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- Herausgeber: Crowood
- Kategorie: Lebensstil
- Sprache: Englisch
Bulbs are always a delight for gardeners, whether used to burst freely in drifts or caught to add colour and exuberance within a border or container. This book captures that sense of joy by celebrating the potential of bulbs throughout the year. Organized into seasons, it gives practical advice on growing and - especially - choosing bulbs for the garden. Practical - how and where to grow, planting for succession. Comprehensive - detailed listing of the most common and interesting bulbs. Inspirational - ideas for the ordinary gardener and detailed reference for the more experienced. Illustrated with over 400 glorious photographs of bulbs in settings and as close-ups - this book will be a treasure house of ideas and advice for all gardeners. This lavish book provides a detailed reference to be enjoyed equally by those simply wanting to dip into its pages and those seeking a longer overview of bulbs in the garden. It is arranged into seasons and gives practical advice on growing and choosing bulbs. Gloriously illustrated with over 400 photographs of bulbs both in close-ups and in settings. Christine Skelmersdale is a leading bulb expert with over forty years experience growing and showing bulbs both commerically and privately.
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Seitenzahl: 389
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2013
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A GARDENER’S GUIDE TOBulbs
Christine Skelmersdale
Copyright
First published in 2012 by The Crowood Press Ltd Ramsbury, Marlborough Wiltshire SN8 2HR
www.crowood.com
This e-book first published in 2014
© Christine Skelmersdale 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978 1 84797 666 6
This cup symbol has been used throughout the text to indicate the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit
Diagrams by Charlotte Kelly
Dedication For Roger
Acknowledgements My thanks are due to my botanist friends, especially Kit Grey-Wilson, Martin Rix, Brian Mathew and Sharon McDonald, the International Daffodil Registrar, who so patiently answered my queries. Any mistakes, however, are all my own. I could not have written this without help from my many gardening colleagues, but special thanks are due to Jane Kimber and Jonny Clothier for their unfailing encouragement and support and for the use of some of his photographs.
For more information about the author and her work, visit her website www.broadleighbulbs.co.uk.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD
Any gardener who doesn’t plant bulbs is missing out. For me they are ‘firework’ plants – light the blue touch-paper and stand well back – someone else having done all the work. That someone is, quite often, Christine Skelmersdale, whose bulbs have graced my garden for longer than I care to remember.
Christine is passionate about these plants, and frighteningly knowledgeable, but she is also a dab hand at passing on the information and skills that she has learned over a lifetime of growing bulbs, corms and tubers.
It always makes sense to grow plants that like your garden, its soil and situation. That way you stand the best chance of your plants doing well without either you or they having to struggle. But now and again it’s good to present yourself with a challenge, and to do that you need to be armed with information from someone who has been there before you. I can’t believe that there are many bulbs that Christine has not grown – and learned to cultivate to best effect – in her lifetime. That information you will find between these covers.
Just as important, you will also find details and pictures of the more obliging bulbs, from my favourite miniature narcissi, to those nodding angels the snakeshead fritillaries, crocuses and supremely elegant tulips. Each spring would be a dreary time of year without them.
But bulbs are not just for spring – carefully chosen, they will embellish your garden in every season; and that is the very premise of this book – it will widen your bulbous horizons and open your eyes to unknown treasures that are not always tricky to grow, but often unjustly neglected.
There are autumn crocuses and spectacular nerines that provide as much colour in ‘the fall’ as the foliage of a bright maple. Brilliant winter-flowering cyclamen are as vivid as summer bedding, and the snowdrops we all wait for signal that spring is just around the corner. But did you know that some of them flower in autumn too?
In summer there are alliums and dieramas (I’ve always struggled with the latter, but I’m hoping this book will improve my cultivation skills), and lilies (I love them), and mouthwatering nomocharis. Oh, and just in case you think I can only grow the easy stuff, I can boast a very happy clump of that wonderful orchid Cypripedium x grande (though to be honest, they seem to do very well with very little help from me).
Going through this book, I am struck by just how much (at my mature time of life) I have yet to try growing. But that’s the thing about gardening – no one has ever grown everything that is available in today’s plantsman’s paradise. Perhaps that’s why gardeners remain so enthusiastic, so passionate and so optimistic. We deal in beauty on a daily basis, and the kind of beauty we deal in is real, not imagined. Not for us the potions and creams that come with a promise so rarely fulfilled. No, we deal in beautiful reality – the reassurance that each year our plants will come up and give of their best without disappointing (provided we or the weather do not conspire to defeat them). As a group, bulbs are among the least disappointing in that respect.
