Surrey Homes | SH79 | August 2021 | Adding value to your property supplement inside

Groin success
Bulbs will always perform when first bought, but plant them fairly deeply to ensure
that they flower well. After their first season it’s up to the prevailing conditions
and the care they receive to ensure that they keep on flowering. Dead-head to
stop them wasting energy making seed and let the leaves die back naturally so that
they can build up strength for the following year. Sadly this does mean mowing
around naturalised bulbs in areas of grass, not ‘tidying’ them up into knots.
Tulips can’t always be trusted to come back into bloom each year. After flowering
many types tend to split and then take a while to bulk up again. Darwin hybrids
are fairly reliable, and as a general rule, the closer you are to the species, the more
perennial they are and these seem to be less prone to viruses too. The worst
disease affecting tulips is Tulip Fire, which is a fungal infection that spreads easily
(like fire) among the bulbs. This is the reason it’s advisable to plant your tulips
late – as late as the beginning of January has been known without any ill effects.
That way the cold weather should kill off any spores before the bulbs go in.
narcissus &
muscari
Because of the small amount of space bulbs take up when they’re dormant, they are
very useful in borders, especially those that need to look good all through the year, or
in small spaces. Winter and spring bulbs ‘disappear’ and make way for annuals and
bedding plants, or are covered by the growth of new perennials so that their dying
foliage is hidden from view. If you (like me) are often digging about in the border
and moving plants around, it is a good idea to grow your border bulbs in groups, as
sprinkling them all through the space could mean that you inadvertently slice through
quite a few with spade or fork. To avoid this – and the sight of dying bulb foliage, you
could then lift the whole lot (and either heel in somewhere, or dry, ready to plant out
again in the autumn). The same space can then be used for summer flowering plants.
mauve
crocus
Spring bulbs are the mainstay of pots and containers and work well on their own
or mixed in with other plants. You can prolong the performance of a container
by layering the bulbs like a lasagne within the pot. Start with the later flowering
and biggest, and place them in the middle of a pot half filled with compost, then
add some more compost and another layer of bulbs that flower slightly earlier
than the first lot, add some more compost and then a final layer of small early
bulbs to start the show. In theory you should get flowers all through the spring.
In practice, the pot can get a bit choked with leaves, so you may have to perform
a cardinal sin and cut a few off, or choose varieties that aren’t too leafy.
I am a fan of bulbs in containers, as they are easy to move out of the way once
the flowers have finished and can then die back behind the shed or somewhere
else out of sight. Depending on how many pots I have available, I then either leave
them until next year (you will need to feed them if you do this) or lift and plant
somewhere in the garden. If I’m feeling organised I’ll plant up a plastic pot with bulbs
and wedge it inside another container, then lift the plastic pot out when the bulbs
have finished. This means that the container is instantly ready for some summer
bedding and the bulbs can die back undisturbed. It does mean that the back of the
shed can get a bit crowded – and a bit depressing with all the fading foliage.
So while I’m definitely not ready to talk about Christmas, and I certainly can’t
face up to the fact that the nights are starting to draw in, it’s never too early to think
about spring flowers. Let’s start planning a splurge for next year’s bulb display.
For details of Jo’s design courses visit hornbrookmanor.co.uk
or contact Jo on 01233 861149
yellow tulips &
forget-menots
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