Your Ultimate Guide To Choosing Spring Bulbs

Whether you’re starting a new display or revamping an existing one, Sally Jenner has great tips on how to make planning and planting spring-flowering bulbs easier.

- Sally Jenner

WITH the choice of spring-flowering bulbs in shops, online and in garden centers so vast, and planting space often quite restricted, how do you ensure you’re getting the most out of what’s on offer?

I find it easiest to divide the space I have into different areas – very early flowering bulbs such as crocus and winter aconites are planted under deciduous shrubs and in the lawn, while in the borders, daffodils, and tulips offer swathes of color in March and April, before alliums bridge the gap between spring and summer. I save the showiest bulbs such as hyacinths for pots and window boxes, where they add the ‘finishing touches’.

When looking at bulb packets, it’s a good idea to match up varieties that flower at the same time – take tulips, for example, the earliest flower in March; the latest two months later, in May. Check height and flower size, too – and remember that the pictures on the front of the packs can be misleading.

Refine your search

If you like browsing for bulbs on the internet, some websites will let you refine your search by ticking certain boxes such as ‘early flowering’ or ‘scented’. By doing this, you can narrow down your wishlist – you don’t even have to buy from the sites in question, just note down the varieties and shop around for them; your local garden centre may work out cheaper.

Once you have your bulbs, you can make planting them a lot easier by investing in special circular trays (sarahraven.com sells them), which are then planted 6in (15cm) deep. These are useful if you have an area of the garden where you want to change the displays each year, without the risk of spearing your garden fork through existing bulbs! After the flowers are over, simply dig up the tray (complete with bulbs), move to the greenhouse or a sheltered sunny spot, and allow the leaves to die back.