Offering a welcome splash of colour to the garden when little else is brave enough to come out, early flowering bulbs can brighten Winter days and signal the arrival of Spring.
Wherever they are – planted in bold drifts or strategically placed groups – they provide lovely colour and interest, and are great for pots and containers too!
We’ve chosen our six favourites to whet your ‘bulb appetite’…!
Iris reticulata
These are beautiful plants which produce their colourful and lightly scented blooms in late Winter and early Spring. Available in a range of gorgeous blues – from the deep rich blue of ‘Harmony’ to the pale blue of the distinctive ‘Katharine Hodgkin’, they’ll flourish in a sunny spot which offers free-draining soil.
Tulips
Available in nearly every colour of the rainbow in all manner of pleasing flower shapes and petal arrangements, it would be impossible to pick just one variety – so why would you! And you’re not limited to Spring with them either, because with a little careful planning it’s possible to have tulips flowering in your garden from March through to June!
Narcissus
With varieties available in white, through a range of pale yellows to deep, rich golds, the elegant blooms of the the narcissi family surely are the iconic image of Spring. Also available in varying sizes, from the delicate dwarf varieties standing at just 15-20cm through to the taller varieties at around 50cm, there’s always somewhere in the garden that’s appropriate for them!
English Bluebells
Much loved for their stout spikes of bell-shaped, blue flowers, English bluebells are perfect for naturalising underneath the canopy of deciduous trees. Fast-growing and capable of spreading quickly too, you’ll have a clump the envy of your neighbours in no time!
Muscari
With their charming, cone-shaped spikes of tiny, mid-blue flowers, grape hyacinths are invaluable for naturalising at the front of a sunny border, or perfect in a container – try them planted with yellow, Spring-flowering pansies for great contrast.
Crocus
One of the first to emerge in the garden, these gorgeous goblet-shaped flowers provide a valuable source of food for early insects and bees. Varieties are available which offer an array of colours, and they look wonderful planted throughout lawns and rockeries.
OK, we know what you’re thinking… you’re all inspired to add gloriously colourful bulbs to your garden, you’ve seen a new place where they’d be perfect and you want a bulb-filled container… but these should all have been planted in Autumn last year… so what do you do now?
Don’t worry – we have a great selection of ready-potted bulbs in-store NOW, so there’s no reason to miss out on colour this year. Come and check them out for yourselves, and prepare to enter bulb heaven!
