Plant out ginger lilies
When the tulips have finished flowering around mid-May, I lift them and carefully put the still-green plants into plastic pots, so the bulbs can absorb as much goodness as possible before the leaves die right back. I then use the large pots they have vacated for a display that will last right through to autumn.
Over the years I have used cannas, fuchsias, dahlias and phormiums as the centrepieces of this dramatic summer display, but I think ginger lilies, or Hedychium, have been the most successful. These die down in winter, and through the cold months we keep them in a large plastic pot in a cool, dark, frost-free shed. But by mid-May they are putting on new growth and are ready to plant out.
Ginger lilies are hungry, thirsty plants, so I mix a potting compost of about half garden compost by volume, with grit and leafmould in equal measure making the other half. They seem to thrive on this rich fare and will grow to 2m or more, with their sweetcorn-like leaves and orange plumes of flowers.
I underplant them with cosmos and marigolds and perhaps nasturtiums, and the combination puts on a dramatic and trouble-free performance for months on end.