Winter Aconites

angelawillmott

I once had a garden with circle of Winter Aconites in a well established lawn. Every late winter, a perfect golden sun would appear through the frost or snow like a miracle. If I wanted to re- create this as a 7-10ft circle, how many bulbs/ plants should I put in initially, and at what distance apart? Should I plant as bulbs or bare-root plants ?  

nutcutlet

I'd buy them now whilst growing, unless you're in a hurry you don't need hundreds, a few years and they'll be seeding themselves.  avoid those big companies who do big adverts, you pay for that

BobTheGardener

It is recommended to plant them 6 inches apart to allow them to spread, so this website came in handy for calculating how many would fit into a 7 foot dia. circle and it turns out to be at least 38.  You can obviously plant more than this and should probably plant far more, especially if planting dry tubers as those are often (or is that usually?) unreliable, either never appearing at all, or only lasting one season and not coming back.  Bare roots split from established plants immediately after flowering is probably the most reliable way with seed being next best.  Because they are fussy about conditions too (woodland plant so needs plenty of sun in winter and heavy shade in summer, growing in non-acidic soil with plenty of humus and which never dries out), I would start with just a small circle so you don't spend too much if they fail.  If they thrive, you can collect and sow the seed as well as split them to produce an ever-increasing circle, which is how they naturally spread.

Good luck and hope you succeed as they are simply lovely and I walk past a couple of clumps on my way to work each morning at this time of the year and often in rotten weather!

BobTheGardener

Beat me to it nut!