GROWING FOR GOLD!
For a sensational spring show of colour, choose your bulbs now
After such punishing heat and drought are we downhearted? Well yes, but with gardening we have to look forward. Spring may be a distant dream, but the season for planting bulbs is almost upon us. Soon, garden centres will have stacks of spring bulbs on sale, from tiny scillas to monster crown imperials. Mail order catalogues have been out for some time and now there are bargains to be had.
Spring bulbs are big business in Britain where almost everyone loves them.
Among large spring bulbs, daffodils and narcissus are the most abundant. they range from tiny miniatures such as Minnow to huge, trumpet daffs.
the earliest can open in January, but March and April are their main months. Latest to bloom are fragrant jonquils and the elegant pheasant- eye, Narcissus poeticus. Our native daffodils, Narcissus pseudonarcissus are beautiful if naturalised in turf or under trees. they’re shorter- stemmed than garden varieties, with lemon petals and slender yellow trumpets.
In parts of Devon or Wales, they crowd stream-sides and in woodland. Pembrokeshire even has its own native — the tenby daffodil, Narcissus obvallaris.
When choosing bulbs, always check flowering seasons as well as size and colours. Late narcissus are especially valuable for extending the spring show. for beds or borders, anything goes. But when naturalising among shrubs or under trees, wild-looking varieties may look better.
WILD AND FREE
WILD daffodils and narcissus team sweetly with woodland plants such as primroses, oxlips and wild wood anemones.
After spring, developing grasses help hide the dying yellow of the retiring bulbs.
for mixed borders or large containers, larger daffodils and narcissus make a bright splash. But there are enchanting miniatures, too, many of which are fragrant.
When choosing your bulbs, always check the flowering period. Wild daffodils are early, often budding in february. Among garden varieties, the latest can last into May.
Small, cupped narcissus are not only superb in gardens but also look lovely in spring vases. the last variety to bloom in my garden is the true pheasant eye — N. poeticus. In May, thin stems carry flowers with delicately reflexed, white petals surrounding a small, scarlet rimmed cup.
even in the most colourful catalogues, illustrations of daffodils and narcissus are usually pretty accurate.
HAPPY ANYWHERE
DAFFODILS and narcissus are among the easiest of all garden plants to grow. they come up faithfully year after year. Almost every soil type suits them, provided it drains well and does not dry out between autumn and early summer.
the current drought will have little or no effect on spring bulbs because they’re dormant.
for large-flowered varieties, a light feed of bone- meal or general plant food can be applied soon after flowering. I never bother but still enjoy bountiful flower numbers.
Single bulbs develop clumps, giving lovely displays. When they become congested, lift the clumps and re-plant the bulbs.
When you buy bulbs, make sure all are plump and firm. Being out of the ground for several weeks will do them no harm. But plant them as soon as you can after buying.
The recent heavy rain is unlikely to ease the arid conditions the UK has experienced this summer, but the heat and drought will end. As days shorten more rapidly, weather patterns often change. In the 1976 drought, the weather broke in September and it rained daily until Christmas.
At the moment, however, even the best soils are too dry to work. All but the lightest or most sandy have set solid and you can’t dig rock. So all we can do is watch, wait and protect the most vulnerable plants.
Where hosepipes are banned, focus on your most treasured container plants.
If grown in good quality potting compost, those should be easy to water by hand. If you’re short of water, allow any plants past their best to die.
Lawns look terrible now. Recovery will be patchy, too, after the first rain. But do nothing drastic. Review your lawn’s condition in the autumn, or when rainfall has become more normal. The most dead-looking should have recovered by then.
In borders, even the sickest looking perennials should survive. When the wet returns, you will be surprised at how many moribund plants bounce back.
But give them time for that, even if some don’t produce a single shoot before next spring.
expect early leaf- fall this autumn, too, but don’t worry about your bulbs. Those are dormant now and should be fine — provided the heavens open in September.