Help with bulb order please

Since I spent much of last year with bare-ish borders I thought I would try and get things right next year which means planting bulbs now.. (or should have been a month ago but I didn't know this - i'm only a beginner)

So from my limited knowledge I've got an order for my garden which is about 30 foot long (I think)



here's a pic

So I found J Parker and got an order

Cat No. Product Qty Unit Cost Cost Delete Item
B171 Fritillaria Meleagris (Snakeshead) (Pack of 50) £3.95 £3.95
B208 Naughty Girl Amaryllis £3.95 £3.95
B383 150 Winter Flowering Crocus (Pack of 150 Bulbs) £13.75 £13.75
B407 Allium Cernuum (Pack of 10) £5.95 £5.95
B433 Fritillaria Lutea (Crown Imperial) (Pack of 3) £10.45 £10.45
B438 50 Iris Reticulata Harmony (Pack of 50 ) £2.95 £2.95
B621 25 Rembrandt Tulips Mixed (Pack of 25) £3.70 £11.10
B622 Dichelostemma Ida-Maia (Pack of 15) £2.45 £2.45 Remove
B623 30 Praestans Multi-Headed Tulips (Pack of 30) £1.95 £5.85
C441 Dwarf Iris Mixed (Pack of 100) £9.40 £9.40 Remove product
P253 Ornamental Grasses (Pack of 6 + 3 Free) £13.90 £13.90
B905 25 Spring Green Tulips (Pack of 25) 1 FREE FREE
P005 6 Scabiosa Perfecta (Pack of 6) 1 FREE FREE
Sub Total £83.70
P&P £3.95
Total Cost £87.65

If you goto http://www.jparkers.co.uk you should be able to look up what i've ordered - putting the order code in the search box (top right) will bring up the item.

So some questions - are these all suitable to be planted now? (including the grasses)

Do you think the grasses will be tiny little things (and not like the picture?)

Will this selection provide flowers from feb (is this the earliest I can expect flowers from bulbs?) to early summer?

Will there be enough bulbs for say 2 or 3 borders like the one in my pic?

Last year I used an automatic watering system for my borders - will this risk damaging the bulbs? I guees I may just have to risk it if this is the case?

Are all of these suitable for a beginner gardener?

I've basically picked out stuff that A) I like the look of and B) may also be on offer.

Any other suggestions etc are welcome or if you fancy putting a catalog/list together from your favorite seed supplier feel free to post it here (I fully expect other gardeners could do better like I said I'm a bit clueless about this and have never planted bulbs etc before)

Oh yeah a book I have says stuff about sand, silver sand and who-knows what else does this help when planting? - is it for drainage (my garden seems pretty wet at the moment.

Do all of these bulbs 'appear' in spring - or over the winter (they are growing in winter - right?)

Thanks for your help and time

PS went down to wilko's today (a member here said they have 1/2 price bulbs) but they have none left.

 

Hi Men8ifr,

Parkers is quite near to me and that`s where I made my big order from too-very good suppliers.

There will be more than enough for the borders and you can plant when they arrive just fine. The autowatering system looks like it`s the same as mine-gardena stuff, but I only turn it on when I am on holiday, I get pleasure watering them personally when I am here-I get to inspect the plants ( although mostly extent of slug damage) as I go.

Wilkos have indeed sold out almost everywhere, I went last week and there were only one or two gardening things and they were going for silly money-gardeners are canny, you have to be quick.


A quick word about the arranging of the bulbs. Plant them in groups, keep all the snakeshead fritillary together, the irises etc. It will have a greater impact when they flower if they are in drifts and can look odd if planted higgledy piggledy. I know, I did it.

If you plant right ie3 times their depth, and feed in spring, don`t cut back or tie back their foliage (this allows them to build up their energy again), and your soil is wet because of the watering system or rain and not clay then I see no reason to purchase anything like sand or such for them.

 

I have no idea how the smiley wavy faces got there by the way..

In another post some-one mentioned getting dwarf tulips so they done get damaged by the wind.. I was going to get Rembrandt Tulips Mixed - 75 bulbs in total for £12 as they are on offer.... I don't remember seeing dwarf tulips... any comments I guess it's no good getting stuff cheap if it's no good (get damaged in the wind?)

The watering system is hozelock - great piece of kit I don't have the time/patience yet to water the garden every day in summer and what do you do when you go on holiday? (ask neighbors I guess but i'd prefer not to...) It waters my hanging baskets as well - great.

 

When you say plant in groups you mean clumps e.g. 3 bulbs in the same little hole? or do you mean keep them all together in the garden? i.e. plant all crocus' in a 50cm wide strip of the border and next to them plant all the tulips etc..?

 

Have I missed snow-drops out or did I get them and thay have a different name?

Are these the first bulbs to flower (feb?)

 

I think I did forget them - maybe add these (single snowdrop) http://www.jparkers.co.uk/Index.cfm...y.search&search=snowdrop&producttype_id=47271

 

"Do you think the grasses will be tiny little things"

When I get tiddlers I pot them, rather than planting them, then I can molly coddle them and try to get 100% "take". My Mother gave me a dozen spivvy Penstemon during the summer (plug plants, came beautifully packed and looked the picture of health), and even though I put them through my molly coddling routine I lost all bar two :( (I think I should also have put them in plastic bags to reduce transpiration for a week)

" Will this selection provide flowers from feb"

At a glance I don't see anything that early. You'd need Snowdrops and Aconites for the early part of the year; then come Daffodils, then Tulips with Narcissus somewhere after Daffodils

" Last year I used an automatic watering system for my borders - will this risk damaging the bulbs?"

