Planting Bulbs for Spring

It’s time for one of the most enjoyable of garden tasks: planting our spring bulbs. Spring bulbs aren’t just ordinary plants. Their flowers, which bloom in various colours, are vibrant enough to breathe life into gloomy late winter fog. To enjoy the treat of seeing them push up through the soil in spring, though, remember to plant them in autumn and in the right way.

To determine planting depth, go by bulb height. Dig a hole three times deeper than the height of the bulb. So for a bulb two centimetres tall, dig a hole six centimetres deep.

It also matters which way you place the bulb into its hole. Inspect the bulb for either a point or tiny roots. If you find a point, that’s the top. If you find roots, that’s the bottom. Place the bulb in the ground such that the top points skyward. If you can’t make out a top but do find roots, place the end with those roots at the hole’s bottom. When planting, sprinkle bulb fertilizer in the hole and water (but don’t flood the area, which causes bulb rot).

For something different, consider planting a large allium. Alliums come in many heights and with flower heads of different sizes. Allium ‘Ambassador’ has a broad flower head at almost 18 centimetres, is perfectly round, and densely packed with tiny, purple flowers. It’s also one of the tallest alliums (1.2 metres high).

Another interesting bulb is the Striped Squill (Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica). Other common names for it include “Snowdrift” and “Early Stardrift”. You can naturalise it in a woodland garden or anywhere that you’d like to form an early-spring flower border, as it blooms very early in spring. The plant stands at about 12 centimetres high. Grow it in full sun to partial shade. The flower is mainly a light colour (almost white), but a blue stripe runs up the centre of each petal.

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