City Gardening

Allium 'Purple Sensation'

Think spring now! To ignore the coming season is to court horticultural disaster – a naked garden devoid of tulips, crocuses and daffodils when across the street your neighbours flaunt their vernal finery. Fall is the time to plant these colourful spring flower bulbs.For gardeners, the bins of bulbs that line the aisles of garden centres at this time of the year can be as appealing as candy to a child. We are helpless to control our impulses to select the brightest colours and the prettiest flowers. What we rarely think about, though, is how to select a collection of bulbs that will bloom from early to mid- and late spring. Here’s how to plan a succession of colourful bulbs to dress up the garden from early spring through summer.

Crocus

Among the first flower bulbs to bloom in the early spring are snowdrops, crocuses and grape hyacinths. These are the small gems that signal the end of winter and welcome the beginning of spring. Because of their size, planting only one or two won’t make much of a splash in the garden – these diminutive bulbs have impact when planted in large drifts. Imagine woodland slopes covered with the nodding petals of hundreds of snowdrops or fields of yellow and purple crocuses and you’ve got the picture.

Tulipa tarda

We rarely consider tulips as early bloomers, but many of them flower at the same time as crocuses. Among the earliest are the Greigii, Kaufmanniana and Fosteriana types. Unlike more traditional tulips, many of these produce multiple flowers from a single stem and are generally shorter and more compact which makes them good choices for rock gardens or for edging pathways and borders. In addition to brightly coloured flowers, Greigii tulips have attractive, purple striped or mottled leaves. The Kaufmanniana tulips are sometimes called the water lily tulip because the petals open outward like a water lily. This species tulip comes in a rainbow of colours, with some bi-coloured flowers too. Taller than most early tulips are the Fosteriana types which grow between 12 and 18 inches. Among these are the Purissima and Emperor hybrids with their classically elegant flowers.

Jetfire

Daffodils mark the change from early to mid-season in the flower bulb garden. Like most bulbs, they look their best when planted in groups rather than lined up in rows. Unlike many hybrid tulips, daffodils “perennialize”, returning each year and multiplying into increasingly larger clumps. There are so many varieties to choose from that you could grow an entire garden of daffodils alone.

But, why would you when there are such wonderful Darwin and Triumph tulips that bloom at the same time? Darwins stand tall in the garden, growing to about 30 inches. They flaunt large, brightly coloured flowers in primary shades of red, orange and yellow as well as pink. And, if you can’t find a Triumph tulip that you like then you’re not a tulip lover. These popular hybrids come in one of the widest ranges of colours imaginable. Shorter than Darwins, Triumphs bear cup-shaped flowers that bloom on sturdy stems that grow to about 12 or 16 inches tall.

Tulipa 'Queen of the Night'

The late season garden is one of the easiest to fill with flower bulbs. Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides) look like giant grape hyacinths. I’ve recently discovered these gems and plan to add more to my garden this year. Along with these, there is a bevy of late tulips – doubles, fringed, lily-flowering, and Rembrandt types are irresistible. But remember, the later they bloom the longer their browning leaves will linger in the garden. So plan for plenty of leafy perennials to grow up and camouflage the dying foliage.

Allium 'Purple Sensation'

Alliums or ornamental onions are the closing glory of the spring flower bulb garden. Tall and towering or short and plump, these bulbs deserve a place in even the smallest of gardens. From the large spheres of purple or white classics such as Globemaster, Purple Sensation or Mount Everest to the nodding bells of Cowanii and Bulgaricum (also sold as Nectarscodium siculum – what are they thinking?), alliums create the perfect transition from the splashes of bulbs that colour the spring garden to the elegant lilies that grace the summer garden.