|
|
 |
You are > Home > Buried treasure
|
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Buried treasure
If you’re expecting a rant about pirates you’ll be sadly disappointed because this week Charlie Wilkins wants to talk about flower bulb’s for next year’s garden.
SPRING bulbs are still the gardener’s best friend, not least because they come with next year’s flowers safely tucked away inside, and all that’s needed for them to emerge is a period of cool wintertime, good soil and then some steadily increasing light.
Buy as many as you can afford, plant them before they begin to dry out or shrivel, and don’t forget to put a few in pots for standing in sheltered positions outdoors. Here they will bloom long before their brothers and sisters stuck in cooler beds and borders nearby. Can I tempt you with a few of what I know to be ‘better’ bulbs for all situations?
The best daffs I would have you buy include ‘Silver Chimes’, which will give up to ten blooms per stem, ‘canaliculatis’, which grows to just five inches, and narcissus ‘pseudonarcissus’ and its subspecies – superb choices for rockeries, sink gardens and gravelled areas. These are sometimes called Tenby daffodils. Look for the Hooped Petticoat (bulbocodium) which is another tiny grower or any number of triandus and cyclamineus hybrids.
These include ‘Tête-à-Tête’, ‘Minnow’, ‘Hawera’, ‘Liberty Bells’, ‘Little Witch’, ‘Thalia’, ‘Sun Disc’ and many more. If sticking to just one, opt for Tête-à-Tête and delight in three perfectly-formed yellow blooms per eight-inch high stem come the spring. This top rate variety increases readily from year one, especially when grown in ornamental gravel. All the others are low-growing and dainty, complete with foliage that does not flop all over the place when blooming ceases.
You might, of course, prefer something taller but exceptional. If this is the case, go for the tall but very popular ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ daffodil which naturalises easily and grows well in grass. Blessed with highly-fragrant blooms which appear late in the daffodil season, it’s the choice of millions, if not millionaires. That scent is really powerful and quite able to perfume a goodly number of square yards of garden at any one time. Cut the blooms if you wish and bring them indoors during particularly wet days and enjoy their colouring and scent up close.
As to tulips, by all means get the likes of Maytime (deep pink), White Triumphator or Westpoint (yellow), but for my money it has got to be a few dozen more of the botanical tulips, which in size are only as big as marbles (they’re be found equally as hard) but in bloom they’ll be nothing short of spectacular. Look for ‘batalinii’ ‘tarda’, ‘saxatilis’ ‘greigii’, ‘cluisana’ and so on.
The main advantage with these is that they come up year after year without as much as a gentle reminder. Their larger-flowered cousins seem to break into four or five pieces immediately after blooming (making them useless for a similar number of years) but the botanical forms go on and on without interruption.
Main News Page |
Previous Page
|
|
|
|
