Spring and Summer Bulbs 2023

[daisychain01]

I thought it would be nice to have a bulb thread for this year, so we can share photos and talk about what we've planted.

i thought I'd start by saying, if you find you have some bulbs from last year that you forgot to plant in the Autumn, do get them in the ground this week if you can, there is still plenty of time for them to grow and flower (even though the normal time to plant Spring bulbs is around November.

I have had so much going on with home and work, that my stash of bulbs were carefully stored away, lightly wrapped in newspaper, and I have been meaning to plant them for a couple of weeks. I checked online and several gardening sites say that as long as the bulbs look nice and plump with no signs of mould or shrivelled appearance, they are fine to plant in late Jan/ early Feb.

so I went out this afternoon, grabbed a few pots and got working. I did a few bulb lasagnes (layers of bulbs interspersed with compost) as I'm a bit low on compost. They will hopefully come up as a nice bright blousey displayed of mixed flowers. Fingers crossed 🤞

Weve got a mixed display of narcissi and daffs in our dingle which is a group of mature silver birch, which always come up well in April, and a few crocuses in the front by our gate, apart from that, I tend to do mixed pots each year as it's nice to move the colour round the garden.

Rule of thumb is dig three times the depth of the bulb, so once the bulb is in the hole, there’s two bulb-depths of soil above it.

In a wilder situation with compacted soil, snowdrops seem to be self splitting. Overcrowded bulbs get forced out of the clump on to the soil surface, and roll to a new position. In our local nature park, they roll down the bank, and when the stream levels are high, they are carried downstream, then stranded on the banks when water levels fall. So from one are of bulbs when I first was involved 30 years ago, we now have swathes of snowdrops on the grass alongside the stream all the way down to the other end-of the site. It’s been fascinating to watch

Ohh lovely 🌼

MereDintofPandiculation that's really interesting, must be lovely!

👏 👏 👏 for @Marmite27 Spring has sprung round at your place

hello @MereDintofPandiculation nice to see you round these parts. That's fascinating that snowdrops can travel down streams and 'move house'.

I've been outside this afternoon clearing away yet.more.dang.leaves. Where do they keep coming from, it's never-ending. It was completely still and sunny, so just before sunset, I lit a bonfire and got rid of a large section of lilac which unfortunately keeled over in the November winds and had been lying there looking forlorn. The good news is that there is a smaller section of the lilac still in the ground attached to a nice healthy root so I think it will live to see another day. I just need to stake it up as it's a bit lop-sided.

Here are my snowdrops. There are two groups of them, this is one side of the willow and there's a separate group next to it. I must split these when they've finished flowering and spread them across a wider area for next Spring.

Lovely snowdrops. I planted some, but from what I’m reading they may not make an appearance until next year.

I love bulbs. Such good bang for your buck!

I ordered lots of white and pink ranunculus and blue anemones from Parker’s a few weeks ago, which I’d expected to come fairly quickly. I’ve just checked and it says ‘delivery within 28 days’, which I’m sure will be fine. I have a long narrow strip next to the patio which is perfect for bulbs like this - they come in succession, snowdrops, tete a tete, ranunculus and anemones. And then geraniums all summer.

I completely forgot about planting my Farmer Gracy spring bulbs back in the autumn, so they went in only a month ago. I have lots of spring bulbs in the ground already, so decided to just do two big pots, I have one with blue Muscari and white tulips, and another with blue Muscari and pink parrot tulips. I did the same last year and was absolutely delighted with them, so I’m hopeful for this year. I moved them to the front garden, so that I could see them every time I came in or out, which I really liked. By the time the tulips come, the back garden has a fair bit of flower already, so I didn’t miss having them in the back.

Dahlia tubers are coming late February apparently, from Sarah Raven. I’ve bought just one tuber, but seven different varieties. I will see how they do. I’ve only done dahlias once before, and that was two years ago (wilko). I planted them in pots not knowing how massive they’d get. Thankfully did one tuber to a pot, and had supports to hand, but I think they’d be better ultimately ending up in the beds.

Exciting!!

These are my mums snowdrops. They were never planted but appeared in the garden above where she buried her beloved dog years ago. She must have disturbed some old bulbs we think. I’ve tried transplanting them to my garden but my stupid dog tried eating them (he is very stupid). I’m going to try again this year with pots out of his reach.

@Marmite27
I inherited some pots from my late FIL that he planted with my children,

Did he keep the pots under the gooseberry bush 😁😁

I am really trying to motivate myself to get out into the garden.

