A Beginners Guide Spring Flowering Bulbs


Many bulbs, such as crocus, daffodils and snowdrops will increase naturally in most sites and with different flowering times there will be a succession of interest.


If planted in your flower beds, the dying foliage will be hidden by growing herbaceous plants and shrubs.


Bulbs are best planted in groups of similar colour and a wonderful show will be created if they are combined with flowers of contrasting colour that bloom at the same time. Try tulips planted with forget-me-nots or wallflowers.


Under trees with no leaves, bulbs will get any available sunlight so will grow happily and give a welcome splash of colour when nothing else has yet woken up.


Bulbs can


be planted in grass - perhaps in the lawn or a grassy bank - as long as the foliage has time to die down before the first mowing. Grass protects bulbs from mice and squirrels. Try Anemone blanda, chionodoxa, fritillaria, daffodils (narcissus).


crocus,


Some bulbs are best lifted each year such as tulips and to make this easier you could


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try planting them in large pots and sinking them in the ground. After the leaves have died down, lift the bulbs and let them dry out. Store somewhere cool and dry and replant in October/November for a spring display.


If


buying new bulbs, plant as soon as possible and before they start growing. For instance, most daffodils will start producing roots by late summer and other bulbs by mid-autumn. One exception is snowdrops. These are best bought ‘in the green’ which means the leaves are already growing and they are then planted and left to spread.


Bulbs should always be planted with, at the very least, 2-3 times their own depth of soil above them or even more if the soil is very light. If bulbs become overcrowded, lift them in the dormant season after the foliage has died down. Clean off the soil, leave them to dry then store in paper (not plastic) bags to await replanting.


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