I do n’t have many dislikes . Of those I do , top dog among them is waste . Rather ambitiously , one might say naively , I spent £ 300 on spring - flowering bulbs in September . A lucky few were engraft in early October or early November between business trip , whilst the rest were stored safely ; cool and dry under dust sheet in the dining room . I wrotea post concerning how late one could plant bulbsin mid November , fully expect that I would get my own in the basis imminently . Events conspired against me . They were eventually salvaged from the detergent builder ’ debris just before Christmas , by which time I had neither the time or the inclination of an orbit to do anything with them .
With the festivities over , I must drag one’s feet no further or risk desolate an awful lot of expensive bulbs . They are mostly tulip , but there are some narcissi , jacinth and irises too . Many are new varieties that I am excited to seek for the first fourth dimension . Thanks to careful repositing , most bulbs are still in good stipulation ; a few are start to feel a bit dehydrated and some others are producing anemic shoot . The only precaution one involve to take when plant this late is to avoid break any of the attender shoots when firm the medulla in .
I was determined to embed as many as I could this weekend and will cover back on how they fare .
In obviate waste material , I often end up expend more : well , that ’s my excuse and I am sticking to it . Off I plump to the garden kernel , plan to bribe some ericaceous compost , and back I total with a boot full of deliverance plants from the headroom part : a big , vigorous skimmia , two junipers , a tray of Christmas pink wine ( genus Helleborus Niger River ) , three rosemary ( 2 x R. ‘ Roman Beauty ’ and 1 x R. ‘ Majorca Pink ’ ) , a bergenia , seraphic box ( Sarcococca confusa ) andLoropetalumchinense‘Ming Dynasty ’ , a shrub I always look up to when I am in China . I will use these to start the process of mask the rather slimy edifice the builders have left behind , unrendered and unpainted , before I resolve on which climber I will implant in spring to hide the patchy brickwork .
My first task , completed in cold , penetrating mizzle , was to embed up a pair of window boxes with evergreens and Christmas rose , underplanted withNarcissus‘Winter Waltz ’ ( below ) andBellevalia paradoxa . cool to the bone , I retired inside to sit by a howl fervour , venturing out again on Sunday morning to be greet by spring - like temperatures , birdsong , and the HUA of an enormous bumble bee – the first of 2017 . Mr Bumble was painfully camera - shy , but he was n’t exit to miss out on a lusty brunch of hellebore pollen .
Today I have ploughed my way through approximately 20 bag of electric-light bulb , includingNarcissus‘Geranium ’ , N. ‘ Avalanche ’ , N. ‘ Merlin ’ and N. ‘ Tresamble’;Tulipa‘Slawa ’ , T. ‘ Maliaka ’ , T. ‘ Lasting Love ’ and T. ‘ David Teniers ’ . I was surprised and further by how few bulb show any signboard of mould or shrivelling , although all look much happier nestle into a pot of John Innes no . 2 than they did in a brown newspaper bag .
However cold or warm the wintertime , however early or late they are found , spring lightbulb possess an amazing capability to get up and flower when nature intended . It could be a few weeks before Mr Bumble can return and bask rape my Narcissus pseudonarcissus for ambrosia , but in the meantime there will be a handful of odoriferous box , Salvia‘Hot Lips ’ , hellebore andCorrea‘Marian ’s Marvel ’ to nosh on . At this time of twelvemonth , one ca n’t afford to waste a matter .
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class : Bulbs , Container horticulture , Flowers , Our Coastal Garden , flora
place by The Frustrated Gardener
