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Summer bulb beauties
by Hannah Stephenson
The daffodils may be blooming, but if you want to dazzle your visitors with summer colour, you ought to be thinking about planting summer bulbs throughout spring.
While most spring-flowering bulbs can be planted at any time in the autumn, summer-flowering bulbs need more care. Lilies should be planted in early spring before the bulbs dry out, while dahlias, cannas and begonias are not frost-hardy, so if you want to plant them early, start them off in pots indoors.
While dahlias have sprung back into fashion in recent years, the once-gaudy gladiolus, a favourite of Dame Edna Everage, is also making a comeback in more subtle colours which would suit most tastes.
The delicate-looking Gladiolus callianthus 'Murielae', originally from central Africa, has been crowned the 2008 Summer Bulb of the Year at the annual event hosted by The Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Centre.
Industry experts voted it the 'must have' bulb to plant this spring, for blooming in summer 2008, because of its appearance, versatility and ease of growing. It also has a delicious perfume to be enjoyed on mild late summer evenings.
This upright perennial with fragrant white flowers and distinctive purple markings in the throat, has sword-like grassy leaves about half as tall as the 18-24-inch arching flower spikes.
The flowers look particularly dramatic against a dark, leafy backdrop of summer-flowering evergreens such as cistus or escallonia or the deep plum-leafed Pittosporum tenuifolium 'Purpureum'.
It flourishes when planted 10-16cm deep in fertile, well drained soil and in full sun. The flowers bloom from August to September. Plant it in an accessible area of the garden, such as beside a pathway, where you can enjoy the fantastic scent.
It can be grown outside over summer, but often there's insufficient time after flowering for the corms to mature for the following year. Consequently, many treat it as an annual and grow it fresh each year in border groups or pots. Gladioli can also be used to fill gaps in borders, especially the late-flowering types, which provide a burst of colour when many other flowering shrubs and perennials have faded.
All gladioli - and many summer-flowering bulbs in general - like rich, free-draining soil in a sunny, sheltered position. Plant gladioli in clumps of five to seven corms, 10cm (4in) deep and 10cm (4in) apart, during March and April.
If you're growing bulbs in heavy clay soils, lighten them with compost and sand or grit, to ease drainage.
Large-flowering gladioli can be difficult to incorporate into mixed beds because their tall, heavy spikes can look incongruous against other plantings, but smaller species and hybrids are lighter and prettier and blend in more easily.
Try Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus, a cottage garden favourite with 90cm spikes carrying bright magenta flowers above the sword-shaped leaves. This one will spread to form large clumps if left undisturbed, which are easily lifted and divided.
Another good variety is Gladiolus x colvillei 'The Bride', producing elegant, ivory-white flowers on 60cm (2ft) stems, which are great for cutting, or G. 'Prins Claus', a slightly larger variety with soft red-pink markings on the petals. These two types are often sold in a mix of G. nanus varieties, and look good in groups of 10 or more at the front of a border. They also look good against silver shrubs or at the foot of a ceanothus.
BEST OF THE BUNCH - Crocus
They may be pint-sized and shortlived, but the crocus continues to be one of the most popular early spring-flowering bulbs, producing striking flowers in shades of white, yellow and purple, some striped, others bi-coloured and blotched. Good varieties include the Dutch crocus, C. vernus 'Pickwick', which flowers from early to late spring, producing white flowers, striped pale and dark lilac, with deep purple leaves.
Winter-flowering species grow just three or four inches high and complement the rockery, while spring-flowering Dutch hybrids bloom in March and April and have larger flowers. There are scores available, including 'Remembrance' (purple), 'Little Dorrit' (lilac) and 'Golden Mammoth' (yellow). They will do well in any well-drained soil in sun or light shade. Plant corns in the autumn, 8-10cm (3-4in) deep and they should come back year after year.
GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT - Dividing chives
They are great addition to sauces and salads, their onion flavour pepping up sour cream dips and dressings, or served with fish and egg dishes - and they are so easy to grow and so decorative. Now's the time to divide clumps of chives if you want to rejuvenate them.
When dividing them, lift each clump with a fork and divide them quite ruthlessly. They will come back. Replant the smaller clumps in soil which has been enhanced with organic matter such as compost or well-rotted manure. Water well following replanting.
As well as a food source, chives, which produce pink-purple rounded flowers on grass-like leaves, serve as an attractive edging for beds and borders.
THREE WAYS TO... Ensure you buy healthy roses
1. Ask for disease-resistant varieties from a reputable grower.
2. Look for roses with at least three or for strong shoots.
3. Check the flower is the same as on the label if buying in summer.
WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK
:: Prune bush and shrub roses.
:: Reseed bare patches on the lawn, if weather permits.
:: Mulch bare soil in beds and borders.
:: Lift and divide overgrown clumps of perennials.
:: Put stakes and other plant supports in before the new growth really needs them.
:: Finish planting bare-root trees and shrubs and new fruit trees and bushes.
:: Cut back climbers including honeysuckle, ivy and winter jasmine.
:: Cut down any growth left after winter, even if seedheads still look good, to make way for new growth.
:: Dress the soil with a fertiliser so it is ready for a layer of mulch.
:: Plant out early chitted seed potatoes with the 'rose' end uppermost.
:: Plant out bulbs grown for indoor use which have finished flowering.
:: Continue to sow hardy annuals in a cold frame or unheated greenhouse.
TIME-SAVING TIP
Buy bedding plants in single, named colours rather than mixed colour boxes, to make it quicker and easier to decide what to put where.
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Weather for Bedford
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
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