Tag Archives: bulbs

Late Winter Highlights…

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The weather hasn’t been conducive to gardening, but there are plenty of signs of life in the garden now. While some narcissi don’t flower until much later, these early ones have been out for more than a week now…

There are crocuses (croci?) coming up all over the garden, including these yellow ones around one of the apples trees…

And these Crocus tommasinianus, which we planted in the lawn. I’m hoping they will eventually form large swathes, but so far, they’ve been sparse, and rather fragile…

There were hellebores in the garden when we arrived. I’ve moved them around as I implemented my design. As yet they aren’t exactly thriving (I need to bulk up the organic material in the thin, sandy soil) but they are providing some flowers…

Cherry Prunus x. subhirtella ‘Autumnalis rosea’ can produce flowers at any time through the autumn and winter, and it’s really full of blossom now. Not the most blousy of cherry’s, but worth it for the out-of-season blossom. The dark cloud behind shows it up well…

I planted a low hedge of the evergreen Sarcoccoca, another winter flowering shrub, close to the house for the rich, sweet fragrance that now greets us every time we venture outside the back door…

And close by a Viburnum x. Burkwoodii, which will in time make a large shrub, is preparing to open clusters of small white flowers. This too has a lovely, strong fragrance. It’s semi-evergreen, meaning it holds on to some of it’s dark green, glossy leaves – how many depends upon how harsh the winter is…

Snowdrops are all over the garden – they do seem to like the soil, and are bulking up well. Here, in a raised bed beneath a mature silver birch tree…

…and in our little ‘woodland garden’ outside the kitchen window, where rhododendron buds are swelling, and delicate Pieris flowers are almost out (the staked tree is a Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender silhouette’ which is now in it’s second year)…

Pundits will tell you snowdrops prefer shade, and soil that doesn’t dry out, but for us they are also flourishing in full sun, at the base of a fence, in a narrow bed of dry sandy soil. Never make assumptions about what will grow where!

Also in the woodland area there is a skimmia which, like the rhododendrons, I moved from elsewhere in the garden. The move doesn’t seem to have done it any harm…

Dried heads of Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’, in another shady spot, are persisting well into winter, and looking good in the low light…

And a young Acer griseum (paperbark maple) is already displaying the peeling bark that the plant is known for. As yet, it’s only around a metre high, but it’s been in the ground for around three years, so I’m hopeful it will take off this year. As well as the attractive and unusual bark, Acer griseum is also one of the best trees for autumn colour…

Spring bulbs are pushing through the soil now. For the second year running we’ve bought more allium bulbs for the garden, and followed the advice of Monty Don, of Gardeners’ World fame. He suggested planting them in pots, to be put out in the garden once things have started to grow. The advantage is you avoid the danger (when planting bulbs into the ground during the dormant season) of digging up other bulbs. It’s also easier to ascertain the best positions to fit what’s there already. Here they are, in pots, ready to go into the beds soon (these are Allium Christophii)…

And last year we put new tulip bulbs into decorative pots. For now, they’re still in a sheltered position near the back door, but soon we will move them out into sunny positions on patios…

There was a cold snap towards the end of last year, but overall the winter has (so far) been rather mild; if wet and windy. There may be another burst of icy weather to come yet, but it feels as though the worst of the winter is over, and momentum is gathering for spring. We’ve even been feeding the goldfish!

Text & photos © graham wright 2024

October Gardening Jobs

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Plant new trees and shrubs
The dormant season – autumn and winter – has always been seen as a good time to plant trees and shrubs. But if the pattern of dry springs and summers experienced over recent years continues, the sooner you get plants in, the better. The soil is still warm, there’s plenty of moisture around, so plants put into the ground now will have a chance of establishing an effective root system before winter.

Liquidambar styraciflua ‘Slender Silhouette’ – planted a few days ago.

Divide perennials
Perennials that have finished flowering and have formed decent-sized clumps can be divided now. If the centre sections are woody and unproductive they can be cut out and discarded. Re-set the other pieces where you want them, water them in, and they should be able to establish before the winter.

