It’s that time of year when plant catalogue have begun dropping through the letter box, well they’ve been dropping through for a good few weeks now but I find time is now pressing to start ordering and getting things underway for autumn planting and planning some spring colour.
I was waylaid by an offer at Wilkinson’s on bulbs and splurged a whole £10 on packets and packets of them. I would suggest they are indeed exactly the same bulbs that you can find at Homebase but about £1.5 per packet less, I could be wrong but they’re a good price and some lovely exotic looking jewels for spring. Of course having done this I now only have the excuse of bulb hunting for clients and cannot justify more splurging on my already over planted plot.
There are the usual suspects starting with Eranthus, Galanthus and Crocus followed in close succession by Chinodoxa, Narcissus (Daffs!), Allium, Tulip and Scilla (bluebells) taking us from Jan through to May and then the Ornithogalum, Lillies, oriental and Martagon being favourites, Ranunculus and Agapanthus (not strictly a bulb) take over to be followed in late summer by the glorious Galdiolus (corms), Acidanthera, Cyclamen hederifolium and Dhalia (I know a tuber, not a bulb) oh and then there are the pink and white Nerine bowdenii from Oct to Nov and we’re almost back to Eranthus and Galanthus again….. As you see a year of just bulbs flowerings worth taking some time to plan for!
Though Wilco’s is tempting other favourite places to search are:-
J.Parker Bulbs, Gee Tee Bulbs, Bloms bulbs, Avon bulbs
Having planted up my pots for spring I have succumbed to the pull of Sweet Pea mania and ordered a few packets from Sarah Raven’s great collection with root trainers! This year was a disaster for my Sweet Peas being ignored by the grower as much s the poor weather but next year will be a sweet pea year I think. I shall be following received wisdom from Monty Don’s recent trials for Gardener’s World which is plant NOW and AGAIN in spring.