LIGHT UP YOUR AUTUMN
Plant bulbs now for a brilliant splash of colour into October
Time to buy your bulbs. Garden centres will soon be stocked with piles of daffodils and all the darling bulbs of may. Sales will be huge. But nearly all those bulbs will flower next year and not before. Autumn bulbs, in contrast, will flower in less than a month. Some could even be showing buds now, while still dry.
Colchicums are among the first, some flowering in the first week of September. The latest — usually Nerines — could still carry fresh blooms in mid-November.
if you’ve never grown autumn bulbs, do give them a try. Their flowers and spring-like colours bring a delightful late bonus.
The easiest to grow — Colchicums — naturalise readily and flower annually. in time, the bulbs develop large clumps or drifts, popping up as soon as mornings turn cool and dewy.
Larger kinds, such as tall pink
Nerines and Amaryllis, have long stems. They’re lovely in borders or beds and excellent as cut flowers for the house.
Planting time is now. So if you want to give autumn-flowering bulbs a try, go shopping or order online from suppliers such as jparkers.co.uk.
OCTOBER JOY
COLCHiCUmS are probably the most popular autumnflowering bulbs. Their naked lilac-mauve flowers are shaped like champagne flutes. They grow in generous clusters and flower year after year.
When planting Colchicums, choose a sunny spot with good drainage but not too dry. Plant with the bulbs about 10cms deep and cover them with loose soil. Large, fleshy leaves will follow in late spring.
There are more than 40 Colchicum species and a good number of varieties. Our one native, C. autumnale, is a favourite, with frail but beautiful lilac-mauve flowers. it’s harder to find than other varieties, but listed by the specialists Avon Bulbs (avonbulbs.co.uk).
The white form, C. autumnale or ‘Album’, is more vigorous and forms bigger clumps in less time. But for even larger, more showy varieties try C. speciosum. This also comes in lilac or white and has goblet-shaped blooms up to 18cms high.
Once planted, you can leave your Colchicums untouched for years. But if you want divide and re-plant mature clumps, dig them up as soon as the leaves die down, in summer. Dig deep — the bulbs will be further down than you might expect.
SOME BEAUTIES
COLCHiCUmS are often wrongly called ‘autumn crocuses’. But there are true autumn crocuses that also have naked flowers. many are bulb fanciers’ specialities, underwhelming unless nurtured in an Alpine house. But one — Crocus speciosus — is a beauty. The purple-blue flowers are charming when naturalised in drifts.
Among large autumn bulbs, the most dramatic is South African Amaryllis belladonna. Chubby-stems extend in autumn to carry umbels of large, pink and white flowers. The bulbs need a sheltered but sunny spot and take a year or so to produce decent clumps. But they’re worth the wait.
Better still, and also from Africa, are Nerines. The hardiest, Nerine bowdenii, needs a sunny spot to flower. Sharp-draining or sandy soil is preferred.
From early autumn, long stems bear clusters of curled, narrowpetalled, vivid pink flowers. They often come up naked, with leaves appearing in spring.
Nerines break the rules, though. most other plants hate being too congested. But for Nerines, the more crowded the bulbs, the better they flower.