar Swezey, Sunset magazine's bulb expert.

``Bulbs are so easy,'' she assured. ``Everything is in the bulb that it needs to bloom. All you need is to give it the proper conditions for a bloom to pop out.''

Buy the biggest, firmest bulbs you can find between mid-September and mid-October, either at local nurseries or from a reputable mail-order source, Swezey and Sullivan advise. If you wait longer, you risk getting whatever's left after other gardeners have taken their pick.

Hyacinths, crocus and tulips should be stored in paper bags and popped into the refrigerator for a couple of months, said the experts. (Don't store them anywhere near apples, which give off ethylene gas, causing them to sprout prematurely.) Daffodils, narcissus, paperwhites and other varieties don't need chilling, but they should be stored in paper bags in a cool, dark place until planting time, said Swezey.

When the bulbs come out of their enforced hibernation, slip them into the ground in November (with the pointed end up) in a sunny, well-drained spot, each bulb buried two to three times as deep as it is wide. Give them a drink once in awhile, and Swezey recommends a dose of fertilizer between leaf emergence and bloom, probably in January.

You can plant bulbs any way you like - along a fence, lining a flower bed. But the Descanso gardener prefers a more free-form approach.

``They should look like nature planted them,'' said Sullivan, who often fills buckets full of mixed tulips and heaves them at a prepared bed. ``Wherever they land, I plant them,'' he said.

Don't worry about crowding bulbs. Although they'll produce for about four years without dividing and replanting, they can grow literally side by side in the ground until then, providing what Swezey terms ``maximum flash'' when they bloom.

Many gardeners treat their bulbs as annuals, throwing them away once they've bloomed. But if you plan to coddle them through successive years in outdoor beds, it's a good idea to plant them among low-growing annuals or perennials, whose greenery will hide the yellowing leaves after bulb blossoms go kaput for the season. (Don't cut off the leaves until they are dry and paperlike, or you'll rob the bulbs of much of their oomph to power next year's blooms.)

If you live in an area where squirrels are plentiful and hungry, it's a good idea to plant bulbs in containers, covering them with the latticed flats that most nurseries give away. Squirrels love the taste of some bulbs - tulips, for instance - but only before they've sprouted. Or you could plant daffodils, which squirrels hate.

Once your bulbs have blossomed, you can enjoy a dazzling show for a few weeks or even a month before it's over - unless they're wilted by an unseasonable hot spell. To assure a longer show in the garden, check labels before you buy and plant a variety of bulbs that flower from late winter through early summer, Sullivan recommends. Once the blossom has faded, only the bulb is left, offering the promise of another burst of bloom months later.

How, where to color your world

There are lots of new varieties of bulbs this year to brighten up your garden. Here are some innovations from some of the most prolific mail-order sources:

Van Engelen Inc. offers Monsella, a double early tulip of canary yellow, feathered with red; peony-flowering tulips Creme Upstar, a primrose yellow bloom with green speckles and rose edges, and Mirande, a red bloom with yellow base; giant Darwin hybrid tulips Blushing Apeldoorn, which is yellow with orange edging, and Orange Bowl, orange-scarlet with yellow flames; Green Wave, a parrot tulip of mauve pink with green flames; hyacinths Gypsy Queen, a deep tangerine flower, and Woodstock, a beet-root purple bloom; and Rosario, a Dutch iris of violet and pink with yellow blotches. Information and ordering: [phone], www.vanengelen.com.

Geo. W. Park Seed Co.'s newest garden bulbs include Tripartite, a daffodil with two to four fragrant yellow flowers per stem; Snow Crystal, a snow-white Dutch Hyacinth; Viking, a flamed scarlet, long-lasting peony-flowered tulip; and lily-flowered tulips Sapporo, with pale yellow petals, and Dyanito, a rare blood-red flower. Information and ordering: [phone].

