Planting bulbs for #MillionPlantingMoments

Deciding where to plant my new packet of bulbs

"It's National Bulb Planting Week," announced cheerful BBC weather forecaster Sarah Lucas at Wisley this morning. I haven't managed to find out more about it since I came online, but I'm glad to add my own contribution today courtesy of Taylors bulbs and the HTA's #MillionPlantingMoments campaign.

Here I am this morning deciding where to plant my allium bulbs. This variety and colour's new to me and I hope it'll do as well for me as its purple cousins have served so reliably - you may remember I showed you my terrace bed stuffed with spring blooms in last month's Blooms Day.


I've cleared out most of the bottom border and I'm slowly replanting this area as and when final bramble culling allows (it's proving to be persistent). I've decided to plant my bulbs amongst the pictured clump of Persicaria to provide some spring interest to this area. The other alliums have taught me they need to be placed amongst robust and/or later emerging perennials which can cope with the early leaf cover the bulbs provide. My Persicaria 'Fat Domino' has shrugged them off in the bottom terrace bed, so I'm confident the same will happen here. 

This is a partly shaded area of the garden, so placing the bulbs here is a bit of an experiment and the packet assures me that whilst they do like sunshine, the flowers last longer in partial shade. These bulbs grow to around 15 inches (40cm) in height, so they'll go towards the front of this planting. The slight slope there should also mean they'll get the well drained soil they like. I hope to show you the results in a future Blooms Day *crosses fingers*.

My local garden centre always says autumn is nature's time for planting, so I was surprised to read this morning that around two thirds of those surveyed by the RHS didn't know this. They've launched their 'Grow at Home this Autumn' campaign to encourage more people to keep gardening this season. Bulbs are a brilliant way of doing this, as those tiny balls of magic will provide so much cheer in the spring. I believe it's something we'll need more than ever next year.

As well as planting bulbs in my own garden, I'm going to add some more crocuses and smaller daffodils to the public planting next door. I've found the smaller daffodils work better than the larger ones I planted around twenty years ago as they don't fall over. I also hope the crocuses will spread just as Fox Talbot's planting at Lacock Abbey has done; an extra packet or three added gradually over the next few years will help them do so.

I also have a packet of tulips to add to one of my garden pots, but I'll hold back on those until November to help prevent them succumbing to tulip fire.

Which bulbs are you planting out this autumn?

Comments

  1. VP18 September 2020 at 10:59

    I've since found out that bulb planting is the first week of the RHS's 'Grow at Home this Autumn' campaign. There are a further 6 themed weeks to come and include composting, tree planting, and veg planting

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anna20 September 2020 at 13:55

    Good luck with your planting VP - hope that the bulbs thrive for you. My bulb order isn't coming until October so I will be busy then. Iris reticulata,narcissus, tulips and allium and I think that there was a trio of lilium martagon too 😄 Autumn seems such a logical time to plant when the ground is still warm so that the results of the survey you mention are a surprise. I've been watching some of Anne Marie Powell's live Instagram feeds over at @myrealgarden. She mentioned that she will be recording a video for the RHS campaign this afternoon and I'm sure that her enthusiasm will shine through.

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