Auron,
You can plant thousands of bulbs among your perennials and shrubs. From early spring as early as late January depending on the weather through early November or frost, bulbs can fill in the gaps and offer you long interest.

That is how I planned for my garden. There is not a single bare spot in my garden. I also plant in layers so that the garden is full and lush. I planted large bulbs, medium size bulbs and small bulbs in the same hole and let them duke it out for space. The rewards are a succession of blooms/visual interests from January through December.

Several English gardening authors mentioned how American gardens are usually unsightly because the planting is sparse leaving their mulch take center stage.

Besides, if you plant closely and thickly, you will take very little mulch and less irrigation.

Bulbs can fill the gaps from late winter/early spring through late fall/early winter. Many of them overlap each other and add to the succession:

Snowdrops-Eranthis hyemalis-miniature Iris-snow crocus-early Daffodils -Schilla -Chionodoxa-Puschikinia-Fritillaria meleagris - Daffodils early/mid/late blooming - Tulips early/mid/late bloomers-Erythronium - Allium-Anemone blanda-Asiatic Lily-Oriental Lily-Trumpet lily-Orientpet lily-Tiger Lily- Lilium speciosum-Licoris squamigera-Fall crocus-Colchicum.

This is September. I still have Lilium speciosum in bloom among my perennials. Pretty soon fall crocus and Colchicum will push through.

I'm more fond of the really full english gardens as well :)

What i've purchased so far....

Early spring;
Crocus blue pearl & cream beauty
Crocus pickwick & jeanne d'arc (to extend crocus flowering period)
Iris danfordiae
Galanthus 'flore pleno'

Mid spring;
Hyacinth 'aida'
Hyacinth 'delft blue'
Hyacinth 'blue ice'
Hyacinth 'jan bos'
Hyacinth 'fondant'
Hyacinth 'odysseus'
(already have hyacinth 'city of haarlem')
Anemone blanda mix

so far no late spring blooming bulbs, but i do have azalea's in the bed.

I really like beds with many different colored hyacinths, but fear the colored anemone blanda would detract from it...hopefully some in the mix are white and i'll just dig up the rest. Unless i think it looks fine.

I'm desperately looking for fall crocus, colchicum, and Licoris squamigera...but so far no store locally is selling it.

Think i'll get some late blooming daffs, allium schubertii or christophii for late spring, I love tulips, but i don't love them in my garden for various reasons.... i may try species tulips at some point.

I'm glad to hear that many, many, bulbs can be placed together, I've got the green light to buy a lot more.

I like the choice of your first bulbs. :-)
Keep on ordering more. You can get them in bulk at a reasonable price from Van Engelen.

Ever since I discovered bulbs economically from catalogs then online, I rarely buy anything from local stores. Online bulb suppliers offer you a lot more choices and a lot better price.

I got fall crocus and Colchicum from Brent and Becky's Bulb and lilies from The Lily Garden. It's been years since I bought spring bulbs though. Since I have planted thousands of them years before, today I cannot dig anywhere in my garden without slicing into something. :-P

Recently, I came across a post on the bulb forum offering Colchicum for trade. Yeah! That was an extremely rare offer. It was in fact the first time I had ever seen Colchicum offered for trade. But nobody took up the offer, but me. So I traded Allium 'Globemaster' and Allium albopilosum/cristophii for 20 Colchicum 'Lilac Wonder'. I kid you not. :-D Na na ni na na.... That's for you for missing the boat. lol.

I like to mix them all and don't mind having bulbs in different heights and colors in bloom at once.

Allium albopilosum'cristophii gives you the most bang for the bucks, because the flowerhead is stunning and has the longest staying power in the garden, i.e. from late spring through fall.

Have fun digging and planting.