And yet we can all be better gardeners by relying on the information of those more experienced than ourselves. When it comes to bulbs and other plants that possess swollen underground storage systems (the corms, the rhizomes and the tubers if we’re being technical), few gardeners have a greater all-round experience than Christine Skelmersdale. Her book is destined to be one of those in my collection that falls apart through over-use. No author could be paid a greater compliment, but it is a compliment that Christine richly deserves.
Alan Titchmarsh – gardener, author and broadcaster
INTRODUCTION
Tulips with grape hyacinths and daffodils make the perfect spring picture.
A bulb, technically a geophyte, is a plant that produces a swollen underground storage organ. These have evolved to allow the plant to survive a period of inclement weather, usually drought. Bulbs are found in areas of the world where there is a strong seasonality in the weather, particularly those with a Mediterranean type of climate. These have cool, wet winters followed by a hot, dry summer. Woodland, where the tree canopy acts like an umbrella, has also produced its fair share of bulbs – we have only to think of the bluebell or snowdrop. Some families, such as tulips or daffodils, only grow from bulbs; others, like iris or anemones, may have a mixture of rootstocks depending upon their native habitat and how they have evolved to cope with it. Thus there are bulbous, rhizomatous and herbaceous forms of iris.
Throughout this book the term ‘bulb’ is used in its loosest sense to mean a swollen underground storage organ – corms, true bulbs, tubers and rhizomes. All are adapted to withstand adverse conditions of heat, drought or cold and all have one thing in common – for part of the year they are completely dormant. In order to withstand this time of inactivity,the bulb must build up its reserves while it is growing, for which the leaves are vital. The importance of this cannot be stressed too much.
Bulbs are essentially ephemeral. Their flowering period can be as long as a few weeks in the early, cooler part of the year, or as short as a few days, but normally they last for about one to two weeks depending upon the weather. However, their leaves, unlike their flowers, persist for many weeks and few are ornamental in their own right. Severe frost, unexpectedly hot conditions, or in particular strong winds can quickly devastate the flowers, leaving an untidy heap of leaves in their place.
Nevertheless it is essential that these are left to die down naturally in order to create a flowering-sized bulb for the following season. It is this mass of slowly fading vegetation littering the border, or having to delay the cutting of the lawn until it looks more like a hay field, that has given bulbs a bad name; and in extreme cases gardeners have been known to banish them altogether. However, if the bulbs are placed with care this need not be an insurmountable problem. Some bulbs such as Cardiocrinum giganteum, other lilies and many alliums have attractive, long-lasting seed heads, which are a bonus.
Nectarascordum siculum in seed.
It is impossible to make generalizations about the soil type, conditions, alkalinity and so on preferred by bulbs. They have such disparate requirements that any special needs will be discussed under each specific entry. One point must be stressed, however: that of drainage. Most bulbs have evolved in areas with a Mediterranean type of climate where the summers are warm and dry, unlike those of more northerly areas. Thus the soil must be free draining if the bulbs are not to rot.
The prime consideration when planning a planting scheme must be the compatibility of the bulbs to the situation. The tables in the Appendix at the end of the book suggest appropriate bulbs for different locations in the garden.
Striking seedheads of Fritillaria imperialis.
Mixed corms.
What is a bulb?
There are four main types of ‘bulbs’:
1 Corms are solid structures providing the growing plant with nutrients only. The shoots arise out of the top and the whole corm gradually shrinks as the plant grows. These shrivelled remains can often be seen below the current corm. A new corm is formed on top of the old one within the circle of leaves. As the foliage dies off so the base of the leaves form a tunic, often in concentric circles. This can be papery or netted. In some genera like Crocosmia the old corm does not completely disappear but remains below the new one, often in extended chains. Examples of corms include crocus, colchicum, crocosmia, gladiolus and tritonia.
2 Like corms, tubers are solid structures but they are permanent, often living to a great age. They do not have a tunic but most have a hard, corky outer layer. Most tubers do not produce offsets and have only a single growing point – cyclamen, for example – and the only method of propagation is by seed. However, some corms like Anemone blanda and eranthis produce multiple growing points and they can be cut up. Examples of tubers include cyclamen, corydalis, eranthis, and Anemone blanda.
