Great ideas and six top bulbs for dramatic hues
What’s the easiest way to ensure your garden is full of colour and scent this summer? Bulbs have the answer, says Louise Curley, but you will need to order soon
WE tend to associate bulbs with planting in autumn for flowers in spring; but that’s only part of the story. There are a whole host of bulbs that, when planted in spring, will give you blooms during the summer months, bringing colour and (in some cases) scent to borders and containers. Technically, many summer-flowering bulbs are actually tubers, such as dahlias, or corms, like crocosmia; but generally the term ‘bulb’ covers them all.
Summer-flowering bulbs have some of the biggest and most flamboyant blooms. Some will make substantial plants – there are dahlias that can grow to more than 61∕2ft (2m) over the course of a summer – while others, the likes of gladioli and lilies, are more slender, making them easy to slot in among existing plants in borders. Many make gorgeous cut flowers, so plant a few extra or include some in a patch on your allotment or in the veg beds to ensure you have blooms for the house.
Most of these bulbs are great candidates for containers, and they can be successfully combined with annuals, perennials and grasses for eye-catching displays. Container growing also has another, purely practical, advantage. Not all summer-flowering bulbs are hardy, and growing in pots makes it easy to protect them from cold, wet soil in winter – simply bring them under cover and store somewhere cool but frost-free over winter.
It’s a little too early to plant these bulbs now – in mild areas with light, sandy soils more hardy options such as crocosmia and lilies can be planted in March; on heavy soils and in gardens in the north it’s best to leave it until April. For tender bulbs, corms and tubers you will have to wait until mid-May to plant outdoors; however you can get a head start by potting them up in March, to be kept somewhere bright but frost-free. When the danger of frost has passed they can then be planted outside, either in the ground or in ornamental pots.
But that’s not to say you shouldn’t start planning now. Even though the daffodils and crocuses have yet to come into bloom, it’s time to think ahead to later in the year. Specialist bulb companies and garden centres will have a selection of summer-flowering bulbs available over the coming weeks, and by getting your orders in early you will bag the best choice.