Now is the perfect time to dig a hole, lob in the bulb of your choice and wait for your horticultural high explosive to do its thing – gardening doesn’t come any easier than this! And what a choice - garden centres, supermarkets and even garage forecourts are stuffed to the gunnells with everything from little firecrackers such as anemones and scillas to tree lilies which grow to over 2 metres tall.
The only difficult bit is trying to choose from the hundreds of colourful packets on the display stands, because all of them are a bargain compared to the price of plants in pots - only a packet of seed makes more financial sense!
The term bulb can be very confusing as in horticultural terms it covers everything from Dahlia tubers to Crocus corms – literally thousands
(I haven’t Googled the actual number!) of very different plant forms. The fact that they have a
bulb means they have an inbuilt resilience to
being killed off by natural or man-made disasters, again reinforcing their credenials as some of the easiest and cheapest ways of introducing colour and form in your borders. Their versatility means you can use them in containers, either on their
own or in combination with other plants, or in a natural setting, growing in grass as they would do in the wild.
If you’re lucky enough to have your own meadow, then what could be nicer than selecting something like the Snake’s Head Fritilaria or our native Narcissus and launching handfuls (grenade style!) into the grass and letting them grow where they land – unless of course you prefer municipal style serried ranks?!
The infinite variety in the combinations of colours, forms and flowering times makes it possible to have something of interest through every season of the year, from the first snowdrops in spring followed by tulips and daffodils through to gladiolus and nerines in autumn.
A few weeks ago I visited my Dutch friend Ronald, who runs one of the top bulb companies in Amsterdam, to have a closer look at the incredible operation they have over there. Literally millions
of bulbs in hundreds of different varieties are harvested from their fields and distributed across the world – although this year they have been really struggling because of the inhospitable growing conditions. The drought has produced a very poor crop which is now compounded by it proving difficult to harvest from the parched, compacted earth.
By far their most popular bulb variety is the Tulip, which once upon a time brought immense riches to all the Dutch bulb merchants as Tulip Fever gripped the western world. Whilst it’s popularity (and value) has waned somewhat, it still remains a stalwart of the English flower border.
Most gardeners treat Tulips as an annual crop – planting the bulbs right up until Christmas and then enjoying their incredible beauty right through to May and June, after which they can be replaced with summer bedding. There is a style and colour of Tulip for everyone, but for a really smart look I would suggest sticking to just one or two colours. White Tulips planted amongst a sea of pale blue Forget-me-Nots has to be the coolest look, closely followed by amazing green-flowered Parrot Tulips amongst white Primulas.
If you’ve only got a small garden or even a balcony, then why not make yourself a Bulb Cocktail? All
you need is a large pot or tub and some standard potting compost. Half fill the pot with compost and plant a ring of Tulips; add another thin layer (2cm) of compost and another ring of either Daffodils or some different Tulips and then more compost. You can keep this layering process up until you get to within an inch of the top of the pot and gradually introduce smaller species of bulbs such as Crocus. Keep it watered and somewhere sheltered from the worst of the weather and wait for the fireworks in spring!
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