3 Rhizomes are the default structure for plants growing in cool woodlands. These are modified stems that creep under the ground (or above it in the case of bearded iris). Most are very thin and vulnerable to desiccation if they are left exposed for any time. As with the bearded iris, the rhizomes grow outwards and the end dies off behind. Some, such as wood anemones, form dense mats of twig-like rhizomes which are simply propagated by breaking them up (make sure that there is a growing point, a small white nodule, on each piece). Others, such as trilliums, are much slower and seed is a better method of raising new plants. Examples of rhizomatous bulbs include Anemone nemorosa, trillium, and some alliums.
4 The largest and by far the most disparate group are the ‘true bulbs’. At first glance there seems to be nothing that links bluebells with daffodils or with lilies and alliums. A closer inspection reveals that they are all made up of one or more scales and a growing point attached to a basal plate. This is the hard bit at the bottom of an onion and it is very vulnerable to physical damage. All the roots arise from it. This basal plate is permanent, continuing from year to year while the scales attached to it turn into flowers and leaves and then die off to form new scales for the following season. In many bulbs the fading leaves turn into a protective tunic. This prevents the bulb from losing moisture while it is dormant; it is hardest in bulbs from hot areas (such as tulips) and non-existent in ones from cooler, damper conditions (such as lilies and bluebells). Those without protective tunics are vulnerable to excessive drying out during the planting season. Most bulbs produce offsets (small bulbs) on the side of the parent bulb, which are removed for propagation. Examples of true bulbs include narcissus, allium, chionodoxa, lilium, fritillaria, erythronium, scilla, hyacinth and tulip.
The amazingly variable true bulb.
Using bulbs in the garden
Bulbs present gardeners, even very experienced ones, with a conundrum: they are among the easiest of subjects to grow but surprisingly difficult to use really effectively. You have only to look around you in the spring to see how badly we often use these simple plants. Whereas considered thought may go into the placing of a shrub or herbaceous perennial, bulbs seem to be randomly shoved into any available space with little consideration other than, hopefully, soil type and aspect.
The fault, if fault it is, lies with the bulbs themselves rather than any design deficiencies of the gardener. Bulbs come as neat packages which are readily planted with little skill, but it is all too easy to forget the time gap between planting and flowering. Autumn is the principal planting time and even if you wait until the correct time of mid-autumn, which can be difficult with garden centres urging us to buy and plant earlier and earlier, the garden is often still bursting with colour from late-summer herbaceous perennials and half-hardy annuals. Just finding a space can be a challenge.
It is difficult to remember that when the bulbs flower, some six months after they were planted, the annuals have long since been consigned to the compost heap and the exuberant perennials have been cut down to size, leaving the bulbs in sole, splendid possession of the border. This six-month time lag often leads to rather random plantings and uncomfortable colour associations as we try and find a gap in the autumn border to squeeze the bulbs in – forgetting what else will be flowering at the same time in spring. Even a 10cm crocus can dominate a border in winter. It is now that the amount of forethought and planning that may (or may not) have gone into the placing of the bulbs becomes apparent, and our errors glaringly obvious.
A typical bedding display.
The simplest way of avoiding these errors is to make notes, either written or as a photographic record of the border at the time you wish to change it, showing exactly where the gaps are and to make notes about the type, and probably most importantly, the colour of bulbs to be added. Then, when autumn comes round, you are prepared and the purchasing and planting can be done with confidence. If you are uncertain what you want or what will go with what there are a few simple guidelines which will make planting a less hit-and-miss affair.
Bulbs can be used throughout the garden and the next section is divided into the four main areas in the garden where bulbs can be planted – sunny borders, shady borders, grass, and in containers. The aim of this section is to give the principles behind using bulbs to create different effects. The principles will remain the same regardless of the scale of your border or garden. You can then choose the varieties to suit your requirements and taste.
Sunny borders
Sunny borders are a prime garden site and bulbs have to compete with a full range of other garden plants, so they are most likely to take a supporting role rather than centre stage, especially outside spring. Most bulbs, but especially spring-flowering ones, require a relatively dry summer dormancy. They will therefore not be very long-lasting in gardens where there is an irrigation system that waters the borders during the summer, although it is possible to lift the bulbs and store them for the summer. Tulips especially will benefit from this treatment. Alternatively, they can be treated as annuals and new bulbs planted each year. Daffodils are remarkably tolerant and will normally survive, as will small bulbs clustered at the very front edge. Lilies on the other hand will actively revel in the water, as lack of it when they are growing is one of the prime causes of ‘blindness’ – a failure to flower.
