Time To Think Spring Bulbs

Whatever your favourite spring-flowering bulb is, it’s time to start planning and planting! A little preparation now will result in much healthier bulbs and a gorgeous floral show.

Technically, what gardeners refer to as 'bulbs' are a diverse group of bulbs, corms, tubers and rhizomes, but we'll continue to refer to them as bulbs for simplicity.

Choose a sunny and well-drained location out in the garden. Enrich the soil in the planting area with some Yates Dynamic Lifter Organic Plant Food. It’s a gentle source of organic matter that helps improve the structure of the soil, encourages earthworms and beneficial microorganisms and provides the newly planted bulbs with slow-release organic nutrients to promote good bulb growth early on.

Bulbs for pots

If space is limited, you can still enjoy growing some bulbs in pots. Tulips, freesias, hyacinths and miniature daffodils look wonderful in containers. If you use lightweight pots, you have the added advantage that, when the bulbs are past their best, the pots can be moved to less prominent positions where they can be allowed to die down in peace. Choose a pot or bowl with good drainage holes and fill with a quality potting mix such as Yates Premium Potting Mix. When planting bulbs in a pot, they can be grown quite close together, which helps create a lovely dense look.

Bulbs for under trees

‘Naturalising’ is the term applied when bulbs are planted under trees or in a lawn, then left from one season to the next. Bluebells, freesias, sparaxis (harlequins) and ixias are favourites for this purpose. Flowers can be clipped off as soon as they've finished, but leaves must be allowed to die down naturally. This means patiently waiting until the leaves have turned brown before having an exhilarating tidy-up mow. The after-flowering period is when the bulbs are building up reserves for next year, so take the opportunity to feed them as much as possible. 

Bulbs for warm areas

If you’re in an area with mild winters, you’ll need to take a bit more care when choosing your bulbs. Bulbs such as freesias, spring stars (Ipheion spp.), sparaxis and the species gladioli do well in warmer areas. Cold climate bulbs like tulips may flower better if given a few weeks in the fridge before planting (definitely the fridge, not the freezer – freeze your bulbs and they’ll turn to mush!). These bulbs usually aren't successful for a second year. Planting bulbs a little deeper than recommended can also help their performance in warmer areas.

Bulbs that love the cold

Alliums, relatives of the edible onion, are cold lovers, as are fritillarias, hyacinths and the true snowdrops (Galanthus spp.). These are all at home in climates with hard frosts and, ideally, some snow cover.

Colour choices

A touch of blue always adds class to a garden and, when it comes to blue-flowering bulbs, bluebells are the go-to choice. You can also try spring stars, grape hyacinths (sternbergia) and the tall growing Dutch iris.

For warm yellow notes, plant daffodils, Soleil D’Or jonquils, yellow freesias and/or golden tulips.