Use Fallen leaves
Autumn leaves should be cleared from lawns and paths (and beds too, if you wish) and can be collected up and turned into leaf mould – either in a purpose made-bin (with wire mesh sides) or in bags (hessian bags are best, but you can use plastic – but punch lots of holes in the sides and bottom with a garden fork). You could leave them on the beds as a soil-improving mulch that will rot down naturally – just make sure any small plants are not swamped.

Lawn Repair
Hopefully most lawns will have turned green again by now, but this is traditionally a good time to do remedial work, and after the summer we’ve had, many of them need it. Aeration reduces compaction, and can be done either with an aerator (manual, or powered), or with a garden fork. Push it in as far as you can, wiggle it about a bit, pull back on it to slightly lift the ground, and then repeat across the whole area. This is, I have to say, a job that consumes a lot of time and energy. Scarifying (raking) is good for the lawn too – it gets rid of a lot of the dead material, as well as moss. Any bare patches can be re-seeded.

Check tree ties
Bear in mind that tree trunks will have expanded, even during the poor growing season we’ve had. So if you have trees that are staked, you may want to check they aren’t being strangled. If ties are too tight, loosen them a little. A galvanised nail banged through the tie and into the stake (not the tree!) will stop the tie from slipping down.

Weeding
A perennial task, but despite the cooler temperatures, weeds are taking advantage of the rain to sprout and grow fast. Hoeing is not so effective in damp conditions, so weeds will need to be pulled or dug out. But…

Look for self-seeded plants
…pay attention, because among the weeds will be self-seeded plants you may want to keep. These might be wild flowers such as forget-me-nots and foxgloves – some people may see them as weeds, but many gardeners are happy to have them, as they’re colourful, attractive, and free. Many cultivated perennials, such as Verbena bonariensis, and Gaura, will self seed. And you might even find some surprises. In my garden, Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’ – a choice shrubby plant – has produced a couple of dozen seedlings in the ground around it.

Salvia ‘Royal Bumble’

Clean the greenhouse
Yes, I know – you don’t want to hear this, but it’s a good idea to thoroughly clean your greenhouse (if you’re lucky enough to have one). Cleaning the glass benefits the plants by maximising the light coming in. And keeping a clean greenhouse reduces hiding places for pests to over-winter.

Think about wildlife
Dead foliage and flower stems of perennials don’t necessarily need to be cut down until next spring. Left where they are, they will provide habitat and food for wildlife over the winter.

Store tender plants
Dahlia tubers can be lifted from the ground or removed from pots, cleaned up, and stored in dry material such as compost, sand or wood shavings, in a cool, dry, frost-free place. They don’t need light, so a garage or shed would be fine. It’s usual to wait until the first frosts have blackened the foliage before doing this. You can leave them in the ground, ideally with a thick mulch of compost on top, but there’s a risk they won’t come back next year if we have a cold and wet winter.
Cannas, frost-tender salvias (such as Salvia ‘Amistad’), pelargoniums etc. can be brought into the (freshly cleaned!) greenhouse (or a shed or garage, if you don’t have a greenhouse), in pots, ideally before the first frost. So keep an eye on the weather forecast!

Dahlia ‘Mexican Star’

Planting bulbs
It’s still a good time to plant bulbs for next season, in pots and in the ground. It isn’t too late to plant early bulbs like snowdrops, crocuses, or the little reticulata irises; or too early to plant later bulbs like alliums. I placed an order with Crocus again this year. Their plants can be expensive, but their prices for bulbs were very reasonable. I ordered ten each of three varieties of tulip, thirty Allium hollandicum ‘Purple Sensation’, and a pack of Iris reticulata. Very restrained!

A freshly planted pot of Iris reticulata ‘Alida’ – these flower in spring and are small and dainty – ideal for displaying on a table, where they can be seen more easily.

One problem I’ve encountered is that it’s impossible to identify where bulbs you planted into the ground in previous years are at this time, so you can end up inadvertently digging these up (and often damaging them), while you attempt to put the new ones in. Monty Don, on Gardeners World, offered a good solution to this problem. He planted his Allium hollandicum bulbs individually into small pots. He will plant them out next year, when bulbs in the ground are showing new growth, so he can avoid damaging them.