Formal planting
Bedding is the most familiar situation in which bulbs are encountered. Usually mixed with wallflowers or polyanthus, they are to be seen on virtually every roundabout or municipal park. This method is expensive both in bulbs and labour as the display needs to be replaced as soon as it fades, the bulbs being discarded rather than being left to die back naturally. This approach has limited use for the gardener, although it is useful for areas of high visibility such as a small front garden. Here the number of bulbs required is manageable and fun can be had experimenting with different combinations. Local parks departments are often a good source of ideas as it is with these large-scale plantings that the growers often introduce their newest varieties to the public.
However, there are areas in the garden where a certain formality of planting is appropriate. Box parterres, rose beds and narrow borders under pleached trees all lend themselves to this approach.
Tulip ‘White Triumphator’ filling a box parterre.
Tulips are the traditional bulb for these situations. They may need to be lifted after flowering or may be left in situ, depending upon the nature of your soil and the variety chosen. On heavy soils they can be left for some years, only topping up the display occasionally, but on lighter soils annual lifting and replanting might be a safer option to maintain the display. The lily-flowered tulips are especially effective massed in parterres where their pointed-tipped blooms seem to hover like butterflies above the low hedges. T. fosteriana ‘Purissima’ is excellent as an earlier-flowering option. Whatever your choice of variety, the density of the bulbs is of the utmost importance. Spread them too thinly and not only will the hoped-for impact be dissipated, the resultant display is liable to be a negative rather than a positive experience. Another simple rule is to plant the earliest-flowering varieties furthest away; thus the display is always freshest nearest the house, hiding the fading flowers of the earlier ones. It is best to keep to the same type of tulip if you wish to mix the colours, whether for complementary tones or contrasts. The purple-edged ‘Shirley’ and the dark ‘Queen of Night’ will give a dramatic late display. Drumstick alliums or Lilium regale can then follow on.
Short bulbs such as Anemone blanda ‘White Splendour’ or Scilla sibirica are perfect for under-planting pleached trees where the soil is too thin for tulips. The anemones do not need to be individually planted but can be scattered on the surface in the late autumn and then covered with compost or bark. Unlike tulips these are left undisturbed, their display improving year on year as the tubers enjoy their dry summers under the trees and increase in size. Grape hyacinths are another suitable subject for these massed plantings. Traditional rose beds lend themselves to similar edgings.
Incorporating bulbs into sunny borders
Location
Bulbs and herbaceous perennials are seen as mutually exclusive by many gardeners. Not only are they difficult to combine successfully with other plants: there is always the ever-present risk of spearing the bulbs when weeding the border in summer. Bulbs planted in the middle of the border, such as tulips, should be planted at least 20cm deep, which will take them well below danger level.
The foliage of many bulbs, but especially that of daffodils, is often perceived as such an insurmountable problem that they are banished from traditional herbaceous borders. The leaves of daffodils elongate considerably after flowering and are vital to maintain the vigour of the bulb for future years. All leaves must therefore be kept for some considerable time after the flowers fade. They then die back, ‘flopping in masses of yellow decay’, to use Reginald Farrer’s evocative description. They can be rather difficult to incorporate successfully, but the problem of fading foliage can be overcome by the simple expedient of disguise. Clumps of early-flowering varieties can be placed along the back of a border where they will bring the border alive early in spring, but then the emerging herbaceous perennials will hide the fading bulb foliage.
A primrose provides the perfect foil for Crocus ‘Skyline’.
The bicoloured N. ‘Jenny’ and ‘February Silver’ are good varieties for this treatment, being early-flowering and very long lived as well as good looking! The creamy white daffodils from Division 5, such as ‘Tresamble’ or ‘Thalia’, are other reliable choices.
The leaves of tulips are much better regulated; even the dying stems stand strongly to attention. The removal of the faded petals is all that is required to disguise them. They should be planted in good-sized clumps through the middle of the border. If these are to be left in situ then they repay the excavation of a decent hole – at least 15–20cm deep. They can then be successfully placed between clumps of herbaceous perennials which in turn will flop outwards, giving the tulips the chance of a dry summer dormancy under their protection.
