|
How many gardeners does it take to change a bulb…? It’s an old joke with many variations, & it usually refers to the illuminating variety, but as far as we gardeners are concerned bulbs are often underrated. You could almost turn the phrase around to alert the less adventurous horticulturalists amongst us to the range & type of bulbs that are available… “How many bulbs does it take to change a gardener…?” Truth be told, it takes very few, with any one of us liable to having our head turned by a pretty flower or a mouth-watering genus.
Currently, the bulb genus growing most rapidly in popularity is the onion. Not the Spanish variety that features heavily in my cooking, but the impressive array of ornamental onions that seem to swamp the Chelsea Flower Show with their wide range of sizes & textures. Chief of the onion clan is the mighty impressive Allium giganteum, whose purple flower towers to 2½ft above the surrounding planting. Allium christophii sits lower to the ground but can produce a stunning globe of tiny star shaped florets that can be up to 6ins across if fed well. (Bulbs nearly always benefit from a good feed after they have flowered to absorb food for the next years flower.) But for real quality, search through your bulb catalogues to locate a source of the Blue Onion… Allium caerula. This delicate flower is truly blue & at only 18ins is a great bulb for the smaller garden. If the word daffodil conjures up Wordsworths’ evocative verse of nodding flower heads as far as the eye can see then cast your eyes towards Narcissus bulbacodium. This naturalising small flowered species truly creates the image of “a thousand golden daffodils” in a meadow, but without the need for a Cumbrian hillside to contain them all. A trip to the RHS garden at Wisley in April will show you a stunning daffodil meadow at full throttle. (Oh yes… mix well with the Snakes Head Fritillary [Fritillaria meliagris] in meadow grass for stunning effect) Very early in the year, the bulb Iris, (Iris reticulata) provides a welcome splash of blue at the time of the year when blue is in very short supply. Tucked away in nooks & crannies these cracking bulbs really draw the eye, & you may be able to catch the tail end of the season just at the moment. Plant with plenty of gravel in the soil & these should thrive. You could write a hundred books on the tulip (& some people have!), & the Dutch sometimes appear to have founded a country built on the Tulipa genus, but no matter how many species, varieties & cultivars there are, you still have to use them well. One of the great virtues of the tulip is the availability of early vivid colour. The summer border is full of bright hues, but in the spring it is the tulip that is the almost solitary standard bearer. Planted close together, the tulip can give a real block of scarlet, whereas spaced well apart they can give a rose coloured mist over the lush spring vegetation. Two to look out for are ‘Oscar’ regarded by many of the tulip cognoscenti as the red tulip, & ‘Abu Rassan’ which is highlighted with golden yellow & almost ‘burns’ in the spring sunshine. The real beauty of bulbs is their ability to add different feelings & texture to a space or border. A planter of white tulips will add a cool chic, yellow daffs, a cheerful brightness, or dark purple Fritillarias for drama. Space them, mix them, change them at a whim & always rest assured that no matter what your planting scheme or desired style, there is a bulb for you. Just enjoy the hunt, & never stop experimenting. |