John Scheepers Inc. offers Showwinner, a hybrid tulip of red with yellow and violet; Greigii tulips Pinocchio, which are red edged in white with a yellow interior, and Quebec, a red bloom with yellow touches; giant Darwin hybrid tulip World's Favourite, a huge tomato-red flower with a yellow stripe; bi-color trumpet daffodil Ablon, which is yellow andwhite with an apricot edge; double narcissus Golden Ducat in graduated shades of yellow; Fondante, a pale pink hyacinth; and Asiatic lilies, including double pink-petaled Aphrodite, melon yellow Fata Morgana, creamy white Lenox, and canary yellow Novo Cento. Information and ordering: [phone].

Wayside Gardens' newest offerings include Siberian iris All in Stipple, a sky-blue bloom laced with white; daffodils Fidelity, which are pale yellow with an apricot-pink trumpet, Fashion Parade, agreenish-yellow to yellow bloom, and Delnashaugh, double flowers of apricot-pink and white; and tulips Apricot Parrot, an apricot, rose and yellow flower, Annelinde, with pink and cream petals, and Orange Emperor, which has apricot petals dabbed with green. Information and ordering: [phone], www.waysidegardens.com.

Bulb info at your fingertips 

There are many tools, books and resources to make planting and growing bulbs easier, some available by mail order, and some at local nurseries. Here are a few:

The traditional, down-on-your knees bulb hand planter with a wooden handle requires the most work to dig out a plug of soil, but it's also the cheapest, generally running about $2.49 at most nurseries. A 3-foot-long, bend-over version with metal handle costs $8.99 at Green Thumb Nursery in Canoga Park, [phone].

A taller, stand-up version of the traditional bulb planter that you press into the soil with your foot, like a shovel, is available by mail order for $37.95 in heavy-gauge steel from Wayside Gardens, [phone], and for $34.95 from Park Seed, [phone].

A bulb auger, either a 9-inch corkscrew or a 24-inch monster version, fits onto any electric or cordless drill, drilling holes up to 6 inches deep in just seconds. Green Arrow Nursery in Van Nuys, [phone], sells the small one for $7.59 and the large one for $14.29. The 24-inch auger is available at Green Thumb for a similar price.

For advice about what to plant and where, Sperling Nursery in Calabasas, [phone], has some of the best how-to books, including ``All About Bulbs'' (Ortho Books; $9.95) and ``Bulbs'' (Sunset Books Inc.; $12.99). At Green Thumb, you can pick up ``Bulbs for All Seasons'' (Sunset Books; $24.95).

Most Home Depot stores in the San Fernando Valley will hold free one-hour workshops on how to plant fall bulbs at 3 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays throughout October. Call your local Home Depot for the closest store offering the workshop.

Rosarium curator Mary Brosius will teach a three-session class titled ``A Year of Bulbs'' for beginning and advanced gardeners from 3 to 4 p.m. Nov. 8, 15 and 22 in Classroom B at Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada Flintridge. Fee is $30 for Descanso members, $35 for non-members. Reservations required: [phone].

There are several Internet sites with information about the care and planting of bulbs, including www.garden.org, the National Gardening Association; www.bulb.com, the Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center; and www.plantinfo.umn.edu, Plant Information Online.

CAPTION(S):

6 Photos, 2 boxes, drawing

PHOTO (1 -- cover -- color) Buried Treasures - For a dramatic show of color next spring, choose the best of the bulbs now.

(2 -- color) This weekend is the time to buy bulbs if you want spring color.

(3 -- color) Easy way to plant bulbs - Step 1: Push bulbs into soil.

(4 -- color) Step 2: Cover bulbs with dirt.

(5 -- color) Step 3: Pack dirt over the bulbs.

(6 -- color) Step 4: Water.

Box: (1) How, where to color your world (see text)

(2) Bulb info right at your fingertips (see text)

Drawing: Recommended planting depths for popular flower bulbs

Traci Wooden/Staff Artist