HOMES & GARDENS
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SPRING FEVER
Hever Castle set to host their fi rst ever Tulip Celebration, funding our open spaces, Spring Fling plant fair at Great Comp Garden, plus jobs to do
Words Caroline Knight T
his April and May Hever Castle & Gardens will be hosting their fi rst ever Tulip Celebration and the 11-strong gardening team at
the historic Kent attraction are gearing up for the event. It could be said that Hever Castle & Gardens is the perfect place for a Tulip Celebration because its most famous occupants Anne Boleyn and later Anne of Cleves would have been resident as the tulip bulb made its arrival into Europe via Turkey. Visitors to the event will be able to enjoy a tulip trail either self-guided or with Hever’s Head Gardener Neil Miller and marvel at the 7,000 tulips, in 60 varieties, planted along the Pergola Walk, Pompeiian Wall, Tudor Garden and Italian Garden. The interior of the castle itself will be dressed with tulips by talented in-house fl orist Pamela Brise. Speaking about the celebration, Head
Gardener Neil said: “The whole team have caught tulip fever and excitement is growing as we approach our fi rst ever Tulip Celebration at the castle. The tulip is the ultimate in elegance – standing to attention they look spectacular planted en masse in either a kaleidoscope of mixed colours or in uniform. Lots of plants have a limited colour palette but the tulip comes in every colour from purple to green.
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“We have planted 3,500 tulips around the castle walls themselves using ‘Orange Lion’ inter-planted with Erysimum ‘Vulcan’ a dwarf variety of wallfl ower with velvety crimson fl owers. The Italian Garden will look stunning with 2,000 tulips planted in wonderful formal displays including some unusual green varieties such as ‘Spring Green’ (white with a green stripe), ‘Evergreen’ (green with a yellow stripe) and ‘Green Jay’.”
Here Head Gardener Neil shares his tips on everything you ever needed to know about tulips and how to grow them.
PLANTING • Don’t delay – as soon as you have purchased your bulbs, plant them. • They may fl ower in the spring, but autumn is tulip time! Plant the bulbs six weeks before a frost is expected – usually October time. • Tulips do well in full sun or areas that host the afternoon sun.
• Choose a well-drained area with neutral to slightly acidic soil. • Make sure the bed or area that you choose isn’t water-logged or wet. Wet soil actually encourages the fungi and disease
that rot bulbs. If you are worried that your beds are a little on the wet side then add sand or small stones to aid drainage. • Plant your bulbs at least eight inches deep (measured from the base of the bulb). The bigger the bulb the deeper the hole needs to be.
• Plant your bulb with the ‘pointy end’ up, and then cover with soil. • Bulbs need water to grow, and while they don’t like sitting in the wet, they do need water when planted in order to encourage initial growth. • If squirrels or rodents are a problem in your garden then you can cover the planted areas with chicken wire.
CARE
• If you are hoping to keep your tulips longer than one year then composting the bulb beds at the planting stage is a good idea. • Water if there is a long dry spell in the autumn but otherwise do not water. • It’s good to keep your colourful tulip bed tidy so deadhead tulips after fl owering. • Give the foliage time to yellow (roughly six weeks) before removing it. • You can lift your tulips annually once the leaves have died back, then store the bulbs in a dry, warm place.
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