Why now is the perfect time to bag some bargain bulbs to plant in your garden
The rush is over, or is it? As the bulb-buying frenzy ends, the bulb-planting frenzy begins. It’s time to look for bargains.
Garden centres, nurseries, even shops are likely to be selling off bags of bulbs which have survived the first flurry of buying. So, why not take a gamble and buy bulbs probably past their sell-by date but still capable of flowering profusely next spring?
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Hide AdSo what are the most popular bulbs going cheap? Well, basically, it’s the old favourites like crocus, which look best when planted in big numbers.


If space is limited, pack a load into containers. Just make sure they get to live in the sunniest spot in the garden.
Daffodils are still considered to be the spring-flowering bulb. As with crocuses, they are at their best when in numbers; plus, they come in an amazing number of sizes, shapes and colours. If possible, plant them before the end of this month.
Tulips are a little bit special - there are numerous colours and varieties from which to choose, from miniatures to giants. Plus, they can look stunning in containers. Unlike daffodils, tulips are best planted late – even now (as long as the soil isn’t waterlogged or frozen).
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Hide AdHyacinths are a bit more of an acquired taste. Their stunningly-scented blooms are unsurpassed for fragrance. Like daffodils, they should be planted in early autumn to flower in March and April. Some varieties can be grown indoors for Christmas flowering.
Irises come in a number of sizes and colours – from the dwarf spring varieties to the tall bearded forms that do so much to enhance May. Plant the bulbs this month in a sunny site.
Snowdrop
The first snowdrop of spring can never tell the time – it’s quite likely to push its way through the soil to flower as early as this month.
If may seem a little early for what is considered the harbinger of spring to bloom, but there have always been instances of Galanthus nivalis flowering weeks earlier than expected. But as long as they appear, then all’s right with the world - and gardeners can get on with their gardening.
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Hide AdThe common snowdrop helps make the winter and early spring much brighter. And whereas tall flowers leave behind the problem of tatty foliage, Galanthus, becomes inconspicuous after the last flower fades, and is so often tucked away in corners and beneath shrubs and trees, that it becomes an instant, distant memory.
Snowdrops like shady spots; under trees, in grass, but they are quite capable of growing and thriving just about anywhere as long as the soil is fertile and free-draining.
There are scores of varieties, many derived from that common Galanthus nivalis, ranging in size from the miniature to the tall-growing forms which, on a good day, and if they are standing to attention, may reach six or seven inches.
Like all bulbs, they are self-contained cannibals, feeding on the goodness from their own foliage. So, after flowering, they should be left alone until the leaves have yellowed. Cut them down early and the quality and quantity of next year’s show may well be diminished.
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Hide AdStrange though it may seem, clumps of Galanthus bulbs lifted and planted immediately after they have finished flowering, will fare far better than the wrinkled, dry bulbs which are offered for sale in autumn.
Those sad apologies for a splendid spring flower take time to acclimatise, whereas bulbs planted in March, ‘in the green’ - which is a way of saying they have finished blooming but are still heavy with foliage – will carry on as though nothing has disturbed their world.
Crocus
OK, let’s go Dutch, and pay tribute to a family of plants who do their best to brighten up a cold, miserable spring.
No, this is not all about the tulip, the plant that, come latish spring, takes the garden by storm, but something much smaller - the versatile and reliable Dutch crocus.
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Hide AdIt can’t help being small, but what it lacks in size it more than makes up for in shape and colour. It’s also capable of flowering well before many of the more grandiose varieties of spring bloomers, including those tulips
Crocus come in a huge variety of hues – from pale to vibrant, many with contrasting centres or eye-catching stamens. Pink, purple, violet, lemon, yellow, pure white...there are so many that it’s difficult to choose which to buy.
Most crocuses have another attribute – they are scented, producing faint but fascinating fragrances to perfume the cold late-winter air.
Plant them in a rock garden or create drifts beneath tree and shrubs; naturalize them in grassland or fill pots and containers with a mixture of crocuses and other dwarf spring bulbs to get a succession of colour and shape from January till April.
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Hide AdPlanting the small corms three or four inches deep in autumn, perhaps teaming them with winter aconites or early-flowering dwarf narcissus, should provide a same-size multi-coloured show for the following spring.
Crocus grow best in a sunny spot, although they will tolerate a bit of dappled shade, and they appreciate a fertile, well-drained soil. They also appreciate a spring feed once their flowers have faded. Don’t remove their foliage until it has died down naturally – the underground bulbs build up their strength for the following year by extracting goodness from the dying leaves.
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