The garden centre - part 1: selecting your bulbs

The Garden Centre - Selecting Your Bulbs

In this tour of Burford Garden Centre, Arthur explains how to select the right bulbs. Arthur provides tips for choosing succession bulbs and identifying healthy bulbs.

It is very helpful that they have flower photos of each bulb when buying. You need to think about layering the bulbs and getting different varieties. Depending on the variety, some bloom early while others appear at the end of spring. This will ensure that the garden is full of flowers from the middle of February until the end of April and into May.

As planning has taken place at home already, using the decoupage for all the bulb categories, you should by now have a few varieties in mind that we you to get into your pots at home.

It's best not to focus solely on tulips, think about crocuses, hyacinths, and narcissi as well. This will make sure the garden comes to life early. Container gardening means you can experiment with colour.

Choosing Bulbs for Succession Flowering

Look for different kinds of tulips and make sure you buy bulbs that flower one after another, rather than all at once.

Identifying Healthy Bulbs

A healthy tulip bulb should have a circumference of at least a £2 coin. Arthur would never recommend buying a tulip smaller than that. A tulip needs to have a full belly with the skin still on the bulb. Squeeze the bulb and make sure it is firm. Suppliers normally grow more expensive bulbs for two seasons, making them higher quality. The older the tulip bulb, the bigger the flower and the more substantial the plant will be.

How to Choose a Selection of Bulbs

Arthur loves planting 'Blue Parrot' tulips when he's planting alliums in pots as they bloom at the same time as the alliums. It's wonderful to pair up 'Blue Parrot Tulips' with Purple Sensation.

'Rem's Favourite' and 'Wyndham' are two tulips he wouldn't grow with anything else. He would grow them in small pots just for cutting for the vase.

Crocuses Are Early Flowering, Good Value and Great for Bumblebees

Arthur likes to think about having pots of colour on hand in February, just when you need them. Crocuses are more perennial than tulip bulbs and are an excellent investment.

You can buy large quantities of crocuses at a time: a bag contains around 250 bulbs. Cram them in around the edge of the pot. After the flowers comes a beautiful foil of foliage. When the tulips are in flower, you will have a lovely waterfall of leaves with the tulips above them.

A Beautiful Orange Combination

Arthur selected orange tulips that flower at different times and are different shapes. The first tulip he selected is 'Brownie'. It's short and will give the pot a sense of heart.

'Prinses Irene' has a deep colour that runs through each petal; it's a gorgeous tulip that is a good height. The final orange tulip is 'Cairo', which is like a Moroccan lantern. Combined, these are a really lovely trio. Arthur plans to continue to build up the colours as he wants more depth in the dark shades, which the oranges and deeper shades complement.

Adding Darker Shades

'Black Hero' is a late tulip that Arthur recommends. Just as the buds on 'Blue Parrot' turn that lovely blue, it is in bloom.

Selecting a dark, rich shade immediately creates a much richer palette. It also contrasts with Blue Parrot.

A Drop of Nostalgia with 'Queen of the Night'

'Queen of the Night' is very elegant and simple, flowering in mid-April. I like it for the height. It echoes Black Hero completely and helps in building up a deeper, darker colour palette.

Another Addition

'Jan Reus' will merge with the oranges and really gatecrash the tulip party later on in the season.

Plant Directory

Tulips

• 'Black Hero'
• 'Brownie'
• 'Blue Parrot'
• 'Cairo'
• 'Jan Reus'
• 'Prinses Irene'
• 'Queen of the Night'
• 'Rem's Favourite'
• 'Wyndham'