What good value bulbs can I plant now

[Shoeshelpplease]

We have a strip of pretty neglected land and I am trying to create a little nature environment in it. It doesnt get much care, so can get very wet or very dry.

Are there any bulbs I can plant now to flower in spring or summer? I dont really want to spend too much as its a bit of a test project. I would also like the bulbs to flower for as long as possible.

Oh and I dont particularly want daffs. But something that doesnt need much care would be great.

Not asking much am I!

Any advice would be much appreciated.

You're a bit late for some but Gladioli would do ok and tulips might too. The fact is that all flowering bulbs need some care...dead heading to ensure that they don't look messy etc...but they wont' flower again till next season.

You'd be better off planting some flowering shrubs as well.

I am happy to deadhead an do adhoc jobs, I just dont have the time to water daily in dry spells.

Should also have said, next door have the same strip and have daffs come through every year so the soil is obviously amenable to that type of bulb / flower.

Does it get much sun? Probably a bit late but we've had such a mild winter in the SE I planted my spring bulbs last week. The lack of frost means they should still come up albeit late which doesn't bother me. Not sure if you'll find any in the shops now though.

I've seen summer flowering bulbs on sale in Wilko and B&Q already. Other places will follow shortly. I rarely plant summer bulbs but I recall the optimum planting time is March-May - it will tell you on the packet. Morrisons is good value for bulbs too.

Is it actually a flowerbed or a turfed strip? If it's a flowerbed you might be better planting things like hardy fuchsias and wallflowers (including erysimum Bowles Mauve) plus some evergreen shrubs for structure. Then go ahead and include some pockets of bulbs. That would be fairly low maintenance once the planting is done.

Depends how big the area is really. Do you have a photo? Planting loads of bulbs can be a PITA and as a pp says you need to deadhead them. Ime you end up looking at bare foliage for weeks on end waiting for it to die back (can't cut it off prematurely as it puts the goodness into next year's flowering display).

I have a similar strip planted up as above. Last year I added bark chippings to try and retain some moisture during the summer.

I agree and fuchsias and wallflowers are lovely.

You could try a wild flower mix instead of bulbs. They look stunning and self seed so you only need to do once. They also attract butterfly's and bees.

What do you mean by a nature environment? Most of the suggestions so far have been for "garden" flowers (ie species from other countries, or varieties bred for garden use)

They look stunning and self seed so you only need to do once. Not quite true. Most wildflower seed mixes are of annuals, basically corn field weeds, and they don't take kindly to competition. To avoid competition they germinate in areas of bare soil, which they recognise by light falling on the seed. So they will carry on for a year or two re-seeding, but ideally you need to dig over the ground each year to get rid of perennial weeds and to bring some of the seeds to the soil surface.

Home bargains, B&M and Homebase all have bulbs going for really cheap now.

There’s a great book called I think brilliant and wild which specifically uses wildlife friendly hardy flower species like nempeta and echinacea that should survive in a bed without watering etc. I planned two whole borders around it as I have young kids and wanted pretty, natural and low maintenance. The author worked it out so that you can go out once a year (early spring) and cut it all back once.

Some bulbs might rot if they get too wet. Also some like to bake in the sun to encourage flowering for the next year.
Allium are good value, they come in several varieties and the bees, hover flies etc love them.
How about planting some cranesbill geraniums they don’t need much care, bulk up and the insects love them