30
Oct

Get those bulbs in now

Bulbs – including corms and rhizomes – are all plants that store their nutrients in a swollen root from which flower heads rise each year.

September to December is the time to plant your spring and summer flowering. The general rule is the earlier they flower the earlier you should plant them; so, daffodils, tulips and crocus should be planted September to October whilst Alliums, Camassia and Gladiolus can be planted up to mid-December.  

So, which to plant? Perhaps the first consideration is soil type. If you have a heavy clay soil that’s very wet all winter then you should look at primulas, snakeshead fritillaries, Leucojum (the summer snowflake) and Camassia, though a degree of drainage, such as sloping ground, is still required to prevent the bulb from rotting.  If you have an improved clay, loamy or sandy soil then you can grow a wider range including tulips, alliums, Narcissus, Ornithogalum and many others. Some bulbs, such as Iris reticulata and germanica require a well-drained soil.

Many bulbs are great for naturalising in lawns or wildflower meadow areas. Just bear in mind the grass height at the time of flowering; so early flowering tulips and Scilla are great in lawns, but you will want something with some height, like late flowering Narcissus poeticus, Allium Purple Sensation or Camassia leichtlinii Caerulea, to show alongst taller grasses in wildflower meadows. I think Camassia looks better when growing in wilder areas as the tall grass hides its dominant foliage after the flowers have gone over.

If you want many months of flowering in a small garden, how about layering bulbs in a pot with the earliest flowering at the top. This way you can have something in flower from March to June. For example from bottom to top you could have

And if you have no garden at all then you can always plant some Hyacinths in a pot and enjoy their delicious scent in December to January. There's always somewhere in your life for some bulbs.