It’s late summer, and the bulb catalogues have been waiting for you on the coffee table. Maybe you’ve been putting off ordering your spring-flowering bulbs, but now’s the time. The photos look amazing, and the descriptions sound tempting, but with so many options, it can feel overwhelming. How do you pick the right bulbs from all those choices? I’m here to help you figure it out.
UK gardeners have a deep affection for spring-flowering bulbs, blooming as they do after a period of relative inactivity in the garden. They herald the start of a new year, lighting up our gardens and often filling the air with scent. By and large, they are easy to grow, too; their success is almost guaranteed in the first year, provided you buy good-quality bulbs and plant them correctly. But this guide isn’t about how to plant bulbs — I’ve another guide to help you with that — it’s about choosing the bulbs that will deliver a knockout display in just a few months from now.
Crown imperials (Fritillaria imperialis) growing in my garden at The Watch House.
It’s impossible to put a number on the varieties of tulips, daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs British gardeners have at their disposal, but it’s a lot, thanks to our own bulb growers and those across the water in the Netherlands. Open a catalogue or go online, and you can spend hours trawling through page after page of tempting images. To avoid being totally bamboozled and potentially wasting money, the first step is to narrow down your options. Here are a few easy questions to ask yourself before you get carried away.
Why am I growing bulbs?
This may sound like a daft question, but there are lots of reasons why you might wish to plant bulbs. It could be because you want to flood your garden with as much colour as possible, attract pollinators or grow some early flowers for cutting. You may have containers to fill or dream of turning your lawn into a flower-spangled meadow. Each mission suits a different subset of the myriad spring-flowering bulbs on offer, so be sure what you’re trying to achieve before you start popping them in your basket.
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Best bulbs for attracting pollinators - alliums, bluebells, crocuses, Iris reticulata, grape hyacinths (Muscari), snowdrops.
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Best bulbs for naturalising in grass - winter aconites, camassias, crocuses, daffodils (try Narcissus pseudonarcissus, N. cyclamineus, N. poeticus), snake’s head fritillary, tulips (try Tulipa sprengeri, T. sylvestris).
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Best bulbs for picking - alliums, camassias, daffodils, hyacinths, tulips (try Triumph, lily-flowering, parrot, viridiflora and double-early varieties).
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Best bulbs for pots and containers - daffodils, hyacinths, Iris reticulata, tulips.
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Best bulbs for scent - bluebells, Crocus sieberi ‘Tricolor’, daffodils (try ‘Geranium’ and ‘Polar Hunter as well as the classic ‘Paperwhite’), hyacinths, lily of the valley, muscari, tulips (try ‘Apricot Beauty’, ‘Angelique’, ‘Ballerina’, ‘Brown Sugar’, Orange Favourite’ and ‘Verona’).
In shades of white and mauve, Crocus tommasinianus is one of the first bulbs to bloom in late winter.
When do I want my bulbs to bloom?
There’s not a day in the year when you can’t have bulbs flowering in your garden, even during the depths of winter. It’s simply a choice of identifying the right varieties. Many gardeners aim for a succession of blooms from February through to late May, when perennials and biennials pick up the baton. If you don’t venture outdoors until the clocks have gone forward, you should focus on varieties that bloom later in the season or can be grown in pots by the front door. If you choose bulbs based on pictures alone, there’s a high risk you won’t get the season of flowering you're hankering after. Pay heed to the flowering times given by the bulb merchants, but bear in mind that they can shift by 2 or 3 weeks either way, depending on the weather.
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January - flowering can be weather-dependent, but planting a selection of these bulbs will brighten the gloom and provide forage for early-emerging bees: Amaryllis (indoors), crocuses such as Crocus tommasinianus, Daffodils such as N. 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' (outdoors) and 'Paperwhite' (indoors), hyacinths (indoors), snowdrops, winter aconite.
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February - all the above, plus Iris reticulata, Chionodoxa, Cyclamen coum, freesias (indoors) and Scilla.
