never planted bulbs before 🙈🙈 I’m looking something tall and would spread quick to fill spaces at back of some grasses I have when is best time to plant and am I too late 🤔
Summer bulbs need to go in as soon as the ground is neither frozen nor water-logged.
Lots to choose from - galtonia candicans, blousey Dame Edna style gladioli (not hardy but easy to lift and store), more refined Ethiopian gladioli - acidanthera (hardy in warmer, well-drained soils), crocosmias, Dutch irises......
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast. "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Summer bulbs need to go in as soon as the ground is neither frozen nor water-logged.
Lots to choose from - galtonia candicans, blousey Dame Edna style gladioli (not hardy but easy to lift and store), more refined Ethiopian gladioli - acidanthera (hardy in warmer, well-drained soils), crocosmias, Dutch irises......
great thanks so if i plant end April early may would they still flower in summer as no room store before that in house or outbuildings before I put in ground
Can crocosmia be started in a pot be go going in the ground? I don't know whether my red barons and cannas would have survived this winter so no idea if gaps.
Yes, I have started crocosmia in pots. 5 small bulbs or three if Lucifer , in a 15cm pot of gritty compost. Keep in a sunny place. You can then drop the whole potful in place when you need it.
I agree with fidgetbones. I grow my crocosmia in pots in their final position in the garden. They have a habit of spreading if not restrained so burying the pot into the flower bed so the top of the pot is level with the soil keeps them under control. If you want to divide them after one or two years, just lift the pot and divvy them up.
Amberspy, I grew some summer bulbs in pots and a kind of rockery area for the first time last year and although it took the acidanthera until the end of August to flower, they are tall, light and airy and smell delicious so I second Obelixx on that one, they would look lovely with grasses. Nice near a seating area too, to enjoy the scent. I also plonked in a load of tall purple Alliums in Spring (they were cheap), totally wrong time of year as they are autumn planting, but they flowered really well, so I guess bulbs are quite forgiving...
I have also started growing Crocosmias in my poly - probably too generously only one to each 9cm pot - as I am not sure yet where in my hot border to put them. Thank you though, fidgetbones and Guernsey donkey, I am reassured now this might actually work! How long do they take to emerge, usually?
Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
Amberspy, I grew some summer bulbs in pots and a kind of rockery area for the first time last year and although it took the acidanthera until the end of August to flower, they are tall, light and airy and smell delicious so I second Obelixx on that one, they would look lovely with grasses. Nice near a seating area too, to enjoy the scent. I also plonked in a load of tall purple Alliums in Spring (they were cheap), totally wrong time of year as they are autumn planting, but they flowered really well, so I guess bulbs are quite forgiving...
I have also started growing Crocosmias in my poly - probably too generously only one to each 9cm pot - as I am not sure yet where in my hot border to put them. Thank you though, fidgetbones and Guernsey donkey, I am reassured now this might actually work! How long do they take to emerge, usually?
thanks for the tips 👍 I do grow crocosmias as well I got them last summer which was brought in plant form they did flower quite a few stems last year as I wrote on another post I wasn’t aware if I could cut dead leaves off etc and hopefully they pop back again this summer
I grew Acidanthera for the first time last year, but in a bed that is quite heavy clay (I am still trying to improve it) and gets shade during the day. Are they likely to come up again this year?
I have bought some more, which I plan to put in a sunnier position this time. Will they do well in the better improved but still heavy dry clay soil in the south facing bed?
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Lots to choose from - galtonia candicans, blousey Dame Edna style gladioli (not hardy but easy to lift and store), more refined Ethiopian gladioli - acidanthera (hardy in warmer, well-drained soils), crocosmias, Dutch irises......
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
I have also started growing Crocosmias in my poly - probably too generously only one to each 9cm pot - as I am not sure yet where in my hot border to put them. Thank you though, fidgetbones and Guernsey donkey, I am reassured now this might actually work! How long do they take to emerge, usually?
I have bought some more, which I plan to put in a sunnier position this time. Will they
do well in the better improved but still heavy dry clay soil in the south facing bed?