Great Garden Writers

The late Christopher Lloyd has written, that ‘February is a most encouraging month. The days are lengthening by leaps and bounds and the garden is visibly coming to life. Small bulbs are a major theme.’ And he asks, ‘Have we enough of them?’ There is always room for more bulbs in the garden, whether in winter tubs or window boxes, or in the front flower border, or even in the lawn.

Grow Roses and Bulbs Together

The beloved Mr. Lloyd suggests sowing some blue-and-white Chionodoxa under roses. For one thing it will brighten up the twiggy roses before they set new leaves. And secondly and maybe most importantly, Chionodoxa is a self-sower and can fill a bed of hybrid tea roses in no time. He also recommends the large-flowered Dutch variety of crocus and one of his favourites among the spring flowering bulbs — the snowdrop. Snowdrops when planted amongst hellebores, especially the Lenten hellebore, works as a good contrasting colour scheme in any spring garden.

Cheer up the Garden with Snowdrop and Daffodil Bulbs

Snowdrops are single-flowered or double-flowered and can be bought in the green in September or as a hardy perennial bulb. The bulbs are tiny and in order to make a worthwhile impression at least 50 bulbs should be planted together.

Anne Scott-James is another wonderful garden writer. In her book Gardening Letters to My Daughter, she suggests planting early flowering bulbs mainly because they die down early and ‘their dying leaves are not an eyesore through the summer’. In one of her charming letters she urges her daughter Clare to plant bulbs in small corners of the garden or by the front door. Tete-a-Tete, the dwarf daffodil is a good choice because it flowers early and multiplies year after year.

A Tip for Beginner Gardeners

Henry Mitchell in his book, The Essential Earthman, encourages the beginning gardener by suggesting that it’s almost never too late to plant daffodils — even after the New Year has come and gone. He writes, ‘I have planted them in November, December, January, February, and March, though anybody should be too ashamed to admit he was too slothful to get his daffodils in by the end of October.’ He explains that they ‘are endlessly obliging flowers, enduring a great deal of abuse.’

Tulips

‘The best things about bulbs’, writes Anna Pavord in Plant Partners, ‘is that, so often, you forget you have planted them.’ And then, there they are, popping up like children with big grins on a sunny day. She is particularly fond of tulips and is noted as saying that no garden can have enough. What many people don’t know is that there are thousands of varieties, from the lily flowered to the single late and cottage tulip. There’s a pure white tulip called ‘Alabaster’ and a purple tulip called the ‘Blue Parrot’. Such names. Such history. It is worth reading her book, The Tulip.

Easy to Grow

A final word about bulbs is that there is nothing easier to grow than spring bulbs. Bulbs are living plants and no matter what, even if forgotten in a corner of the shed, they will try their best to bloom for you. Bulbs are beautiful and they remind us each spring that beauty is an essential part of our lives. Nothing cheers up a gloomy heart like a spring flower.