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March - Anemone blanda, Chionodoxa, crocuses, daffodils, hyacinths, snowflake (Leucojum), Scilla, tulips (seek out Kaufmanniana, Greigii and species types).
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April - Anemones, daffodils (especially Tazetta and Jonquilla types), fritillaries, tulips (choose Fosteriana, Darwin, Single Early, Double Early, Mid Season, Darwin and Triumph types).
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May - Camassias, late daffodils (try N. poeticus), Dutch iris, Gladiolus nanus, Tulips (look out for Single and Double Late, Lily, Darwin, Fringed, Parrot, Triumph and Viridiflora types).
Snake's head fritillaries are perfect bulbs for damp spots in light shade.
Where am I going to plant my bulbs?
Almost all spring-flowering bulbs hail from warmer countries than the UK, so you do need to consider their needs carefully. A few, including wild garlic, bluebells and snake’s head fritillaries, are natives, and others, including daffodils and snowdrops, were probably introduced by the Romans and have naturalised. All these are pretty adaptable and cope better with winter wetness and lower light levels than Mediterranean-origin bulbs such as tulips, hyacinths, and irises. These thrive in full sun and well-drained soil and will quickly fade out if planted in the shade.
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Best bulbs for dry spots - alliums, Fritillaria persica, species tulips.
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Best bulbs for damp spots - bluebells, camassias, daffodils, snake’s head fritillary, snowdrops, snowflake (Leucojum).
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Best bulbs for light shade - winter aconites, bluebells, cyclamen, lily of the valley, snowdrops, wood anemones.
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Best bulbs for poor/infertile soil - alliums, species crocuses, daffodils, grape hyacinths (Muscari).
Elegant to a fault, Tulip 'Ballerina' is aptly named and reliably perennial, unlike other tulips.
Do I want my bulbs to come back year after year?
The purpose of a bulb is to store enough energy for a plant to survive from one season to the next, and all are technically perennial — i.e. they come back every year. However, if conditions aren’t perfect, bulbs can fizzle out, and even when conditions are perfect, they may not bloom every year. The most reliable perennials are our British natives and naturalised bulbs, as well as exotics such as muscari and camassias, which are strong growers. Tulips and reticulate irises are notorious for not coming back, especially when grown in pots. I’m ok with treating them as annuals, but if you're looking for perennial tulips, here are some trustworthy varieties.
Reliably perennial tulips
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‘Apeldoorn’ - your classic bright red tulip; this popular variety will clump up over time, so it’s a good one for planting among established perennials or shrubs where it won’t be disturbed. ‘Apeldoorn’s Elite’ and ‘Golden Apeldoorn’ share the same vigour.
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‘Spring Green’ is one of the Viridiflora tulips which have petals streaked with green. ‘Spring Green’ is white; others in the same group include 'Groenland’ (pink/green), 'Flaming Spring Green' (red/white/green) and 'Artist' (orange/green).
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‘Negrita’ - a strong Triumph-type tulip with deep purple flowers and excellent staying power.
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‘Ballerina’ - an elegant lily-flowered tulip that produces scented orange flowers. It naturalises well and looks fantastic with blue forget-me-nots or purple alliums.
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‘Purissima’ - ivory white, early and good for containers or picking. ‘White Triumphator’ is a taller option for the middle of a border and a purer white.
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‘Botanical’ tulips, which include species tulips, T. kaufmannia and its hybrids, T. greigii, T. tarda, T. turkestanica, T. praestans, T. sprengeri and T. sylvestris.
Daffodil bulbs are toxic to humans and wildlife; hence, they often survive in wild areas where other plants may get munched.
Are deer, rabbits, pheasants, and squirrels regular garden visitors?
I’ve been fortunate in my gardening career to never have had any issues with deer, rabbits, pheasants, or squirrels. But ask me about rats and foxes, and I could talk you hind legs off! Even the most wildlife-friendly gardener gets frustrated when their efforts are thwarted by hungry visitors, so to avoid conflict it’s wise to select bulbs that are less attractive to eat.
