Bulbs that last year after year.

[Paranoidandroidmarvin]

I am after not just the normal spring bulbs but others that grow during the summer that will last year after year. Are there such a thing. I get confused when I go to the garden centre so many things.

You need to look for perennial plants/ bulbs, they come back year after year. There’s lots of choice, I prefer perennials.

Are you thinking specifically bulbs or just plants that flower reliably year after year? Roses, hardy geraniums, astrantia & salvias are my favourites 😊

spring bulbs like narcissi, muscari and crocus often naturalise year after year. Summer bulbs like gladioli are often fine if left in. I have had few agapanthus that have come back for 2-3 years before rotting. Calla lilies are lovely I have a few colours and they look striking when they come through, planted a few years ago, you can split them when they are mature.

Irises and London Pride are the stalwarts of my garden in the summer,
Right now it's a riot of Hellebores and Crocuses, which will give way to Grape Hyacinths, chives and tulips, then Nigella and Alliums.
Late summer is mostly Teasels, Lords and Ladies, roses and crocosmia, all with a fern backdrop and a few shrubs (acer, hawthorn, holly, American Currant and Hazel) for structure.
Winter is mostly Rosemary, sage and Curry plants, which are there all year but get overtaken by the rest in the warmer months.

I haven't actually planted anything for years, it all just keeps coming back. In fact, I give away hundreds of plants each year and there are still plenty.

Lilies for the summer, plus dahlias later on.

Gladioli (bulbs), dahlia, gayfeather (tubers). Dahlias need to be covered with thick mulch in autumn to protect them from the frost.

I'm a lazy gardener and, although I'm not averse to a bit of watering, on whole want survivors.
My absolute favourite bulbs are crocosmia. The general ones wherever there is a difficult patch BUT lucifer as show stoppers. They are such a stunning fiery red colour. Absolute show stopper and thrive with neglect

The whole point of a bulb is to store food so the plant can come back next year. So what you’re looking at is whether it’s winter hardy. Lots of suggestions above!

Alliums, daffodils, narcissi, tulips, Scilla Peruviana, iris, anemones, dahlias, bleeding heart, crocosmia, agapanthus -all bulbs/ tubers and come back year after year in my garden without me doing anything apart from the occasional division.
I’m not too sure the dahlias have survived this winter though.

This is a good time to plant bulbs in the green (as plants rather than dried bulbs). The success rates for snowdrops and some other bulbs are much higher this way. You won't see the benefits this year, but you can more easily see where you have already planted, so I prefer it to planting dry bulbs.

I have hyacinths, daffodils, snowdrops, muscari, crocuses and iris reticulata flowering at the moment. Except for the snowdrops, they all came from the layered pots I planted last year, and then planted out once they were finished flowering (I didn't separate them out, I just dug a hole and plopped the whole rooty mass in it).

Later on, we will have gladioli, tulips, dahlias and alliums. I find that tulips only flower well for about 3 or 4 years, but they are easy enough to replace when they run out of steam. If you grow iris reticulata for next year, I recommend planting up a pot or bowl for bringing indoors, because they smell amazing. I would never have known this because my garden is too windy for scents to really linger, but I had some pots in my polytunnel and the whole thing was filled by the scent, so now I make sure I have enough to enjoy it, as well as having a display outside.

www.crocus.co.uk/plants/_/camassia-leichtlinii-subsp-caerulea-group-potted-bulbs/classid.2000043489/

i love camassias

You've got to be kidding... I've nursed along dozens of crocosmia, fed them, watered them, moved them to better spots, but they only rarely flower, preferring instead to die in large quantities

It does also depend on your garden: its soil, the climate, the pests.

Eg I am on heavy clay - dahlias would not survive over winter for me, they'd rot in the cold damp. But they might be fine on a free draining soil.

I also have loads of squirrels who snaffle daffodils and tulips so they diminish rapidly or pop up in odd places... but I also have a red tulip which thrives and the squirrels must hate. This tulip multiplies exponentially and laughs at my attempts to bring in newer, posher tulips.

Other things that do well in the ground for me are muscari (thug), bluebells, crocus. Iris do well for a year then decline.

Lilies I don't grow as they're horridly poisonous to cats. And they reek.

Different conditions.
Weirdly my lucifer came from my sister and was stuffed in a pot and neglected for a couple of years then planted and has spread and spread. It is stunning and I really do nothing to it. However I transplanted some to a different area last year and they did very little. I'm hoping it was just the shock of moving and I'll get a better display this year.
But the regular stuff just spreads and spreads.
If you are anywhere in S Yorks or close, I'd be more than happy to let you have a load of bulbs