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Gardening

Find tips and tricks to make your garden or allotment flourish on our Gardening forum.

Best value bulbs please

19 replies

Nugg · 31/08/2022 11:20

My garden is EMPTY, it was bramble and dandelion hell when I moved in and finally 2 years on its clear and starting to look ok, but ZERO flowers/plants other than some old, small roses and a holly tree!
I want some spring bulbs but need quite a lot as the front garden borders are quite large, so where would be best? In my last garden I had great success with cheap little plants form The Range/Lidl etc that grew well and cost pennies, but are those places any good for bulbs or is there better?

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senua · 31/08/2022 14:05

Daffodills. You can buy them, cheaply, by the bagful from supermarket / discount type shops.
Daffs are good because they need hardly any gardening know-how, are reliable and come back year after year (unlike, say, tulips).

Hedgesgalore · 31/08/2022 14:15

Last year I bought bags of mixed daffodils that were 2 for £5 from tesco. They were in bags of 30. Gave a good show so plan to get more this year.

Only got two bags as I wasn't sure they'd be any good.

Jericha · 31/08/2022 14:20

I quite like wilko for cheap bulbs

Nugg · 31/08/2022 19:57

Fabulous thank you and I had No idea tulips didn't come back every year!!

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senua · 31/08/2022 20:41

I had No idea tulips didn't come back every year!!
Tulips are so tweaked-with that they are unstable, they try to revert back to their natural state (i.e. lose the attribute that enticed you to buy that fancy bulb in the first place) or, even, never bloom again.

Get daffodils, they are such cheerful things. Everybody loves the sight of the first daffodils of the year, it means that Spring is on its way.Smile

deplorabelle · 01/09/2022 09:08

I prefer dwarf daffodils as the foliage doesn't look as messy when the flowers have gone over. Crocus is absolutely brilliant too.

So long as the bulbs are firm and don't look mouldy or damp, the common types of bulb will grow nicely wherever you get them from. Just plant them at the right depth in a suitable place.

Allthegoodnamesarechosen · 01/09/2022 09:13

If you want a lot, it’s worth looking at Parkers Wholesale. They supply nurseries and stall but they will sell to anyone. They have a huge range, crocuses, daffodils alliums fantastic lilies and some shrubs as well. You have to pay extra below a certain level, but if you want a couple of hundred, it is real wholesale. They do have a retail online as well for smaller orders.

Augend23 · 01/09/2022 09:17

My tulips definitely come back every year!

I have had great success with Wilko bulbs as well. Also some Asda ones.

What I would say (having learnt from experience) is that you need to plan plan plan and do a whole area at once.

E.g. I have a flower bed and planted crocuses, tulips, grape hyacinths and irises in it. This works quite well because the crocuses come up first, then the tulips and grape hyacinths and then the irises. But I didn't put a batch of super bulbs in at the same time and now it's really difficult to put them in without skewering the tulips etc.

If I was planning the bed again I would do:

Crocuses and daffodils (to do a good mix of heights)

Tulips and grape hyacinths

Irises (reasonably early ones, check the bags for the flowering times)

I think you could then do something like alliums which would flower later into the summer. I also love summer bulbs like gladioli and I do really like fresia but they don't like being frosted and I'm too lazy to dig them out and store them each winter.

My final recommendation is to commit to a colour scheme for each set of plants - I always end up buying a random mixture of things and stuff ends up like a mishmash. My most successful beds are the ones where I committed to e.g. red and blue or pink, white and blue or whatever. They look bold and intentional rather than like what I usually do which is a ooooh I got excited in a garden centre look.

Augend23 · 01/09/2022 09:18

Batch of summer not super bulbs!

LadyEloise1 · 01/09/2022 09:21

The miniature daffodils I plant ( and love ) are called Tête a Tête.

JuneOsborne · 01/09/2022 09:25

There's a cheap and cheerful garden centre near me,they sell huge sacks of daffodil bulbs for a few quid. They also have every bulb going and you can fill up a bag with whatever you like.

I tend to buy one kind each year and plant hundreds in one go. It was crocus last year and the display was stunning!

heathspeedwell · 01/09/2022 09:28

Seconding what pps have said about daffodils and narcissus. If you like scented plants then hyacinths are also inexpensive and reliably come back every year. I'd also look at alliums like purple sensation if you want some taller plants. For smaller front-of-border gems then you can't beat chionodoxa. They are really reliable and bloom for weeks.

Lilies are lovely and they smell beautiful but if you are on a budget I would avoid them as they can often be decimated by lily beetles. The grubs are voracious feeders and they cover themselves in their own poo which means plants are riddled with holes and splodged in brown gunge!

Check out Anglia Bulbs for a very reliable and inexpensive supplier. They have a handy guide to what is in bloom every month which makes choosing easier. 100 narcissus Tete a Tete are just £24 to give you an idea of pricing.

heathspeedwell · 01/09/2022 09:31

Tulips have a better chance of reblooming if you plant them deep and you choose single varieties (ie the simple ones with fewer petals). But if you have a lot of space to fill I'd give tulips a miss as they can't be relied on.

Nugg · 01/09/2022 10:10

Thank you all so much! I have a few hours off work today so I'm going to whizz round everywhere I can and grab what's there Flowers

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SBAM · 02/09/2022 13:22

Morrisons have spring bulbs 2 packs for £4, I got snowdrops, crocus and a coup do of varieties of mini daffodils

Nugg · 02/09/2022 13:45

Thanks SBAM, will take a drive over this weekend. I got 3for£5 packs at B&M in the end, as my time ran out! I went for yellow purple/blue and white - just need to plan my planting now!

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FuzzyPuffling · 02/09/2022 15:07

I have some "Queen of the Night" tulips and also some yellow paeony flowered ones and they most definitely come back every year. They are at least 6 years old now.

I get my bulbs from JParkers online, or Trago (only makes sense if you're in Devon or Cornwall)

Surtsey · 02/09/2022 22:42

Our local B&M has a lot of very reasonably priced bulbs in at the moment.

wohmum · 06/09/2022 20:35

all the online retailers did brilliant bulb sales in November last year - I bought loads and tstuck them in and they all flowered brilliantly. Mixture of tulips, mini staffs, crocus muscari etc

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