The most pest-proof bulbs are those with a pungent smell, such as alliums and fritillaries, or that contain toxic or bitter compounds, such as daffodils, snowdrops and grape hyacinths. There are no guarantees, and sometimes the only way forward is by trial and error.
Foxes are attracted to other animal scents, so avoid using wool in containers planted with bulbs or applying blood, fish and bone as a fertiliser. Laying rose prunings or lengths of bramble over beds and pots freshly planted with bulbs may deter squirrels.
Do I have a colour scheme in mind?
Spring-flowering bulbs are available in the full spectrum of colours, including blue, which can be elusive at other times of the year. Spring also allows for a certain freedom of expression after the bleakness of winter, so if ‘anything goes’ is your vibe, don’t feel inhibited. For a more considered look, you may want to choose 2 or 3 quite different colours and stick to those (pink, purple, and white, for example), or colours adjacent to one another in the colour spectrum (red, yellow, and orange, for example). Tulips come in so many shades that you can develop highly sophisticated colour combinations, and refine them season after season. The main thing is to have some fun, and if any combinations don’t work out, you can pick the offenders.
Do I trust where I'm buying my bulbs from?
This is an important question, as there are bulb merchants and then there are bulb merchants. Sadly, there are some unscrupulous suppliers out there who will take your money and send you something quite different to what you ordered. Avoid online marketplace sellers who promise flowers in improbable colours and patterns, and always opt for a reputable supplier with current, positive reviews. Reputations for service and quality take years to earn but can be lost in a season.
You get what you pay for with bulbs, so pay attention to the sizes offered (usually given in cm, referring to the bulb’s circumference) and compare prices across suppliers. Larger bulbs will generally produce more or bigger flowers on stronger stems. You will always get a better deal if you buy larger quantities of a single variety, and some bulb merchants offer wholesale prices for 100+ of a single type. If you want to grow clumps or drifts of bulbs, these sort of quantities are easily used up. If saving money is a priority, stick to reliable perennial bulbs that return each season and plant them in the ground rather than pots and window boxes.
Bulbs must be stored in a cool, dry, dark, well-ventilated place before and after purchase. If selecting bulbs in person, give them a gentle squeeze to ensure they are firm and plump, not squishy or papery husks. If you can’t plant them immediately, consider where you'll store them before you buy.
Be aware that printed and online images can be misleading. This isn’t always deliberate, but some are enhanced to increase their appeal on the page; others may be true-to-life but appear different depending on how you’re viewing them or the lighting in which the photograph was taken. If you want to see the variation for yourself, do a web search for Tulip ‘Apricot Impression’. In some pictures, the flowers are peach; in others, peach and pink; and in some, they're orange. If you’re looking for a flower of a particular colour, there is no substitute for growing it yourself to be sure. We often trial tulips on our allotment in the first season before planting them together in pots the next year, just to be sure they go together.
Where in other seasons this combination of purple and yellow might jar, in the cool spring sunshine it's bright and uplifting.
Bringing it all together
Now you’re clear on which bulbs you want and who you’re going to buy them from, it’s time to make a plan. You don’t have to go as far as creating a spreadsheet (although I admit I do), but a pair of scissors and a scrapbook will certainly help.
Create a simple grid or table that has flowering month on one axis and height on the other. You might want to divide the months in two, but since flowering times can be impacted by the weather, planning in greater detail is fairly futile. You can then start plotting out your bulbs, either by name or, better still, by cutting and pasting images into the grid. This will reveal which bulbs ought to be blooming at the same time, allowing you to identify gaps and judge how nicely the colours sit together. The height axis will be especially useful if you are planting in containers or raised beds, since ideally you want the bulbs to start short in early spring and be tall by late spring. That way each successive variety can eclipse the fading blooms of the one before.
Repetition is always easier on the eye, so avoid choosing a handful of several varieties and commit to a select few which can be planted en masse or in repeating groups.
Finally, don’t leave ordering your bulbs too late — many catalogues are published in June, and by September the newest and most popular varieties may already have sold out.
