Garden Collections make for a vibrant spring
Trumpet the awakening of your garden with snowdrops, crocuses, tulips, daffodils and the majestic presence of alliums
When spring sends winter packing, the first thing we want to see is a sign that the earth is awakening and reviving, and on its way back to a glorious renewal.
Spring-flowering bulbs deliver this message loud and clear — from the first snowdrops and crocuses, to the rise of tulips and daffodils, and on to the awesome beauty and majestic presence of alliums.
Today, we take a closer look at three of the six garden collections we are offering to pump vibrant colour into your garden next spring. These are delivered directly to your door by our retail partner, Botanus, of Langley, B.C., one of Canada’s top horticultural mail-order companies.
Make your entry into spring a bold and beautiful one with one or more of these exclusive collections. You will find we are offering them at a bargain price, so you get significant savings.
SYMPHONY OF SPRING COLLECTION
46 BULBS Regular retail price: $39.95 Montreal Gazette price: $24.95
WHAT YOU GET 6 ‘Princess Irene’ single early tulips 6 ’Purple Prince’ single early tulips 6 Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ 10 ‘Mount Hood’ narcissus 18 Mixed Species Crocus
What is a symphony? One definition is that it is “an elaborate musical composition for full orchestra, typically in four movements.” What is our Symphony of Spring? It is a seamless progression of beautiful flowers to delight and entertain you from the first dawn of spring right through to the first sunrise of summer. It gets underway with a splattering of early blooming crocus, naturalizing bulbs that will quickly colonize and return year after year.
Next comes the famous trumpet daffodil, Mount Hood, a stunning narcissus that starts out creamy yellow and slowly turns snow white. This is joined soon after by two outstanding tulips, Princess Irene, a longtime favourite with fragrant orange petals; and Purple Prince, a relatively new introduction with bright purple flowers. Our Symphony of Spring, comprising a grand total of 46 bulbs, concludes with Allium Purple Sensation, arguably the best garden allium on the market.
MARVELLOUS MINI FLOWER BULB COLLECTION
41 BULBS Regular retail price: $32.95 Montreal Gazette price: $22.95
WHAT YOU GET 8 ‘Saxatilis’ mini botanical tulips 8 ‘Elka’ narcissus 8 ‘Diamond Ring’ narcissus 5 Iris reticulata ‘Seabreeze’ 12 ‘Cupido’ muscari
Imagine stepping out your front door in early spring and there, growing in a little pot, is a cluster of dwarf species tulips with beautiful lilac petals and sunny yellow centres.
That’s one way to use our Marvellous Mini Flower Bulb Collection. Take the Saxatilis tulips and use them to fill a container, or you can combine them with other magical minis in this selection. Seabreeze is an exciting new variety of Iris reticulata, bred by Alan McMurtrie, a Toronto hybridizer. Diamond Ring is an exceptional dwarf daffodil with an unusually large, tube-shaped cup that makes it look as if it were wearing a petticoat. I think you can never have too many grape hyacinths in your garden. They are such a reliable, sturdy, cheerful spring flower that never fails to lift the spirits. Cupido produces a soft powder-blue cone of flowers and also has a light fragrance. Elka is a top dwarf narcissus and the winner of the Award of Garden Merit from the Royal Horticultural Society.
ALLIUM ALLURE COLLECTION
12 BULBS Regular retail price: $55.95 Montreal Gazette price: $29.95
WHAT YOU GET 4 Allium ‘Eros’ 3 Allium ‘Gladiator’ 2 Allium ‘Mount Everest’ 2 Allium ‘Red Mohican’ 1 Allium ‘Silverspring’
At the Chelsea Flower Show in May, I was bowled over by a magnificent display of alliums, many of which were new hybrids. I came home determined to add more alliums to my garden in fall. This collection is the result.
Eros is a relative newcomer that produces delightful umbels of star-shaped lilac flowers that form loose domed clusters, measuring 10 cm across. Gladiator is a sensational performer, producing large, majestic spheres of purple flowers on 80-cm stems.
Mount Everest is not new, but the white flowers are terrific and attractive to bees and beneficial insects.
Red Mohican is something of a novelty because it has red-wine-coloured flowers with elongated tufts and tiny white florets that have a sweet fragrance. Silverspring is one I saw at Chelsea and immediately fell in love with because of its large sphere of white and pink flowers that give off a slight licorice scent.