Small, early-flowering bulbs such as crocus, eranthis and scillas, especially S. bifolia and S. mischtschenkoana, are neat enough in and out of flower to be clustered along the front edge of a border where they will add colour to an often very dreary time of the year. If the border includes shrubs such as roses, small bulbs like snowdrops and particularly chionodoxa can be clustered round their base, where they will be well away from inadvertent damage from the over-enthusiastic gardener. The aim is to add pockets of colour early in the year. The bulbs should therefore be planted in clumps of seven to fifteen rather than scattering them randomly through the border.
Summer bulbs take a much more supporting role in the border than their spring-flowering compatriots. Compared to most perennials they have a relatively short flowering period. However, most have fairly large flowers on tall thin stems so they are ideal as a foil for the more dense herbaceous plants. Alliums and lilies are best rising up through and flowering above the domes of perennials, so they should be planted in the middle of the border rather than at the back as their height might indicate. Bulbs with flowers in a spike, such as gladioli or camassias, should be planted in small groups.
The herbaceous plants will also solve the problem of the unattractive fading foliage of the alliums and camassias, which is so distressing to some gardeners. These bulbs come from areas of limited rainfall so they grow first in the spring then bloom as the leaves fade, rather than flowering first like spring bulbs. If they are planted behind herbaceous perennials their unsightly leaves will be hidden. Mounds of herbaceous geraniums are particularly good or day lilies (Hemerocallis), which have similar linear leaves to the bulbs.
The summer-flowering Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ follows on from tulips in a border of grasses.
Borders of grasses have become very popular in recent years and these drier conditions suit alliums better than most traditional herbaceous borders, which can be too moist for them in mid-summer. Other small summer-flowering bulbs like triteleias work well here as well.
Whichever bulb you choose, planting small clumps is preferable to dotting the same number of bulbs about. It is also much more practical, as they can be planted deep enough to be well below accidental damage.
Pink tulip ‘Marietta’ with Geranium tuberosum.
Colour
We now come to the vexed question of colour, which is one of the most difficult things for the average gardener to achieve successfully. This is very much a question of personal preference but there are two basic approaches: harmonies, which use colours that are adjacent on the colour spectrum and are the easiest to use; and contrasts, which use colours from the opposite sides of the spectrum.
Harmonies
This is the easiest and simplest method of combining colours, using those that are adjacent on the colour spectrum. Pink with blue and purple or yellow with cream and white provide a safe combination of toning colours, and will always blend and look attractive – although the effect can be rather monotonous if the tones are too similar.
Tulip ‘Apricot Jewel’ and Aubretia.
Contrasts
Whereas harmonious colours are straightforward, always giving a pleasing result, they can be bland. A contrast, on the other hand, offers the gardener drama as it uses colours from the opposite sides of the spectrum, and although it does not always succeed it is great fun trying different combinations. However, the intensity of the dramatic effect depends upon the saturation and depth of the colour. Pale colours will appear more harmonious.
True scarlet can be a problem but will always go with blue, white or yellow, and of course orange. However, some contrasts are not pleasing, the colours setting up an uncomfortable resonance as they clash. Only experience will tell you what works. One of the safest options isthe purple/gold or the simple yellow/blue combination. The addition of a touch of yellow to blue, perhaps a few primroses or yellow pansies to a mass of rather pedestrian grape hyacinths, is magical.
Although with bulbs there is a tendency to think about spring to the exclusion of the rest of the year, the same principles can be followed in summer through to autumn: white lilies under pink roses, for example, or golden crocosmia with red dahlias.
Shape
Shape may not be the main consideration when choosing bulbs but this is to neglect one of their most useful assets. Some have a very complex shape – crown imperial fritillaries spring to mind – that is not easily associated with other plants. They are best allowed to dominate a border of foliage rather than trying to mix them with other flowering subjects. Most lilies fall into the same category and are best appreciated standing proud of other plants. In the spring even a dwarf bulb can dominate a border, but come summer the herbaceous perennials swamp all but the boldest and it is now that these taller bulbs are so useful – their spikes (or pompoms in the case of alliums) punctuating the mounds of perennials. Early summer bulbs like camassias and alliums are especially useful to fill that awkward gap between the spring and true summer display.
