Adam Welcomes Nature's Prepacked Garden
October is the optimum month to plant spring flowering bulbs
except tulips which are best planted in November. Bulbs are Nature's form of
pre-packed garden, containers guaranteed to bring colour indoors from Christmas
until the late outdoor tulips in May.
When shopping for bulbs buy
the biggest size on offer: they will cost a bit more, but are worth it for the
quality of flowers they produce.
All bulbs in containers and borders should be planted twice as deep as bulb
length from top to bottom with the exception of indoor hyacinths which should
have the growing tip level with the top of the planting medium.
The first bulbs to buy and plant are prepared hyacinths to flower at Christmas.
These should be potted singly in three inch pots and put in a cold dark place
(inside a big plastic bag is ideal) in the garage or outdoors and buried with
soil or used compost to a depth of 4 inches for about twelve weeks. They can
also be grown in a special hyacinth glass. Fill it with water, add a little
charcoal, let the bulb sit in the neck of the glass. Keep the water level to
just below the base of the bulb and leave in a cool room out of bright sunlight.
When the flower buds are showing colour, place them where you enjoy watching
them flower. A great project for children.
Ordinary non-prepared hyacinths can also be planted now; they will give a later
show right through to February. The lovely scented Paper White Narcissi will
flower indoors six to eight weeks after planting, but they must be grown cold.
The earliest outdoor bulbs are snowdrops, of course, closely followed by winter
aconites and the small early flowering botanical crocus, best planted in
generous clumps or full pots for a good display.
The earliest dwarf daffodils, February Gold and Tête-à-Tête, will flower in
February, and are lovely with white winter flowering heathers. Muscori (Grape
Hyacinths) with countless blue flowers and dwarf deep blue or gold iris will
give colour in late winter and are pretty in clumps among shrubs or in
containers with winter flowering pansies or polyanthus.
March brings everyone’s favourite, jewel bright crocus, a sure sign that spring
is almost here.
Varieties of daffodils and narcissi are too numerous to list, but if chosen with
care you can have them from early March to late April ending with the very
fragrant Pheasant Eye Narcissus. The lovely varieties of double daffodils are
worth a place in the border. Planted in groups of four or five bulbs they will
flower slightly later than the usual daffodils.
The tulip season starts with Dwarf Species Tulips with many and varied colours
and flower shapes and striped leaves. They vary in height from 4
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