Covering pots with mesh, netting, chicken wire etc., until the bulbs start sprouting, will stop rodents digging them up and eating them. Some people do this for bulbs planted into the ground too, but it isn’t always practical.

Sow seed
And on the subject of greenhouses… Seeds of some annuals and perennials can be sown now, and kept in the greenhouse, rather than waiting for spring. Sweet peas are a favourite, but things like Ammi major, when sown in autumn, will flower earlier next year. A few weeks ago I sowed some Scabious (Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Black Knight’), put them on a windowsill inside to germinate, and then moved them to a greenhouse bench to over-winter.

Scabious (Scabiosa atropurpurea ‘Black Knight’) seedlings – germinated on a windowsill inside, then moved to the greenhouse bench.

The summer is over, and it’s getting cold, damp, and dark. But there are still some warmer, brighter days. And the light at this time of year has a special quality. So if you choose your time, you can still enjoy the garden.

text & images © graham wright 2022

Last call for Spring Bulbs…

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October and November are when most spring flowering bulbs become available at garden centres and nurseries. The priority for most people tend to be Daffodils (Narcissi) and Tulips (Tulipa species). The time at which they actually flower varies from one variety to another – by choosing varieties carefully you can have daffs and tulips in flower over a longer period. Daffodils will flower from Feb to April, Tulips in April and May.

Narcissus ‘Thalia’

Daffodils can be planted in the ground in October, but for tulips, it’s best to leave it until some time in November, particularly if your soil is heavy, as the bulbs can rot in damp soil (putting a little grit at the base of the planting hole can help to give more drainage to avoid this).

It’s not too late to plant daffodil bulbs now, or indeed many other, earlier bulbs such as snowdrops, though they may not flower quite as early as if you’d got them in the ground in October. The bad news is that retailers tend to get all their bulbs in at one time, and by now they’re running out. The good news is that they’re now heavily discounting whatever they have left. So while you may not get the full choice now, you can still create a stunning display, and at a much lower cost than if you’d been more organised and got your bulbs earlier.

Tulipa ‘Couleur Cardinal’ & ‘Spring Green’ naturalised in the garden

Many people use bulbs to create displays in pots. When it comes to tulips, growers supply bulbs that have been grown under ideal conditions, so that they will produce a large flower. The following year, the flowers are never as big, so won’t provide such a good display. But so long as you’ve chosen varieties that will naturalise, you can plant them in the garden when they’ve finished flowering, and they’ll come back year after year.

Here are the pots that I’ve planted this year, tucked away in a sheltered position by the house over the winter, and the remaining packets of bulbs that will be planted in the garden:

I’ve put the pots on blocks to keep them off the ground (pot feet are a better option, but expensive!) and covered them with netting to stop squirrels, voles, mice etc digging them up, as they sometimes do. I’ve planted daffodils ‘Hawera’, ‘Ice Follies’, and my favourite ‘Thalia’; and tulips ‘Spring Green, Queen of Night, and ‘Ballerina’.

Tulipa ‘Konigen der Nacht’ (Queen of Night)
Tulipa ‘Ballerina’

For a fuller display, you can mix different types of bulbs in the same pot, with tulips and daffs planted deeper, and smaller flowers such as chionodoxa, snowdrops, scilla, etc. set higher in the pot. I’ve been a bit lax on that front this year – I did throw in some chionodoxa and snowdrop bulbs I had from last year, but it’s mainly daffs and tulips.

The bulbs for the garden are fritillaria meleagris (snake’s head fritillary) and Camassia quamash for around the pond, and snowdrops and anemones for the shaded area under the lilac tree and rhododendrons.

Snowdrops (Galanthus)

Garden centres and nurseries are also selling summer flowering bulbs, such as lilies, which don’t need to be planted until next spring, and alliums, which should ideally be planted now (though like tulips, they prefer good drainage).

