With thanks to our resident gardener Stephen Lee
Spring promise
As the last embers of summer begin to fade into autumn, our gardens begin to die back. We turn our attention to spring and how to cheer our gardens up after the long dark winter’s days and nights.
Our garden centres, nurseries and publications like newspapers and gardening magazines come awash with many mind-boggling deals on spring bulbs. Throughout September, October and November. Although buying bulbs on mail order for years now I, find my bulb catalogues come through the post in July. Bulbs are an underground bud or stem often fleshy, in a resting stage until conditions are correct for the plant to grow an is collective term for a number of plants, these include bulbs like daffodil or tulip, corms like Cyclamen and Crocus and rhizomes like some Anemone.
Of all the bulbs that are available the most popular are probably Narcissus (daffodils), Tulips, Alliums (ornamental onions), Hyacinths and of the smaller bulbs such as Anemone, Scillia and Crocus. All these and many others will all make quite a stunning display from January right the way through to September.
Narcissus, can start flowering from early January depending of type. Mostly yellow in colour some are multicoloured, multiheaded, single or double flowers. I suppose the most popular ones are the large cup Narcissus flowering predominantly in March and often used at the entrances to our towns and villages along the roadside. These are followed by double and multiheaded Narcissus. I must say I am fonder of the multi-headed types and the shorter alpine versions. After moving into my new home, I have been taken with split corona types. Most Narcissus are scented, some more than others.
Tulips, Like the Narcissus these bulbs can start flowering as early as February. However, we tend to think of tulips flowering April and May. There often tall and majestic. If you plant the bulbs singly as apposed to in clumps you get a better effect over the garden. Clumps are great for a concentrated splash of colour. Most tulips need open sunny position to grow and flower in. Of all the tulips I like the elegant lily shaped ones. Darwin and triumph types are always a winner too.
Alliums (ornamental onions) These start flowering in March most years. Depending on type can still be in flower late August like with Allium Summer drummer. These are globe shaped flowers carried singly on a usually stiff stalks. They are mostly purple white and reddish colours. These bulbs certainly can add dramatic flare to our gardens. Some varieties of Alliums are sold singly and can be quite expensive.
Other much smaller bulbs like the Anemone, Chionodoxa, Cammasia, Crocus, Fritillaria, Iris, Muscari,
Usually sold as multipack are all great for multiplying quite quickly and also useful for naturalizing effect in our gardens.
Remember when selecting bulbs for your garden or pots is the amount of leaf that will occur after the flowers have finished flowering. This is particularly relevant with Narcissus where the leaves need to be left on the bulbs for a minimum of six weeks to allow the bulb to bulk up again for the next flowering season. Leaves from all bulbs should only be removed once they have gone brown.
When planting bulbs in your garden as a rule of thumb the bulbs are normally planted 2x depth of the bulb (size). However, with daffodil and tulips they can be planted deeper. In the case of tulips, it stops the squirrels digging them up. You can plant bulbs any time providing there the ground is not frozen and definitely before the end of November. Bulbs planted after Christmas or in the new year may flower later than stated on the packet or not flower at all.
You can also make a spectacular display of bulbs if you either plant individual variety in pots or layer up different varieties in one pot. Use a mix of multi-purpose compost and soil-based compost (John Innis no2/3) to give your pots weight and free draining sub straight. Once your bulbs are finished, allow the leaves to die away and then de pot and plant in the garden or keep them in a dry place for next seasons planting.
Whatever way you choose to plant your bulbs enjoy a stunning display in the fourth coming spring.
Below is a gallery of pictures relating to September
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