Designing with Bulbs

One of the easiest ways to add a splash of colour to your garden borders from winter through to early summer is to plant some bulbs. Bulbs are brilliant for boosting interest in the garden, be it winter bloomers, such as crocus or snowdrops, to spring stalwarts such as narcissi and bluebells, through to early summer stunners with alliums and tulips. During winter and early spring, they can look great underplanted beneath a deciduous shrub or a specimen tree providing colourful eye-candy to offset the bare branches of these taller specimens.

We believe the more bulbs the better! Think swathes of bulbs through lawn and woodland; cascades of colour on a grassy bank; a colourful blanket under tree canopies, or dotted through shrubby hedgerows. Bulbs that particularly lend themselves to naturalizing in this way include snowdrops, bluebells, daffs and crocus. The idea is to make it look as natural as possible so randomly sprinkle them and plant where they fall. Many varieties of narcissi, crocus, snowdrops and winter aconites are perfect for naturalising under turf. The best thing is they can be left undisturbed and, over time, they will multiply to create stunning drifts of colour. Why not try planting a mix of bulbs to create an alpine meadow effect if space allows?

Alternatively, if you don't have a big garden, or a reasonable expanse of lawn, you can always plant your bulbs directly into patio containers and tubs creating what's known as a bulb lasagne. Plant the largest and latest flowering bulbs in the first layer, followed by the smallest and earliest ones in the top layer. This kind of planting delivers a succession of flowering so that as one species goes over another one emerges to take its place.