Lisa,
It's always possible different varieties will respond differently to another climate. FWIW this year in the same bed (same amount of sunshine) the scapes emerged exactly one week later on Persian Star and Chesnok Red cw Music and my other porcelains, and Spanish Roja was one week later than the Persian Star. Just thought I would mention by name, since you may find them named in other resources and compared with your own varieties.
Re: planting layout, mostly beds are 3 or 4 across and we plant in sections rather than linear organization of different types. So if I have a dozen only of one type, I'll do it 3 across X 4 down the row, mark off and start the next one the same way. This way you have access to the whole variety in a block. Also I've noticed some varieties are noticeably shorter than others so I don't want them shaded by a row of something huge (Music and the other porcelains are big and tall. Persian Star, Chesnok Red, Spanish Roja and the NY White (?Polish) are considerably shorter.) Planting a block takes care of that concern.
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