I put in some snowdrops last year. They came from a friends house and were in the green. I split what I got into 3 small clumps. One has a couple of very small flowers on, another has a bit of green but no flowers and I can see no sign of the 3rd. With at least 2 I am keeping my fingers crossed for a decent disply next year and maybe even the third will make a showing.

The daffodil bulbs in my lawn aren't showing much yet but those in planters are getting ready to flower. Some pots I lasagned last autumn are green. Definitely some tulips in there but I can't remember what else I put in so some surprises due there.

thats something he used to say, so it raised a smile

Oooo keep your pooch away from the snowdrops @BestIsWest apparently their leaves have a mild toxin in - probably won't be any serious harm done, but apparently squirrels will not touch snowdrops because they know instinctively they are poisonous - maybe put down some of that "Get off my garden" granule stuff to repel him?

Love reading about everyone's bulb plans!

Today has been yet another day of leaf raking - some of the dry crunchy ones are on the bonfire as they don't smoke, and the lovely wet ones are now spread across the border.

My plan later today is to finish planting an assorted newspaper parcel of bulbs that I put away last July, after all the foliage had died down. I've got two nice troughs ready to brighten up the window at the side of our house, that gets sunny later in the day, so needs a nice splash of colour. It's an 'interesting' aka hotch-potch, mix of muscari (grape hyacinth), mini tulips, and some others that I can't recall what they are, so I'm open to being surprised, or shocked!

He’s a nuisance! He ate a whole hosta once to no ill effect thankfully and I’ve caught him biting buds off rose bushes. I would love to have foxgloves in the garden but daren’t.

Was your dog a cockroach in a former life @BestIsWest

Bulbs planted - in the end they went into 1 large tub and one smaller pot for the patio. Fingers crossed something flowers! 🌹 🌷🌸

Worth the effort in any case so they rebuild their strength - I mixed in some well- rotted leave mould with the potting compost, which bulbs always like - nutrients and fibre. Don't bother with bulb compost - overpriced and not much difference to a nice open light regular compost with added homemade leaf mould 👍

I've just been to the garden centre to see if they had any snowdrops and when I got there I completely forgot about them! But I did get some seed potatoes and some nice terracotta pots for my amaryllis.

J Parker's have snowdrops 'in the greeen' on the website and free P&P this weekend if anyone wants to try to start off a clump. I should just try to divide the clumps I already have but I'm tempted.

Thank you @cromwell44 I'll have a look.

This is such a lovely thread. It’s inspired me to go and have a hunt at my garden centre for some snowdrops this weekend. I have one lovely patch and the odd single one which I think happened when I’ve disturbed bulbs over the last couple of years. A couple of crocus have just started to open here (central Scotland) and plenty of my other bulbs coming up strong, but it’s usually early March before the daffs open here.

Just looking at Facebook and I had daffs out this time last year. They are still some way off at the moment.

I've taken up the Parkers offer thanks for highlighting this @cromwell44 in fact it was a good deal, as I've bought 4 bags of the singles (half price) and 2 of the doubles (love double snowdrops!) - this gives me the incentive to dig up the ones I'm already growing and make a really impactful 'drift' for next Spring with the ones I already have plus the new ones.

They also added 7 dahlia tubers foc so that will also bolster my display this year, which I'm planning to move onto a part of my border with a sunny aspect, once the main risk of frost has past around April/May. Dahlia can tolerate a few isolated frosts, they don't enjoy extended periods of intense cold eg: Jan/Feb, or very soggy waterlogged conditions. I've been digging in leaf mould through the autumn and winter, and mulching the top with extra leaves, so that should do the trick if we have a wet Spring and hot summer.

@daisychain01 That’s a nice clump of snowdrops - are they doubles? They have that triangular outline of doubles

Thank you @MereDintofPandiculation they are at their peak currently, a lovely shock of white against the green grass which is starting to get that neon luminous quality of Spring.

Re double or single - I will nip out and inspect, and report back 😊

I have a few more flowers today, including some purple ones

I’m now determined to split my snowdrops after flowering this year, inspired by this thread and @daisychain01 ‘s plan for a drift.
I left most of my dahlia’s in the ground this winter. Well mulched but I’m not sure that’ll be enough to save them from the very low temperatures this winter. 😞.

This is such a fab thread. Can I ask advice:

1. planting ranunculus- have just bought some lovely bulbs for the first time!
2. making leaf mould - just moving into a very tree-y big garden so keen to get making it!
3. what else do people recommend for cut flowers through the year? I have got a big allotment and going to grow half of it in cut flowers to try and escape the habit of buying them. Foliage suggestions welcome too!