Start Planting Now - for a Great Display of Spring Flowering Bulbs

I love this month, not least because it gives me carte blanche for thinking about something I adore: spring flowering bulbs such as daffodils and other narcissus. Why? Because for best results the bulbs for these spring delights need to be planted in the autumn. Planted from now onwards, they have a good chance to grow roots and start to build up energy for making a great display next spring.

Choose your daffodils carefully and you can have a display starting in late winter (from varieties such as ‘February Gold’) right through until mid-spring. When looking through the selection in catalogues or on garden centre shelves, just check flowering times which will be clearly indicated on the pack. Sometimes this will be as numerals rather than actual dates. For example, February to March could be indicated as 2-3 or sometimes even II-III.

Spring flowering bulbs are generally completely hardy in our climate so unless hit by serious extremes of weather (such as prolonged flooding), they will keep coming year after year.

There should be planting depths written on the packs of bulbs you buy or order, but if not it is generally better to plant slightly too deep rather than too shallowly. As a guide, I would advise planting at roughly three times the height of the bulb. If planted too shallowly they don’t perform so well and are more likely to be accidentally dug up when you’re planting other things.

Buying larger quantities of bulbs usually makes them significantly cheaper per bulb and there are always multipack offers to be found, so shop about and choose carefully, but whatever you go for, unless you choose the very elite super-pricey bulbs, they’ll represent superb value for money. If you’re looking to plant a large expanse, perhaps a bank or the area along the sides of the drive, go for daffodils by the sack rather than by the bag.

I’m a real fan of crocus – choose from purple, lilac, striped, cream, yellow, orange or white. They’re very good value, but here’s a word of warning – I always find that the super-bargain priced megabags of crocus contain a lot of yellow and orange crocus which the sparrows love to shred. It’s better value to pay a little more for smaller single colour bags and avoid the yellows and oranges.

Once established, spring bulbs multiply quite rapidly, so you should end up with more than you started with – this means it’s important to plant at the suggested distances apart, even if it may feel a little sparse for the first year or two. If you want a high-impact look from the start, then you can plant a little closer than suggested, but bear in mind the bulbs will become congested and need lifting and replanting all the sooner.

Spring flowering bulbs need little attention once established – just give them an occasional feed and once the clumps become congested, divide and replant them to give each bulb more space so it can fulfil its potential.

Where to grow them:
Try simple daffodils like ‘Carlton’, ‘King Alfred’ or English bluebells grown in random plantings, scattered and then planted where they fall, beneath trees in your garden. They’ll look great and often produce a really good display beneath the outer spread of trees where it may otherwise be difficult to encourage much else to grow.

Shrubs and even climbers can also be used for naturalised bulb plantings, but because they’re smaller, grow the more diminutive bulbs such as miniature Narcissus ‘Tete a Tete’, ‘Hawera’, ‘Peeping Tom’, rich blue grape hyacinths or delicate Chinodoxa.

On steep banks where gardening is difficult, why not grow masses of bulbs? Planting on the near vertical may be tricky, but once there you can enjoy the display for years to come.

Pots or other good-looking containers make great homes for bulbs. If you’ve fallen for anything particularly small or expensive, pots can be the answer and will mean you can enjoy and not lose those tiny spring bulb jewels amongst their larger relatives.

Larger planters including tubs and window boxes are brilliant for bulbs too – try a host of golden daffodils in a smart blue pot, some delicate dwarf iris or Iris reticulata in a window box or pot on the front steps where you’ll be able to enjoy their good looks and their subtle perfume.

Whichever type of spring bulb you have in mind, and wherever you intend to grow them, start planning and buying now so that they can be in the ground promptly.

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