Sleeping Beauties

Landscape Designer, Sarah Murch, tells us which, when and how many bulbs to plant for the most stunning spring awakenings.

There’s always something to do in a garden, but right now, I’m feeling relaxed about mine. The weeds have stopped growing. Borders are overflowing with glorious grasses and colourful perennials. Autumn berries and crab apples glisten like jewels from branches. And as the first fiery leaves blaze on the Acers, I can take my foot off the pedal. Which is why I’ve just succumbed to those tempting bulb catalogues again and ordered another 6000 bulbs. It’s so easy to get carried away buying bulbs in sunny September but far less appealing planting them in cold, grey

November.

To be honest, bulb planting is not my favourite job. Hours bent double with little to show for your efforts except muddy boots and an aching back. Give me weeding any day. Yet so worth it! Because nothing brings a garden alive in spring like bulbs. Flowering just when we need that injection of colour to lift the spirits after a long, beige winter.

So, don’t put away your boots just yet. There’s still plenty of time to plant bulbs for a truly breath-taking display of colour from New Year’s Day right up to June, when summer perennials will pick up the baton. Best bulbs for successional spring colour Earliest to flower in the depths of winter are those tiny carpeting bulbs growing effectivley under deciduous trees and shrubs, in swathes through your borders, or as a tapestry of colour through grass. Be liberal, mix species together, they enjoy each other's company.

Galanthus elwesii, is a tall, elegant snowdrop flowering on New Year’s Day. Eranthus hyemalis, winter aconite, has bright, cheery yellow flowers, in early February. Crocus are cheap, reliable and soon bulk up. One of the loveliest is Crocus chrysanthus 'Blue Pearl' - those delicate, pearlescent flowers will stop you in your tracks. Or try mixing Crocus tommmasinianus ‘Whitewell Purple’ with C. ‘Bar’s Purple’ for a wash of mauves through grass. Go mad, plant thousands, you need that mass of tiny flowers to create an impact. Unexpected in winter is exquisite, miniature Iris reticulata ‘J.S. Djt’, with wine coloured flowers, ideal for pots. And for a jolt of electric blue mid-March try Scilla siberica, a tiny, nodding squill, great for bumblebees too.

Flowering next are Daffodils. Narcissus 'Tete a Tete' is a reliable early splash of yellow, lovely in grass or clumps of 20 amongst borders.

N. 'Minnow' has small, dainty flowers, so pretty with blue scillas.

My go-to favourite for borders is Narcissus 'Thalia'. Those delicate, fragrant white flowers are beautiful in clumps of 20 repeated through your borders. For something frilly and froufrou try N. 'Cheerfulness', lovely teamed with early apricot tulips.

Larger daffodils are great for naturalising through long grass which hides their dying foliage. In our orchard we’ve planted thousands of Narcissus 'Actaea' and N. poeticus 'Pheasant’s Eye Recurvus', their white reflexed flowers perfectly timed with the fruit blossom.

Following on from April onwards are Tulips. And with so many colours and flower forms to choose from, you will be spoilt for choice. For easy planting I stick to a colour scheme, pick three or four varieties, and mix them together in drifts of 20s amongst the borders or layered in pots.

For a rhapsody of pinks try Tulipa 'Angelique', T. 'Negrita', T. 'China Pink' and T. 'Mistress'. For apricots mix T. 'Princess Irene' with T. 'Ronaldo', T. Menton and T. 'Apricot Beauty'. For a tonal contrast try dark, sultry Tulipa 'Queen of the Night' with elegant T. 'White Triumphator'.

If you prefer pared back whites, my favourite of all is Tulipa 'Spring Green' with a delicate green wash over white petals. Tulips will need replanting after 2-3 years but are well worth the investment.

Next up to flower are Alliums. Those purple, ball shaped flowers balancing on tall, thin stems seem to float through the garden - magic teamed with silver foliage. I like to mix Allium 'Purple Sensation' with A. 'Violet Beauty', planted in drifts of 50 in the borders. For later flowers try the smaller drum stick Allium sphaerocephalon, fabulous in swirls amongst tall grasses and perennials.

How much is enough? You can’t plant too many bulbs. We've planted over 90,000 bulbs here at Ellicar Gardens since starting our garden in 2010 and we will keep planting more each year. For a garden around 1/4 of an acre in size I would generally plant around 8000 bulbs for the first season with a plan to review and top up as needed.

The key to success is be generous. Think of a number then add a nought. So, if you imagine 20 tulips are enough for that border, better make it 200. If you are dreaming of a carpet of crocus, 300 go nowhere, better make it 3000. Think bluebell woods in spring, try counting the flowers and you start to get the picture.

For tiny bulbs like iris, crocus, snowdrops you could easily plant at a density of 50-100 per m2 or swathe. For larger flowered bulbs like tulips and alliums, aim for 20-50 per drift, repeated throughout a border for maximum impact.

When to plant Mid October – end of December is ideal for bulb planting. Tulips are best planted after the first frost. But I’ll confess to once leaving some tulips lurking in their paper bag until early February and they still flowered beautifully.

Opposite page: Tulipa 'Spring Green'. This page from top: Allium 'Purple Sensation' at Ellicar Gardens; Camassia leichtlinii with Tulipa 'Spring Green'; Crocus chrysanthus 'Blue Pearl' with Crocus tommasinianus 'Whitewell Purple' and Narcissus 'Tete a Tete'; Narcissus poeticus 'Pheasant's Eye Recurvus', perfect for naturalising in long grass. All flowering in gardens designed by Sarah Murch

This image: Narcissus 'Thahlia' with Tulipa 'Purissima' and spring perennials at Ellicar. Right: Tulipa 'Greenland'.

Bulb planting made easy The best way to plant bulbs is quickly and efficiently. Like pulling teeth. Commercially we plant around 500 bulbs per hour. So forget that single hole bulb planter tool, it will only give you repetitive strain. Best is a narrow spade, a warren hoe or a sharp trowel. Use a large trug to mix varieties together. Divide all your bulbs up into 2L pots (20 per pot) and set them out in position in your borders. Think about how they grow. Early daffodils are followed by tulips then alliums, often flowering in the same spot, so you can plant these together in the same hole, which saves digging the same patch of border several times.

For larger bulbs, use your spade to make a deep, vertical slit in the soil, wiggle it backwards and forwards to open up the soil, then push in 3-5 bulbs. Tread the soil back and repeat in a random pattern. As a guide, daffodils, alliums and tulips are planted a spade deep. For smaller bulbs ruffle the soil surface with a warren hoe or trowel, then tip out your bulbs, spread them out and simply push them under the soil so they are covered. While it is nice to plant bulbs pointy/shoot end up, flat/root end down, this is fiddly and time consuming and not necessary. The stem will grow to the surface and bulbs have contractile roots so will find their preferred depth and position in the soil. Cover your bulbs with bark mulch and forget all about them until they pop up to blow your socks off next spring.

For bulb planting schemes, supply and professional planting, contact: sarah@ellicargardens.co.uk

Visit Ellicar Gardens in Winter/Spring 2020 for winter gardens, bulbs and blossom. See www.ellicargardens.co.uk for opening dates and more information.

Mail order suppliers: J Parkers Wholesale Bulbs www.dutchbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs www.avonbulbs.co.uk Gee Tee Bulb Company www.gee-tee.co.uk

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