RISING STARS
Plant summer-flowering bulbs for a stunning show
WE waited long enough for spring to arrive and then – wham – it’s swept back into our gardens and the countryside, forcing buds to burst open and daffodils to flower.
The recent stormy days aside, there really is nothing like this time of year for giving us all a shot in the arm, and daffs and narcissi seem never to have been better.
When the earliest kinds fade, it pays to make sure they will flower again next year.
Don’t be tempted to tie their foliage into knots to make them tidy – it just prevents most of them from manufacturing food which can be passed down into the bulbs to ensure a healthy flush of flowers in succeeding seasons. No. Stay your hand for six weeks after flowering, then scissor them off at ground level when their work will be done.
Add to the bulbs’ energy by feeding them. A good sprinkling of blood, bone and fishmeal among the clumps now will be money in the bank as far as next year’s show is concerned.
If you have snowdrops you want to increase or spread about the garden, dig them up now and transplant them.
Your success rate will be far greater if you move them “in the green”, when they are unlikely to dry out.
Don’t divide into individual bulbs before replanting – it’s a tedious job and will result in a spotty effect.
Instead, plant five or six bulbs in a single hole but take care to bury them to the depth they were growing from before.
Think ahead by planting summer-flowering bulbs such as lilies, which are on sale in nurseries and garden centres now. Buy plump, fleshy bulbs (lilies have scaly bulbs rather than the smoother bulbs of daffs and tulips) and plant at the rate of five or six to a 10in or 12in pot in peatfree multipurpose compost.
Set them about three inches deep, water in and stand them by the house wall to offer shelter. Soon the fat shoots will emerge and in summer they’ll be topped with trumpet flowers of brilliant colour and sweet fragrance. Taller varieties will need support later in the season. But the great thing about lily bulbs is all the work has been done for you.
Just light the touchpaper and stand back! Oh, and water and feed them of course.
Stay your hand for six weeks after flowering, then scissor them off at ground level