Spring-flowering bulbs are being harvested at bulb farms around the northern hemisphere to be graded, packed and sold from August. Most bulbs are best planted in September so it’s worth getting in orders to mail order suppliers early. Retail sales begin in September, but these can sometimes be limited in range and they may not offer the topsize bulbs that are well worth paying a little more for.
It is easy to buy more bulbs than there is time to plant, as dark evenings in October drastically cut the available gardening time. Remember that many of the commoner and less expensive bulbs are offered in pots in spring, so when buying in summer consider concentrating on those that are not usually available then.
Most bulbs favour a well-drained, fairly fertile soil where there is a reasonable amount of light when their leaves are produced. This is from mid-winter to mid-summer in most cases. This includes some that are less commonly grown but perhaps should be better known. Foxtail lilies (Eremurus), for example, send up tall spires of flowers in yellow, orange, peach, pink or white. They are planted as “stars” of fleshy roots with a central bud. They must be planted shallowly on receipt. They are not true lilies, being more closely related to red hot pokers (Kniphofia).
Young shoots arise early and are protected from frost by a dry straw covering. Taller ones might need staking. Coming from arid Central Asian steppes it likes a good baking of its shallow roots in late summer. Hand weeding rather than hoeing is preferable. They are quite expensive but as few as three will make a bold display.
Leucojum aestivum is a native spring-flowering bulb mysteriously called “summer snowflake”. The ordinary kind suits wild gardens and meadows, but for borders the larger flowered Gravetye Giant is a better choice. Spring snowflakes are harder to find and more expensive, but for moister soil with fair sun they make good spring flowers to follow snowdrops. Both will grow and spread in grass as long as the leaves are allowed to die back naturally.
Native snake’s head fritillaries (Fritillaria meleagris) are cheap and reliable. Other species suit borders where the soil is rich and moisture retentive, which usually follows organic matter dug in or used as mulch. Ones that have done well in RHS trials include Fritillaria persica Green Dreams and Twin Towers Tribute, flowering as 80cm spires with brown, green and purple bells and deep red-purple bells respectively.
The tall Fritillaria imperialis provide a bold display in red, orange and yellow in spring, but some fail to persist. In gardens where this happens, adding more organic matter and planting a little deep – four or five times the height of the bulb instead of the usual three times the height of the bulb – may help.
A reliable form is the yellow flowered Fritillaria imperialis Maxima Lutea which can attain over a metre.
Crocus are humble inexpensive very early bulbs that mostly need to be in the sun for their flowers to open. Although often strewn in grass and open borders they make great pot plants closely planted in gritty well-drained potting compost, left outside all winter and brought indoors to decorate sunny window sills from late winter.
Good ones include Cream Beauty and Orange Monarch and the white, blue and purple chrysanthus Ladykiller. Feed potted crocus until the leaves wither, when they benefit from repotting to flower again the following winter.