Bulb planting 101. Where to start.

I prefer the blues too for the same reason. I have bought 'anemone blanda' before. Most turn out to be blue with only a few whites, which I pull up. This year I am experimenting. I have a grassy area which I am turning into spring flowers in grass and only mow from late June onwards; like daffodils in grass but with lots of different flowers. This year I have planted anemone blandas into the grass. I don't know if it'll be a success but at the Lidl prices, I decided it was worth a go.

 

never been an issue with me to plant snowdrops with only their bulb. if you want to thin them, yes then in the green is best. Mine come up ever year for years and years etc.

 

for me hardy geraniums do better, they are a nice ground cover that will block weeds under them etc and grow in a nice mound, have tried brunnera--did not like them much, does not take up space and fill out nice.

 

If you have the property, and want a natural spreading lovely blue flower they are wonderful. they come up just after a snowdrop. there are a few houses I pass that have let their entire front yard go with them, so pretty, then you simply mow the grass like normal. I have a few, they have not done much but would not mind them to spread as they wish.

 

In spring I will post a picture of brunnera Hadspen Cream......blue flowers like forget me nots smother the plant on top of delightful cream and green foliage. It is a delight. It is a good option to the later flowering geraniums. Time it right and you can have flowers from early spring to early autumn
I can only caution folk about muscari.....what they do is up to them. When I first got interested in gardening I thought blue muscari was wonderful and planted and divided a lot of them. Now I pull them up whenever I see them. They will spread; they will take over

 

Do you guys find fritillaries from bulb to be generally successful? I love them and was all geared up to buy some bulbs when I read somewhere that germination/growth can be erratic.

 

Again, if you have the property, they are wonderful. the houses I mentioned have front yards that are 1/2 acre wide, so they just let them go. with small yards or tiny plots yes, guess it can be an issue. For my front yard, they can do what they want to, I just let them go. I find no issue with them at all.

 

I had a few in the past, did not do well for me. so I moved on. As I have over 100,000 bulbs already of a large variety missing one type is not noticed. I use what works for me.

 

I thought the brunnera looked very much like forget-me-not. I think the idea of muscari in swathes of blue across the lawn sounds beautiful, but I think on my front lawn it would just look weedy. Also, I'm inclined to heed your warning, @Verdun! I agree about patches of block colour, and am going to try to work that in more next year too.

 

I have these little blue guys in my main garden, letting them do their thing. when the rest of the plants come up, they are not noticed at all.

 

a sweet treasure of an anemone, rarer than others, it has taken years to become a small soft mat, rambling wider, now maybe two feet.

 

Those blues are lovely, @redstar

 

HI, it depends what exact look you are aiming for with your bulbs, but my solution to this is that I plant tulips around other plants, sufficiently close that the tulips are prevalent in spring, but I tuck them in around the plants that are still going strong in the border in autumn. I also add spring flowering wallflowers. These are biennials, planted as seedlings, which provide green foliage that remains all winter - not that attractive but better than bare earth and enough to maintain a bit of green before those bulbs appear in late winter. My only challenge is that we have very wet winters here and so I lift the tulips to let them dry out over summer, and have to re-plant them every autumn. In drier locations you could leave them in the ground, and just add some every few years as they deteriorate. Re-planting in the narrow gaps can get a bit fiddly! I hope the pics give you a rough idea of how it works for me .

 

Thank you for your good advice. Your garden is lovely. The bright colours look really spectacular, and usher in spring with great fanfare! I can see, from your comments, how I have had problems figuring out how to organise other plants and spring bulbs. I am starting a raised bed from scratch, so I've been putting in spring bulbs before any of the other, later perennials have gone in. No wonder I was getting a bit stuck! Your advice is really helpful. I really like having greenery all year round, so I will be putting in a fair amount of evergreen plants to provide the year round cover and colour. I'm very interested to hear that you lift tulip bulbs, as I also live in a very wet area. That's good to know. Do you think I could lift snowdrop, daffodil and crocus bulbs after flowering and once the other plants are in, so that I can replanted them the right way round, round the others? Also, last question (!): can I ask the name of that stunningly beautiful blue shrub in the background in photo 1? It is so vivid, and looks delightful sitting behind the yellow tulips.

 

I've grown them from bulbs in pots with no problems but this year will be my first attempt at growing bulbs in the ground. They like wet conditions and my pots were in an area of dappled shade.