Winter / Spring Border planting advice

[FusionChefGeoff]

I've just dug out a small border on our front boundary - it's slightly overshadowed by a conifer hedge but I stuck in some daffs just in the grass last year and they did ok

So my plan is to put in loads more daffs and tulips to have an early burst of red and yellow in the spring.

Can I plant anything on top of the bulbs so I have a bit of colour / interest now?

And what would you recommend for after the daffs and tulips have gone in the summer?

I'd like it to be year round if possible but never done anything like this so looking forward to learning!

Japanese anemones are a classic for this time of year - I love 'em. Very easy and like shade. Also very fond of cyclamens - there are autumn and winter ones and again like shade, so I'd look for them too.

As you say, it's time for planting spring bulbs, of course - I'd add some crocus to your bed. Also snowdrops, though probably better to wait til spring and plant them 'in the green' (better results doing them this way). Muscari are also nice and Glory of the Snow are lovely little flowers.

For the summer, I'd go for a herbaceous border. Lots and lots of lovely plants to choose from and it's a classic combination to underplant them with bulbs. The top growth of the herbaceous perennials dies back in winter, allowing space for the spring flowers, and as the latter go over, the summer flowers are resprouting and ready to start flowering.

For perennials, browse the garden centre for hardy/herbaceous/cottage perennials. Do a bit of peeking in local gardens - this Is very useful for seeing what does well locally. If you have gardener family or friends, it's the time of year for dividing perennials, so keep your ears open. Gardeners are generous folk and will often be pleased to pass on excess plants to the newly-converted

Good luck!

I’d go for bulbs that last more than one year. Tulips are nice but need replacing every year, hence why they’re often grown in pots. Heather, sweet box, winter pansies or even cyclamen would brighten it up over the winter. Or perhaps a few small evergreens?

I have cyclamen in pots and crocus and snowdrops in the ground plus primroses.
The crocus and snowdrops disappear after spring but the primroses stick around after flowering as a nice, low growing green ground cover.

Oh dear I am really clueless.

What's a herbaceous plant?? What does underplant with bulbs mean?

I definitely did not know that tulips only last a year - daffs come back again don't they? What else will do more than a year?

In my front bed I have several lavender plants and I put the bulbs around them. In the spring I have daffodils and crocuses then the lavender flowers in the summer.

Herbaceous means it dies over winter then pops back up in the spring.

Underplant means planting smaller plants underneath larger ones, a small tree with bluebells under it for example would be 'underplanted' with bluebells

Almost all bulbs will and you can actually get certain tulips that will do every year.
They are called 'naturalising tulips', there are lots of different types of tulips, the 'Darwin' ones are usually naturalising.

Oops - didn't mean to confuse

As above, the majority of bulbs will regrow every year. Hardy (or herbaceous or cottage) perennials will too. 'Hardy' means that they'll be fine outside all year round. 'Half-hardy or 'tender' perennials need bringing inside during the winter.

Here's a pic so you can see - I should have said it's long and thin! Ok so here's my plan;

Plant daffodils and Darwin tulip bulbs
Put Japanese Anenome and Cyclamen on top

Winter & spring done

With such a thin space, should I still be thinking about herbaceous or just put summer bedding plants in once daffs and tulips have gone?

Pic!

If that was mine, I would do some daffodil and tulip bulbs for spring colour, plus 2 or 3 different coloured heucheras which are vibrantly coloured all year round and some small, long flowering (may to September) plants like Erodium or Trailing Campanula

Heuchera.
I have a lovely lime green one in my garden.

Erodium.
I have the 'bishop form' one in my window boxes, it takes up very little room, drought resistant and flowers practically non stop

Campanula.
I have the portenschlagiana which comes in white or purple

'Apeldoorn' tulips are a Darwin and meant to be good for naturalising (spreading and coming back every year)

Ooo I LOVE the campanula!! Does that go in in spring?

Campanula should start flowering in May.
A lot of websites say it flowers from may to august but we're in October and mine is still flowering!
Morrisons and Aldi usually sell it may/June time.
It's perennial so plant it once and will survive the winter and flower every year

The usual big tulips can last more than a year, but they're not reliable, so most people plant fresh each year. Better than having a dwindling or patchy display. Some of the species ones in particular go on year after year - I have some naturalised in the lawn, they extend the lawn bulb season beyond crocuses and daffodils, and are very sweet, only about 6 inches high, with flowers about an inch across which open fully to reveal different colours inside.

(Species: the plants we grow in our gardens are a mixture of wild plants - often plants that are wild in other countries rather than the UK - and hybrids obtained by crossing two or more wild species. I it's known by two lain names - eg Campanula portenshlagiana it's a species, a x in the name indicates a hybrid, eg Primula x polyantha, and an english name eg Dahlia "Bishop of Llandaff" indicates a hybrid or a garden form developed from a mutation)

I think you're catching the gardening bug, OP

Lovely suggestions above. Hardy geraniums (not to be confused with the bedding kind, though the latter are just as nice) would also be good - low growing, white, blue or pink flowers, floriferous and tough as old boots!

A good tip for beginners, if you can manage it, is to go to the garden centre once a month. They prioritise what's in flower and you can build a nice border from that. Caveat - it's very easy to get carried away - just remember to leave space for future additions. By this time next year, you should have a nice year-round display.

Planting is easy as things are container grown these days - you can plant pretty much any time. Just remember to water new additions in well, particularly in the warmer months and keep an eye out while plants are establishing.

OTOH, I'm also a fan of a bit of bedding. More labour- intensive, but it's not a huge space so would be very manageable. Or how about a couple of hanging baskets? Then you'll have the best of both worlds!

Tulips are native to Central Asia. We don’t have the hot summers or cold dry winters they need to come back every year, plus the bulbs can catch a disease called tulip fire if they’re left in the ground. In Holland they dig them up after flowering and put them in climate controlled warehouses to trick them into thinking they’re in their native climate. The artificially bulked up tulips you buy in the shops only survive one year in your garden, if they come back a second time they’re very poor. The exception is the small species tulips which are tougher so can cope with our climate and come back. But the nice big attractive tulips are best chucked out and replaced every year.

Daffodils, crocuses, muscari, hyacinths, chionodoxa, bluebells, snowdrops, most other bulbs will come back every year.

no idea what will happen but i picked up some snake head frittillary bulbs today

they have a chequered head,look interesting

Great thread, I did not know that about tulips!

The exception is the small species tulips which are tougher so can cope with our climate and come back. There are species of tulip native to Europe eg Tulipa saxatilis.

snake head fritillary Lovely, easy to grow, easy to naturalise, possibly a UK native though now very rare in the wild. You can also bulk them up from seed - I took about 5 years to get them as far as flowering. Downsides - they're one of the things attacked by lily beetle, so you need to keep an eye on them and remove and squish the bright red beetles before they have chance to lay eggs (much pleasanter than squishing their excrement-covered larvae); and, as I discovered this year, squirrels dig up the bulbs. I didn't grow these on carefully for 5 years just to give you a free lunch Mr Squirrel!

If you plant some snowdrops, they should flower before the daffodils start

Muscari too, you can get blue and white varieties - they do spread though, so contain them if you don't want that to happen.

Well the tulips are in but it's dark now so waiting till tomorrow for the daffs. Then hoping for a trip to the garden centre for your recommendations for winter colour after watching England win the World Cup on Saturday