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