Too late for spring flowers?

[LottieMary]

I have a big established garden which basically is all shrubs we maintain (cut back regularly). I’d love some more colour - any advice what to plant that would flower preferably year on year? We also have a couple of large spaces - would a rhododendron or similar be a bad idea?

if I buy a load of tulips and daffodils now can I plant them for spring?

Last week, gardeners world said its not too late for daffs and tulips. You might find some bargains at gardens centres! They will bloom later than normal, because they will need to establish roots and generally come up earlier next year. I'm establishing my own garden, but have found that some of the fancier tulips are only good for 1-2yrs.

I'm still a novice, but things that come up annually but in summer are agapanthus. I have a variegated variety called firework which is purple and white. For autumn colour, I'm currently looking into neroli.

I like rhododendrons but they don’t grow very quickly IME. They ideally want acid soil - can be grown in neutral soils if you use ferrous sulfate.
I think it’s too late to plant spring bulbs but nurseries quite often sell pots which you can use for quick colour and then plant afterwards.

You can still plant spring bulbs, they'll come up later but they should be fine. I'd get them in this week or next though. I still have a few packs to get in pots!

It's not too late to plant spring bulbs - I put some in this week which I'd forgotten were in the shed. They will come up all right, and as a previous poster said, bulbs are cut-price in garden centres now as they try to get rid of them.

Most basic bulbs will do fine anywhere, things like agapanthus need lots of sunshine.

I would wait till spring to plant things like rhododendrons.
In the large spaces, how about something like a small flowering cherry? I have one which has masses of flowers in the spring. It has lovely red leaves in autumn too.

Although if I had spaces I'd probably put more roses in - I have loads!

Did you mean nerines? (Neroli is orange blossom essential oil, I don’t think there’s a plant with the same name is there?)

Not toolate for bulbs but get them in quick before the ground gets too hard. Hellebores are still in the shops and violas/pansies seem to flower away for a long time
I’d probably go for some early flowering roses if I had a big space to fill. Or maybe something with lovely foliage like a cotinus? Viburnum bodnantense has tiny but highly scented winter/spring flowers

maybe it depends where you are but around here we’re forecast to have a week of hard frosts and cold days - I wouldn’t try planting anything during that.

Yes thank you. Nerines, not neroli! https://www.farmergracy.co.uk/products/nerine-select-breeders-mix-bulbs-uk?variant=30313650028609&country=GB&currency=GBP&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=17426900561&gbraid=0AAAAADSAE-Xw79rBS6sBxHt2b9DYBfcYE&gclid=Cj0KCQiA9t3KBhCQARIsAJOcR7zVGKj5MqAjqhwT-doExblIzOLZgf8Q9S_AW7H48NIg2qeTmepmw5QaAhrfEALw_wcB