Spring bulbs: planning for 2014

In a number of weeks (if not already) the garden centres etc., will be putting out their Spring bulb selections.

Autumn is the time for planting many of them and I'm now beginning to consider what I would like and where.

This year bloomed:

• Tulips (already here, but I transplanted them last year to where *I'd* like them)
• Muscari (sprung up this year, but as above)
• Daffodils
• Snowdrops (already here, transplanted last year, FAILED this year)
• Bluebells - labelled as 'English' ...sadly, Spanish was smuggled into the mix)
• Anemone ( £ shop bargains )
• hyacinths ( ditto above )

I have a fancy for Alliums - particularly the Giant ones (and I noticed some seed heads forming in the local park ) and would quite like to try Fritillaria.

Which spring bulbs do you currently have?
Which spring bulbs do you like/take your fancy?
Which spring bulbs would you like to try your hand at?

Planning now should give you a head start on next year plus may even save you money through being focussed and not simply impulse buying

 

Good thread! I like mini daffodils and crocus in big clumps. Alliums always seem to get hammer by the wind for me. Whats everyone else guna be planting?

 

The only bulbs I've got at the moment are crocus and dwarf daffodils and not that many of them.

I was looking online over the weekend to try and get some ideas. There were some beautiful tulips but I've been given the impression that they are difficult to grow and that they only last one season. Is this true?

I think I'll try more crocus, daffodils and some muscari, anenomes and winter aconite.

I also would like to try growing some irises. What would be best for growing in a pot?

 

I will be looking out for some more Iris, crocus, snowdrops (lots of), daffs and the good old fashioned type of tulip. I have nothing against the fancy tulips, before anyone hits me with their watering can, I just like the old ones.

 

Going to get some croci for next year, those big alliums are great - flower for a long time and the bees love them.

 

Never had a problem with tulips coming back year after year, i have some mini iris in a very deep purple that are lovely

 

Crucial that they don't dry out. Best never to buy them in packets in the garden centre. Most commonly sold "in the green", so around March. Cheap enough that you should be able to buy plenty if you want to (e.g. 500 bulbs for £40 [singles], doubles are £70/500, and slightly more "fancy" ones £28/100)

Worth giving Anglia Bulbs a look. Personally I find Purple Sensation rather boring - that tends to be the variety given away free with orders ... My favourites are:


Christophii


Giganteum


Gladiator


Globemaster


Mount Everest


Schubertii

(that I would particularly recommend)

I'm fond of:

Daffodil Tete-a-Tete


Iris reticulata (various other spring flowering ones available)


Calla Lily (Aethiopica) and also Cyclamen Hederifolium (Winter) and Cyclamen Coum (Spring)

I also have Muscari (grape Hyacinths) but I'm not that mad keen on them

Arum Italicum


Ornithogalum magnum

I don't think they are difficult to grow (make sure the mice don't get them though ...) but I think it is best to re-buy each season for Containers. If grown in the borders I just leave them be ... sometimes they peter out, or take a few years before I get decent flowers again.

 

Picked up some bulbs from the £shop:-

12 x Fritillaria "Uva-Vulpus"
20 mixed crocus

 

Just had 600 crocus and daff delivered, i haven't any thing to do

 

Cheapest bulbs I've seen are £3 for 50 at Morrisons for tulips or daffs.

 

Here are the bulbs I've collected for planting next week (including the ones mentioned last Sunday)







I've made note of the flowering times and the tallest to smallest, so I'm really hoping for a nice little show next year

 

@"M" ...I like the allium moly. I'll look out for some of those. Just Googling to find out when they flower and how tall they grow.

 

@Fern4 - £ shop. Flowers May/June, approx. 12"/30cm

 

Here's a few that I have;

Erythronium (this one's Kondo)....................


Frittilaria camchatcensis....................


F.elwessii...............


F.persica..................


F.meleagris..................


Hermodactylus tuberosus...................


Ipheon "Alberto Castillo"....................


Pick of the dwarf Iris for me is "Katherine Hodgkin"...................


Two low growing Ornithogalums;
O.umbellatum.....................


and O.nutans.......................


Not usually thought of as spring bulbs, but here's an early Gladiolus - G.communis (ssp. byzantinus)..................


This last one is worth seeking out - Brimeura amethystina........................

 

Thanks for that. A trip to the poundshop is in order I think. As I beginner, I thought all alliums were tall! You learn something new everyday on this site.