Explore hundreds of thousands of tulips, daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths. Check out a variety of ways to grow bulbs, including container gardens and floating islands. Watch for updates on peak bloom times at atlantabg.org

The Garden’s 50th anniversary deserves a special celebration, so what better time to double the size of Atlanta Blooms!, the Garden’s annual spring bulb extravaganza, with nearly 140,000 tulips and daffodils?

The oval Great Lawn, the sprawling heart of the Garden in front of the Fuqua Conservatory, is a hub of activity year-round with numerous gatherings and activities for kids and adults. It’s a workhorse that endures constant foot traffic, yet has to look great. Having not been renovated in more than 10 years, it was time the lawn was treated to a facelift.

Such an extensive project requires removing all of the existing turf. So last year a bulb (the light kind) went off with Garden horticulturists who wondered: Why not plant the lawn with swaths of tulips and other bulbs before installing new sod?

The idea stuck, and for the first time ever, more than 139,000 bulbs are being planted this winter on the Great Lawn and in adjacent garden beds for creating a major 50th-anniversary photo op come March and April. That’s about double the number of tulips, daffodils, crocuses and hyacinths that were planted throughout the Garden last spring. Talk about tulip mania! The effect is expected to be an immersive experience in blooms like none other the Garden has undertaken.