Variety Show 2008

Amongst our range of spring flowering bulbs you will find many reliable favourites and some exciting new introductions.  Here are just a few to add colour and variety to your pots and borders next spring.

Allium schubertii is the most striking and spectacular of the alliums.  Large spiky heads of silvery-lilac flowers explode like fireworks on 40cm stems.  The seedheads are as decorative as the open blooms and persist in the border into autumn.  Try growing it amongst feathery grasses like Stipa tenuissima.

Narcissus ‘Thalia’ is one of the loveliest narcissi with pure white elegantly poised blooms on 40cm stems.  It is good in pots, beds and borders and is delightful when naturalised in grass under trees.  Try growing it amongst forget-me-nots beneath a white flowering cherry such as Prunus ‘Shirotae’

Scilla peruviana deserves wider planting.  Somewhat like an early blooming agapanthus it has large allium like flowerheads of sapphire blue on 30cm stems.  It likes sunshine so is ideal alongside paving or at the base of a wall.  Try growing it through gravel with other sun-lovers such as thymes and sages.

Tulipa ‘Virichic’ is a sleek, sophisticated tulip with pink petals streaked with green and white. The long lasting flowers are ideal to add colour between emerging perennials such as hemerocallis. 

Tulipa ‘Doortjes Hes’ is a real Dutch master of a tulip with large parrot flowers of white streaked and flamed with scarlet.  The emerging foliage is attractive too with its white edges.  Plant a few for cutting: three blooms in a tall glass vase make a striking arrangement.

Tulipa ‘Pink Frosting’ is a fringed tulip with bright sugar pink flowers on 40cm stems.  It mixes well with all the pinks and purples of spring and is different enough in form to mix adventurously with soft yellow. Try it with the lovely later flowering Narcissus ‘Hawera’

Tulipa ‘Hotpants’ lives up to its name. Bright, cheerful and fun the blooms open white with bright cerise pink edges to the petals.  The colour spreads further into the petals as the blooms mature.  A long lasting and weather resistant variety that is great in pots. 

Tulipa ‘Lily Chic’ is one of the finest lily flowering tulips for pots.  The cherry red blooms are streaked with grey-white and are carried on stout 30cm stems.  The flowers are very long lasting and look particularly pleasing in a classic terracotta pot or a grey zinc container. 

Tulipa ‘Queen of Night’ is a classic that needs no introduction.  The silky purple-black blooms are carried on tall, strong stems.  It is a versatile tulip that can be grown in pots, beds or even in thin grass to create a striking meadow effect. 

Tulipa clusiana ‘Lady Jane’ is a fine-boned beauty with pencil thin buds on fine stems opening to shining blooms white inside and pink on the outside of the petals.  Growing to only 20cm it is ideal for pots, the rock garden or to grow through gravel. 

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