The spikes of Camassia are useful for a semi-shady border.
SPECIAL PLACES
A rock garden provides a natural home for a wide range of shorter flowering bulbs, starting in late winter with crocus pushing up through the low mats of an alpine dianthus, followed by the bright stars of Anemone blanda ‘White Splendour’ or the strident ‘Radar’, then dwarf daffodils and finishing with a wide range of species tulips, all of which thrive in well-drained, sunny soil.
There are many bulbs which will revel in the warm dry soil under a sunny wall. This is also the province of many South African bulbs; these depend upon a warm, dry summer to trigger their flowering. The season starts with the exotic eucomis followed by the golden cups of sternbergia and the showy heads of nerines and amaryllis.
Shady borders
The circular bed round a tree in a lawn is a natural planting place for massing many of the smaller spring-flowering bulbs such as grape hyacinths in the spring or colchicums in the autumn. They flower when there is plenty of moisture and light available but then are dormant during the summer. But other shady areas of the garden are often considered a problem by gardeners, largely ignored and their potential overlooked. So many gardeners regard a shrub bed as exclusively that – a collection of flowering shrubs, the possibilities offered by the ground beneath or around them forgotten.
Massed muscari under a cherry tree at Wisley.
Many bulbs, particularly those with rhizomes, are naturally natives of woodland, revelling in the light humus-rich soil found under trees or shrubs. We have only to think of our bluebell woods with their stunning carpets of blue in late spring. There are many other bulbs that are the perfect companions for deciduous trees and shrubs. They make their growth during the winter months when the branches of the trees are bare and moisture is freely available but then go dormant when the umbrella effect of the leaves makes the soil beneath parched. There is a huge choice possible as virtually all spring-flowering bulbs will grow well under shrubs, but there are some for which these cooler conditions in summer are essential: Anemone nemorosa, erythronium and trilliums in particular. North-facing walls offer the gardener a perfect alternative site for these bulbs that prefer cool damp conditions as there is no overhead canopy to keep off the rain.
Cyclamen repandum, wood anemones and bluebells growing in shade.
The season kicks off in autumn with Cyclamen hederifolium, which will freely colonize the dry soils at the base of large trees, and colchicums, which revel in rich deep soils. These are followed in winter by C. coum, snowdrops and winter aconites. Anemone blanda is normally considered a plant favouring full sun but it will happily spread in light shade to give a glowing blue carpet early in the year, which can then be punctuated by clumps of golden daffodils. Other small blue bulbs such as chionodoxa and scilla like similar conditions. Later in the spring the new foliage of hostas, hellebores and Japanese anemones make the perfect foil for camassia, which could in turn be followed by lilies if it is not too dry.
Summer is more of a problem as the leaves of trees reduce not only light but also moisture. In open glades Massed muscari under a cherry tree at Wisley. where the soil is not too dry, or under north walls, lilies, especially those with turk’s-cap-shaped flowers, are an ideal choice – L. lancifolium and L. martagon, for example.
Narcissus ‘February Gold’ follow snowdrops and aconites under birches.
The dry bed around the base of a large tree is an often overlooked planting opportunity. These areas are either neglected or restricted to ground cover but as there is no shade early in the year it is possible to construct a raised bed on the sunny side and mass it with small early-flowering bulbs, allowing them to exuberantly seed into each other. Small clumps of new varieties can be added to the mix each year. The season starts with Eranthis hyemalis and species crocus, which then segue into Anemone blanda, Muscari latifolium, and Iris tuberosa, followed by daffodils – even small tulips can be added to the equation.
Many gardens have a grassy bank as a boundary. This can be planted with snowdrops to start the season followed by clumps of daffodils mixed with primroses for a perfect spring picture.
Sadly, evergreen trees do not provide a seasonal canopy and there are few bulbs that will survive let alone thrive under them.
Naturalizing bulbs in grass
Whether it is Wordsworth’s golden host blowing in the wind or a haze of bluebells staining the woods beneath the fresh young leaves of beech trees, massed bulbs growing in grass provide one of the most evocative sights of spring – although it need not be restricted to that season. It does not matter whether it is crocus studding the lawn or massed daffodils under fruit trees; this is probably the most common and foolproof method of growing bulbs. There is an enormous range of varieties suitable for growing in grass and once planted they can be left undisturbed for many years – the display improving all the time.
