Garden Centre

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Time to plant summer bulbs

Late flowering bulbs are the best way of extending the British growing season past the intense flowering periods of May and June, through to the first frosts. Bulb means all kinds of things, by the way, the white onion-shaped bulbs we all think of, but in summer bulb terms we’re also talking about corms (gladioli), tubers (dahlias), rhizomes (irises). And we’re also talking about plants that were considered a bit ‘vulgar’ a few years ago, such as the dahlia and the Edna Everedge-style gladioli.

Also included in this list are crocosmia, cannas, calla lilies, gloriosa and nerines - all of which flower from July onwards, by picking the right combination of bulbs you can have flowers right through to November. Amongst my favourites for this period are:

Tigridia pavonia: The tiger flower, which is an odd name, as you might expect it to be called the leopard flower (it’s spotted or blotched, not striped) and even more confusingly, aka the peacock flower although it doesn’t come in blue or green as peacocks do! Colour range includes orange to pink, red, yellow or white flowers from July to October if planted in good soil and sheltered conditions with plenty of sunlight. Sprinkling the ripe seeds around in autumn seems to produce a good range and rate of new bulbs too.

Cosmos astrosanguineus: The small brownish burgundy coloured flowers don’t look that special, but they do smell of milk chocolate! Needs a dryish spot in warmth and flowers from July to October.

Tigridia courtesy of Rodnei Ferrato

Labels: cosmos, crocosmia, gladioli, late summer flowers, summer bulbs, tigridia

The All Seasons Gardener at 12:45 AM

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