NOTHING makes spring feel more sprung than a cheerful display of colourful bulbs and by choosing varieties that will flower in succession, you can create your own palette of continuous colour from January through to May.

And bulbs are amongst the easiest plants you’ll ever grow – simply plant them at the recommended depth and forget about them until they flower and cheer you up in the spring!

What is a bulb?

A bulb is nature’s own DIY plant kit – within that small bulb there’s already miniature leaves and flowers just waiting to produce beautiful flowers when the time is right.

After flowering, the leaves convert the nutrients in the soil into food and develop the embryonic leaves and flowers for next year before becoming dormant until it’s time to flower again.

That’s why it’s so important to let the leaves die off naturally after flowering and allow the bulb to enter dormancy once it’s properly prepared for the next year.

Early flowering

Bulbs that flower earliest in the year generally have shorter stems, which is important to help them survive the harsh, late-winter conditions.

Snowdrops (Galanthus) are amongst the first bulbs to flower every year and are well-suited to being under trees or in a woodland setting. Galanthus Elwesii is a very early variety that flowers in January whilst its more showy cousins such as G. nivalis (good-sized single flower) or G. Flore Pleno (double-flowered) emerge in February.

Miniature narcissus varieties such as January or February gold grow to about 25cm (10”) and are perfect for rockeries and planters, bringing a welcome splash of yellow in the first two months of the year.

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Crocus varieties (pictured above) flower from February onwards in a wide range of colours and, with a height of about 10cm (4”), they’re ideal for planting in the lawn where they can replenish themselves before the grass needs to be cut.

Terrific tulips

Of all bulbs, there’s perhaps the widest selection of colours, shapes and sizes to be found amongst tulips – we certainly find it the most challenging range when choosing which varieties to bring into stock!

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Dwarf tulips grow to some 15-30cm (6-12”) high, flower from March onwards and are ideal for rockeries, planters and the front of the border.

At the other end of the spectrum, the stunning garden tulips grow to some 50cm high (over 20”), tend to flower in April and May and in East Lothian we’d recommend that you plant them against walls and fences at the back of borders where there’s shelter from our spring winds.

But if you thought that was all there was to tulips, don’t forget there’s doubles, parrots, lily-flowered, species, viridifloras and fringed tulips, all with their own wonderfully appealing characteristics.

Something different

Although crocus, narcissus and tulips are well-known, traditional spring flowering bulbs, there are other more unusual varieties to consider. One of the plant team favourites is the allium which increases in popularity every year – and for good reason.

Depending on the variety, alliums produce stunning flowers in May /June, can grow from 0.5m to over 1m (20-40”). Allium flowers can produce heads up to 20cm (8”) in diameter, tend to be fairly long-lasting and are a spectacular centrepiece for your spring border.

Ready-made recipes

With such a vast selection available to choose from, the bulb growers are finding increasing demand for prepared collections – a ready-made mix of bulbs that makes it effortless for you to have a fabulous look and mix of colour to suit your garden.

So much more

We can only offer a brief overview of bulbs for you to consider in this column, and hopefully we’ve given you some ideas about the types of bulbs available and where they’ll work best in the garden.

For more information, you can visit us online or chat to the plant team in store – as always, we just love talking about plants!