Allium hollandicum

Whichever bulbs you choose to plant, from the diminutive earliest flowering snowdrops, through daffodils and tulips, to the largest, most flamboyant lilies and gladioli; bulbs will give you welcome bursts of flower to look forward to next year.

text & images ©strelitzia garden design 2021

Autumn Gardening Tasks

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It’s come round to the time of year when the lawn mower morphs from a tool for cutting grass, into a vacuum cleaner for fallen leaves.

Autumn seems to have pounced on us this year. I can trace it back to a day about a week and a half ago, when the air took on a chill, and the heavy dew on the grass lasted the whole day. The trees seemed to start turning in an instant response, with leaves colouring up and beginning to fall.

By then, the asters were barely into bud, but the sudden change seemed to kick them into action, and they’re now fully out and looking good. Asters are pretty much the last summer perennials to flower. When everything else is going over, their leaves are fresh and vital, their intricate daisy flowers in purples, blues, pinks and white, are pristine and vibrant – oases of shining beauty among a sea of decay. If you want to extend your garden’s flowering season into the autumn, you can’t do better than to plant some asters.(1)

Aster novi-belgii ‘Audrey’ – for the bad news, see note (1)

We typically think of autumn as a time of tidying and clearing up – clearing leaves, cutting back dead foliage and flower stems on perennials, pulling up spent bedding plants, taking out tomatoes and cleaning the greenhouse. But it’s also a busy time for more creative tasks. Now is the time to plant spring flowering bulbs, in pots and in the ground. Daffodils need to be planted as soon as possible, but most tulips can wait until November – in fact it’s best not to put them in the open ground until then, particularly if you have heavy soil. It’s a good idea to cover bulbs with wire mesh to stop rodents digging them up (easier to do with pots than for those planted directly into the ground).

Now is a good time to divide many perennials, although some people prefer to wait until the spring to do this, as there’s a danger that the reset plants could be killed by the cold weather. On the other hand, doing it now gives them a chance to establish a good root system, so they’re ready to get growing in the spring. And it’s easier to see what you’re dividing at this time of year, because by the end of the winter, perennials often don’t have much showing above ground.
Aster novi-belgii ‘Climax’ – again, see note (1)

And of course, autumn is a great time to plant roses, as well as most other shrubs, and trees. The soil is still warm (even if the weather isn’t) and reliably moist, giving them a chance to develop their root system so that, as for the perennials, they’re ready to start into growth the following spring. And woody plants can be bought bare-rooted, which is much cheaper than buying potted specimens – particularly relevant if you have a lot of plants to put in (say, for a deciduous hedge).

When it comes to the autumn clearing up, there are decisions to be made. Ideally, fallen leaves can be collected up and made into leaf mould. If you’ve got a lot of leaves, you can make a leaf mould bin by wrapping wire mesh around four wooden posts set out in a square. If you don’t have enough leaves for this, or anywhere to put it, you can fill a black plastic bag with leaves, tie it up, put a few holes in it with a garden fork, and leave it somewhere out of sight. Either way, you should have leaf mould by this time next year.

However, for some plants that are diseased, such as roses with black spot, apples with scab ,or quince with leaf blight, experts suggest collecting the leaves and burning them. The theory is that if you compost them, the spores of the disease may survive and re-infect the plant the following year. The problem comes where your leaves have blown about and intermingled – you can hardly sort them one by one!

The other decision is whether or not to cut back the dead foliage of perennials. Some people can’t bear to see them making the garden look untidy over the winter. Others think that they can look attractive, particularly when the frost is on them, or when they’re backlit by the winter sun. And they do provide homes for insect wildlife to spend the winter. Personally, I tend to wait until the spring to cut back the dead growth.
Canna Neubert, taken only a few days ago – who said the summer was over

(1) In what appears to be an ongoing scheme to make our lives difficult, botanists have recently re-classified some (but not all) asters, and given them the new name ‘Symphyotrichum’. Maybe they’re jealous of our ability to speak horticultural latin. Or perhaps they’re just trying to justify their own existence. It seems to be the later flowering novi-belgii group that have been renamed.


Words and pictures copyright Graham Wright 2017