Tulips for Instant Colour...


Try Tulipa 'Jan Reus' for instant hot colour in your garden...

According to Val Bourne of The Telegraph tulips should be planted after the end of October once temperatures fall. Her article continues however...

But if you missed your chance this year, there is another way to have tulips in the garden now: seek out ready-grown potfuls and sink them into the borders. They will do well (even in shade) and Beth Chatto has been using this system for years.

The most colourful tulips are the Triumphs - a group bred in Holland for the cut-flower trade. Excellent late-April varieties include the dark chrysanthemum crimson 'Jan Reus', the purple-veined white 'Shirley' and the beetroot-purple 'Negrita'.



Tulipa 'Shirley'

They come in a wide rainbow of colours, but a limited colour scheme probably works best in the garden. Add a few May-flowering tulips to follow on. Next year pot your own tulips between early November and late December. Place about nine tulip bulbs into a large pot and place in the sheltered lea of a wall - to prevent heavy rain from making the pots too wet. Protect from mice and squirrels.

Pam Tatam, of Hall Farm Nursery in Lincolnshire, also adds spring bedding to each potful so that wallflowers and forget-me-nots frame her tulips. As the bulbs fade, lift the whole pot. Feed the bulbs if you want to keep them - or start again.

Popular posts from this blog

The Telegraph's Top 10 Spring Flowering Shrubs

Image
Cercis chinensis 'Avondale' - Chinese Redbud Courtesy of The Telegraph Cercis chinensis 'Avondale’ , a form of the Chinese redbud, makes a large shrub or small tree, with masses of purple-pink pea flowers on the bare shoots in late March and April. The leaves then unfurl; they are very big, heart-shaped, pale green in colour and turn yellow in autumn. This plant is hardy, happiest in full sun or partial shade, and likes a fertile, moist but well-drained soil. Halesia carolina is one of the choicest of all spring shrubs (or small trees), having adorable, nodding, pure white snowdrop flowers in late spring, once the plant has a few years on the clock. These are ¾in long, and hang in clusters of three or five on short stalks. These flowers turn into 2in-long, pear-shaped fruit with four wings and a tail. When fully ripe, these are brown, chiming well with the leaves, which yellow in autumn. Halesias like a sheltered spot in sun or part shade in neutral or acid soil. Chaenomel
Read more

Everlasting Wallflower: The Butterfly's Favourite

Image
People say that Buddleja is the best plant for getting wildlife and butterflies into your garden. I recently took a trip over to my parents house and they showed me the Everlasting Wallflower, latin name, Vanessa cardui. Tens of painted lady butterflies are now swarming into my parents garden, because they absolutely adore this plant. If you like butterflies in your garden, get it!
Read more