Spring Flowers

We’re on the brink of summer and I love it. We had our doors open until past 9pm last night, swallows (or are they swifts - I never know?!) have been circling the evening skies and my roses are getting ready to burst, it’s one of the best feelings in the world. But before we dive in I wanted to capture my spring flowers one last time. 

This year I planted mainly supermarket bulbs as I was on more of a budget than the spring before. I picked up bulbs in Morrison’s, Lidl and Wilko. I chose them based on the colours of the packet rather than a specific variety. I planted them in my cut flower patch, in pots and in the garden - basically anywhere I had space. concentrating the more decorative varieties, so anything parrot like, patterned or frilly in the cut beds and pots and adding the ones bought in bulk bags around the garden. 

If planting bulbs is new to you don’t fear, they are really simple and after the initial planting they don’t require any maintenance. Packets appear in the shops at the end of summer and I start buying them as soon as I see them and then plant gradually from September - November for spring flowering the following year. Depending on the winter we’re having I might give pots a bit of extra water if like this year we’re having a dry winter. After that I simply wait for them to pop up. 

This year I grew tulips, daffodils, ranunculus and anemones. I always thought that ranunculus and anemones would be hard to grow but they’ve been just as easy as tulips and daffs, I grow them in my cutting beds as I’m growing them purely for the house. If you can I’d grow them in bulk as the corms are quite small and popular with squirrels so tend to get dug up easily. The only thing I'd really do differently for next spring is add more anemones and ranunculus to the cut beds, I think i'll try some under cover and some not to see if I get a more staggered flowering window. I'll also look for more interesting varieties, I did miss the pretty dancing ones I grew last year. 

For the tulips and daffodils, it's all about adding volume. After seeing the amazing tulips at Sarah Raven's garden this spring I want to double the amount of bulbs I add to my pots and throughout the garden. Daffodils will spring back every year but not all tulips will so I'd recommend adding fresh tulip bulbs to your beds every year - I'll definitely buy two bulk bags of tulips to one bag of daffodils. In terms of colours and type I'll keep buying what catches my eye, I'd like to add more tulips with double petals and I missed a trick not growing any orange varieties - they really are spectacular. .

Seeing the garden come to life and bloom again is one of my great joys, I relish my daily stroll to see whats popping up. If you haven't dipped your toe into the world of gardening then I can't recommend it enough - whatever your space there is plenty to plant and enjoy. I was thinking the other day I only started to grow flowers to accompany my DIY posts but the balance has tipped and now its the other way round - its funny how things change! Happy gardening! xx