However, the inevitable problem with leaves rears its head again. Small, early-flowering bulbs like snowdrops and crocus will be going dormant by the time the grass needs to be cut but the lush leaves of daffodils can be more of a problem. It is recommended that daffodils need a minimum of six weeks’ uninterrupted growth once the flowers fade. After that the leaves can be cut at any time without compromising the future performance of the bulbs. Early-flowering varieties are best for those gardeners itching to reinstate their stripes in the lawn, while those who are content to live with or disguise the fading foliage can choose from a much wider range and extend the flowering season into late spring, even incorporating tulips or camassias.
In the strict sense of the word, ‘naturalizing’ should be applied only to bulbs that will ‘grow as in nature’ – in other words, species bulbs that will seed around, but most gardeners use it to describe any bulb that is vigorous enough to be grown in grass. There are two distinct approaches to planting bulbs in grass: formal and informal.
Narcissus ‘Peeping Tom’ in grass under birches.
Formal planting is where no attempt is made to imitate nature. The bulbs are used to provide blocks of colour and are particularly useful for the more structured areas of the garden such as along a drive or near the house. The bulbs are planted in controlled groups of one or maybe two varieties. Here the choice of variety is not important; impact is the driving factor. Along a drive edge it is best to leave a 60cm strip unplanted. This not only allows for a straying vehicle, but also means that the edge can be kept neatly mown, which will help lessen the visual impact of the fading foliage later in the season.
Planting daffodil bulbs.
With a long drive different blocks of bulbs can be used or later daffodils can take over from early crocus. There are, however, some warnings: circles of bulbs are not only visually uncomfortable – you must also remember that there will be six weeks at least when they must be left uncut. It is tedious to have to drive a mower in a tight circle. Gentle outlines of lozenges make mowing easier, especially around trees. The other warning is to avoid straight lines at all costs. These have a nasty habit of creeping in to the best plantings and once established they can be virtually impossible to eradicate or even disguise. My straight lines of snowdrops planted in error over thirty years ago are still clearly visible.
In informal plantings the gardener is making a conscious effort to mimic nature and free the bulbs from the formal constraints of defined shapes or areas, allowing them to spread around ‘naturally’. It might be crocuses or snowdrops by the thousand in the wilder parts of the garden or a mass of daffodils, fritillaries and so on under apple trees. These depend upon sheer quantity for their effect, the bulbs being planted in a random manner. There are many varieties suitable for this treatment and the choice depends upon personal taste.
Another approach is to try to mimic wild plantings more closely. Fine examples of this are the Narcissus bulbocodium on the Alpine bank at Wisley, or by the stream in the Savile Gardens, the millions of Crocus vernus at Forde Abbey in Dorset or Fritillaria meleagris in the meadows at Magdalen College, Oxford. These displays all have one thing in common not shared by most gardeners – time. The bulbs have been seeding for a century or more. However, it is possible to cheat and create a similar natural effect, provided a few rules are followed. The secret lies in the choice of bulbs, or the three ‘S’s:
1Species or near-species bulbs: these tend to be rather simple flowers that are appropriate for the site. Snowdrops, Crocus tommasinianus, small daffodils (such as N. lobularis, N. obvallaris and N. ‘Topolino’), Fritillaria meleagris, Ornithogalum nutans and Camassia quamash are all good choices.
2Short: the tall, modern hybrids have no place in this type of planting.
3Scattered: plant the bulbs not in clumps but in a random, scattered manner, as though they had seeded naturally.
For daffodils growing in grass, leaving the surrounding grass unmown as the daffodils fade will aid this disguise – a much easier and less laborious method of hiding the unsightly foliage than attempting to dead head, which only partially tackles the problem as it is the leaves themselves that are so unattractive as they fade. No matter how tempting it might be to ‘tidy up’ the leaves and tie them in knots, this is not recommended as it is self-defeating, destroying the very cell pathways that enable the goodness to feed the bulb for the next season.
Planting methods
Choosing and ordering the bulbs for a large-scale project is much easier than the actual planting once they have arrived. There are many specialist bulb-planting tools on the market which are designed to create the perfect planting hole for daffodils; alternatively, you can use a trowel for small bulbs like crocus. It is also possible to remove a layer of turf, loosen the exposed soil and then plant directly into it.
