what bulbs are we planting?

i've just been planting my spring bulbs this afternoon, its turned out to be quite a nice day - sun shining and everything! got the grass cut too, was getting ridiculously tall.. just wondering what people were planting this autumn for spring colour. i've put in these:

- 30 mixed crocus grandiflora
- 10 puschkinia libanotica
- 30 mixed narcissi
- 10 narcissi 'rockery minnow'
- 10 narcissi 'rockery rip van winkle'

ive got some fritillary mealgris to go in and some mini tulips too. will do those tomorrow maybe.

i'm curious! let me know what you've got in

lil

Hello Lil! I've ordered some bulbs - crocuses, daffs and tulips. Haven't come yet. Weather is miserable here - cold, damp and windy. Not good gardening weather. Not really tempted to add any more than that. Also have to think about my tubs.
We're getting coursework handed out at uni now. Quite hefty. Looks like I'll be tapping away at my puter most weekends. I come up for a breath of fresh air and see my friends on the Internet occasionally. At the moment I'm doing some stuff on number systems. After tea I'll ber looking at Java. Hope I don't sound too boring.
Your bulbs sound nice. I tried fritillaries one year but they didn't do anything. Looks like I've got a few muscarii popping through already - hope the frosts don't get them.

oh, so you had the sunshine today, I wondered where it went.I haven,t bought any bulbs yet this year, probably a bit too late now, I wanted to get some narcissi or miniture daffs.
I planted som fritillaria last year and they disappeared, never to be seen,why is it that the things you most want to grow don,t, and those that you,re not too bothered about grow like wild-fire !
I love the early little irises, those that flower in feb/mar, trouble is something always eats out the flower buds and all I get is a load of mangy looking stalks.I,m going for alliums more ,they seem to leave those alone. I buy a lot of my seeds from a nursery in devon, their packs are crammed full if you buy the mix packs.I sowed a pack of mixed alliums last year, and got some different ones this year, especially nectoscordum? I saw it at the 'wishing well.s' garden at upwey.
Did you manage to find some seeds you liked in the r.r. lilith? I pulled out some differeny veggies to try next year,Violet had obviously put a lot of hard work into that, it must have taken her ages.
I,m off now to prepare dinner for the hungry mob,never did make the apple cake, oh well, they,ll just have to have choc-ices if they want puds,
Bye,

I've planted Paperwhites and hyacinths for indoors about a week to two ago and the paperwhites are sprouting already. I was surprised because I expected them to be making just roots now. All my outdoor bulbs I have planted in pots so I know whats what and then for the year after into the ground. Dwarf daffs so dainty and a joy to see in the spring and this year I am trying Frittillarias too. |Hope they are good.
Carol

We have a ban on bulbs in the garden now, can't dig anywhere without bringing up or chopping some bulb or other.

sue, i havn't got the rr back yet, it's supposed to be in denmark but seems to be way-laid somewhere or other, maybe in danish customs, deborah said she'd had a few probs with the danish mail so it might yet turn up.. and baa, don't worry it's not your fault.

as for the sunshine, i think it shone for about half an hour and then went back in again.. hoping for some better weather, it seems to be a bit warmer than it was a week or so ago.. we're quite lucky where i am, near to Finchale Abbey, just outside of durham. it's pretty much a valley so we get quite mild winter weather, and no nasty sea breezes..

the frits can sometimes take a while to get started, but you need moist soil in a sunny position, quite hard to strike a balance, but if there's plenty rotted material in the soil it should keep thm moist. if thats not possible, try growing them in pots topped with pea shingle, they seem to like that.. but they must be moist to do anything.

does anybody know where i can get any winter aconites? i'd love some of those for the spring.

lil

thanks lil
where I planted them was hot and dry, just goes to show that you should check out what conditions they need !Maybe I,ll try again.

Sue

Lil

Taylors bulbs sell winter aconites and have outlets in local nurseries, Winchester bulbs do them too.

Sue and Lil

I bought some Snakes head Frits some years ago and planted them all out. Nothing ... our soil is damp and in shade most of the day. I thought that perhaps the conditions weren't right so didn't plant any more. The following year I had 2 flower in one part of the garden. In the years after that they started to pop up all over the place where I'd planted them.

On reading up about them I found that the bulbs don't like to be dried as they are when they are packed and often the bulbs are a year off flowering depending on your source.

Winter Aconite may act the same, they are best bought in the green as are most bulbs I guess.

thanks for that info baa, i'll have a look around ..

it can help to soak the frits before planting, thats what im doing, but they should be in full sun, they are really an alpine kind of bulb, so if you think about where they would grow in the wild (on mountains and hills) they get a lot of light (as theyre higher up, uv etc), but they will have wet feet. you should try them again sue, theyre so cute and dainty.

lil

there,s agarden near us, Upton country park,(it,s free too ) and arond their walled garden is a border, and in it were the biggest fritillarias I,d ever seen, loads of them. That,s what made me buy the bulbs in the first place,they looked fab.
Maybe they,ll appear this year ,fingers crossed. Snow drops and lily of the valley are 2 other plants that I just can,t suceed with, no matter how much I try.frustrating isn,t it.I might just go in search of some bulbs on-line in a moment, talking about them makes me want some now LOL, it,s all your faults, making me spend money, tsk tsk !!!!!!
bye for now.
Sue

I planted 5 different named varieties of Dutch Iris - Black Beauty, Silver Beauty, Bronze Beauty, Gipsy Beauty and Oriental Beauty.

I also lifted my Colchicums for replanting, rearranged my snowdrop collection into tree pots, planted tubers of Geranium tuberosum and Geranium malviflorum.

bought way too many dwarf daffs and the list goes on ....

Mark

i know, sue - theyre too easy to buy, it's like sweeties in a sweet shop! i bought some more yesterday.. some allium moly (pack of 100) and some spanish scilla for under the trees (50 of those!). there's a good shop near me which is selling a lot of bulbs quite cheaply. 'The Yorkshire Trading Company' - they have lots of other gardening stuff too, trellis, pots, baskets, ornaments etc. they also have 30 mixed narcissi for £2.99. not bad i thought..

how big is your snowdrop collection mark? i'm like sue, i had problems with those last year.. i don't think i got them in early enough, maybe the soil was too dry. your tulips will be beautiful too! is that why you chose them all as the 'beauty' name?

nice to see we've got some good gardening weather at the moment. the last few days have been beautiful.. let's hope it keeps up!

lil

Lilith I planted Dutch Iris not Tulips!!

my snowdrop collection consists of 81 species and cultivars. this is a small number compared to the 600+ available. here is a link to my out of date list. if you would like to see the current list email me.
http://www.marksgardenplants.com/galanthus.htm

to be successful with snowdrops they have to be planted as soon as they arrive in the shops because they hate to be dried out for too long. by late August they would normally be growing a new set of roots.

Mark

This message was edited Friday, Oct 12th 5:04 PM

Well the only bulbs i am planting are a pile of Croscomia(monbretia), which i found dumped in our local wood by gardeners who are tidying their gardens, also found with them a pile of pelagoniums too so brought them home plus other plants.

crocosmia.. was watching gardeners world last night and it showed how to split the bulbs up, they come like segments, you should be able to get lots of plants from them, lucky you! wish someone would dump some freebies in my garden! hehe!

sorry about the mix up mark, i had dutch iris in my garden this year, very pretty! must have had tulips on the brain or something! wow, you have a huge collection of snowdrops! our lecturer (an alpine expert) was talking about snowdrop collectors and about how the bulbs can go for huge amounts of money (each!) i guess they're worth it, just wish i could grow them myself..

take care,
lil