I don't foresee a problem. If the ground gets soaking wet it won't help them, but if you do that you should be shot for wasting water anyway :D so I'm sure that's unlikely

" Are all of these suitable for a beginner gardener?"

I think of the Fritillaria as being a bit above "Beginner", but that may be because I have heavy clay soil which isn't brill. for bulbs.

" I've basically picked out stuff that A) I like the look of and B) may also be on offer."

Definitely can't argue with that!

" Any other suggestions"

Daffodils. Try to plant them on the North side (if there is a choice) because they will turn their heads towards the Sun - i.e. South - and thus be more enjoyable to view when looking at them from the South side.

"is it for drainage (my garden seems pretty wet at the moment."

Yes, for drainage - to stop the bulbs rotting. If you have free draining soil I shouldn't worry too much. If its clay-only-good-for-making-bricks, like mine, then it would be a good idea. Small handful at the bottom of the planting hole will help. Don't let the mice etc. get to them either ...

"they are growing in winter - right?"

Yup. The ones you buy won't have (shouldn't have) sprouted, but if you bug up a daffodil already in the ground it would have lots of root already, and probably a decent sprouted shoot (underground only) too

 

"In another post some-one mentioned getting dwarf tulips so they done get damaged by the wind"

You won't have a problem with planting them in your borders. If you want to put them in a hanging basket or "tub" then I would suggest dwarf ones.

"When you say plant in groups you mean clumps e.g. 3 bulbs in the same little hole? or do you mean keep them all together in the garden? i.e. plant all crocus' in a 50cm wide strip of the border and next to them plant all the tulips etc..?"

I expect lollipop meant the second ... coz that's what I would do!

 

Do you have any pictures you can find of this or a google link or something - I was going to plant them in clumps spread around the border but with taller plants at the back...

Are you saying the same as this
Designing Natural Plantings
Naturalized plantings should mimic nature and blend in with the existing landscape. To achieve this, lay out your planting areas so they follow the contours of your land and be generous with the size of the areas to be planted. The impact of your planting will be much greater if you have several large areas of naturalized bulbs than if you have lots of small areas. Naturalized plantings look best when they are planted densely in the center then feather out to fewer bulbs at the edges of the planting. And finally, swaths of one solid color generally have greater visual appeal than drifts of mixed colors.

So does this mean plant in clumps but keep lots of clumps together in a small area?

 

"I was going to plant them in clumps spread around the border but with taller plants at the back..."

That's what I would do. Where your order has less than 10 bulbs I would put them all together in one clump. Where you have more you could do more than one clump.

 

Hi Men8ifr,

The Amaryllis is an indoor flowering bulb, it is not hardy so will die if planted into the garden. As in the photo on J Parkers, plant into a container with the shoulders of the bulb sticking out above the soil and keep indoors. It should soon start to grow and will probably flower in the New Year.

The Fritillaria Meleagris are a British native and if they like you will naturalise, ie self seed and spread from year to year, plant them fairly deep at about 6 inches.

The species tulips and irises will also increase every year.

The dichelostemma and alliums are summer flowering.

The scabious will arrive as small plug plants. I would pot them up into 9cm pots and put them somewhere sheltered for the winter and plant them come spring when new growth shows through. If you put them straight into the ground they will probably disappear.

The grasses will probably not look like much when they arrive, you could do the same with them.

As for planting the bulbs, I would suggest groups of 5 or 7, spaced at about 3 - 4 times the width of the bulb. Just place all the bulbs on the surface of the soil where you want them, then plant. I would then put a label in the centre of each group as you plant or you will forget where they are and accidently dig them up, or plant other bulbs on top of them.

Looking at your garden, what is the fan-shaped plant up against the fence? It looks suspiciously like phormium tenax to me.

 

Hi again,

sorry my pc went a bit doo-lally on me there.

Yes as Kristen says I meant all in one large drift. It is much better. I did the opposite one year-just one year -and I have since spent springs collecting them back up into drifts again. And as Kristen says dwarf if they are in places which are exposed to the high winds we invariably get in winter-aside from anything it is so you can see them and get the enjoyment of them.


And be prepared-you will fall in love when they all come up.

 

I would not plant snowdrops as dormant bulbs as they probably won't come up. It is best to plant them 'in the green' , just after they have flowered but still with leaves on. If you spot any in your neighbours' or friends' gardens in spring, that is the time to beg a bunch.

You could put crocus in your hanging baskets, they are very early and in the baskets they may escape the attentions of mice and voles.

 

I've always been curious as to why in-the-green works for Snowdrops - as most of what I was told as a young lad was never to transplant anything at that time in their flowering cycle!

Any ideas?

 

No idea as to why. Geoff Hamilton advised much the same. I rather suspect it will be to do with moisture content in the corms to be honest. I soak corms for at least overnight and they do seem to be about 7/3 successful with me. A 30% loss is to me a reasonable loss. Sometimes it`s more or less.