Bulbs can also be grown in small pots to be added to an established planting in the spring when the gaps can be seen. This is also a useful method of thwarting mice and squirrels when growing fritillaries or crocus.
Aftercare
The grass must not be cut for at least six weeks after the last bulbs have flowered to give them adequate growing time. If the planting includes bulbs like fritillaries or N. pseudonarcissus, which increase by seed, it may need to be left for longer for the seeds to ripen. Once the seeds have been dispersed, strim the area and leave the grass uncollected for a couple of days to allow all the seed to drop. This is not necessary with hybrid daffodils; nor is it necessary to feed bulbs in grass: non-flowering will almost certainly be a result of congestion and overcrowding, which prevents the individual bulbs attaining sufficient size to flower. Physical division of the clumps is the only (rather laborious) way to overcome this, and it can be done at any time you can see them.
Pots of lilies fill this courtyard garden.
Fritillaries with small tulips and daffodils under the canopy of a small tree.
The double tulip ‘Monte Carlo’ is ideal for pots.
Bulbs in containers
Planting in containers, as with bedding displays, generally involves a single use of the bulbs, but it has the advantage that it is on a much smaller scale than bedding displays and is mobile. Many spring-flowering bulbs, especially tulips, hyacinths and muscari, are suitable for cultivation in containers, as are lilies and eucomis for the summer. Other than the small multi-stemmed varieties, daffodils do not really suit pots as the proportion of foliage to flower is unbalanced.
The dwarf Kaufmanniana tulips are perfect for pots.
The scented Lilium ‘Stargazer’ is ideal for pots.
An exuberant mix of tulip ‘Prinses Irene’ and Hyacinth ‘City of Haarlem’ with blue pansies.
CHAPTER 1
BULBS FOR THE AUTUMN
Seed heads of Eucomis comosa among grasses.
NOTE
Summer-growing bulbs like eucomis, some of which flower in the early autumn, are listed in the summer section.
Say ‘bulbs’ to any gardener and their mind jumps to drifts of daffodils under cherry trees, but autumn, normally regarded as the season of decay, is the most important time in the life of a bulb. As the first rains fall in the Mediterranean areas or the leaves fall in temperate woodlands allowing more rainfall to reach the soil, so moisture breaks the drought-induced summer dormancy and the bulbs begin to grow. For most it is just the production of the roots that are so essential for future growth but for a few it is their flowering season as well. Surrounded by fallen leaves, they are a sight as welcome as they are unexpected on a sunny autumn day. Most autumn-flowering bulbs are planted in late summer or early autumn, just before they flower.
The showiest of the autumn-flowering bulbs are those from southern Africa such as the autumn lily Nerine bowdenii or Amaryllis belladonna, which rely on a dry summer to ripen their bulbs. These are planted in early spring as they come into leaf, although pot-grown ones can be planted at any time.
Acis
(Leucojum)
Long included in Leucojum, these are now a genus in their own right. There are a number of very similar species but only one is really suitable for the open garden. It is often the first sign of autumn, frequently starting to flower in late summer.
Acis autumnalis.
A. autumnalis
As summer draws to a close, these tiny bulbs erupt into flower, almost overnight pushing up their slender stems, each topped with one or two tiny nodding purple-tipped white bells. These are followed by thin, grassy leaves. Northern Spain is their home, so they prefer a dry summer when they are dormant, and grow well on a sunny rock garden or around the base of a small tree. They are clump-forming and give their best display when well established. Height: 20cm.
Amaryllis belladonna.
Amaryllis
This single-species genus from South Africa is often confused with the non-hardy South American relative, the Christmas-flowering Hippeastrum. Amaryllis produce a cluster of six or more trumpet flowers on stout stems which are followed much later by the leaves. They can produce flowers at any time from late summer to autumn depending upon the weather in the preceding summer. They are reputed to be hardy to -5˚C although we have grown them outside where the temperature has dropped much lower. More important is a warm, dry summer to encourage flowering. Bulbs that are overshadowed by neighbouring plants or receive too much water during the summer will fail to ripen and flower. Our bulbs grow freely in an open bed in the nursery but produce only sporadic flowers. Another clump injudiciously planted against a wall became smothered by its neighbours. It grew very well but never flowered until the offending vegetation was removed to allow the sunlight to fall directly upon the bulbs. The ideal position for all these autumn-flowering
