Turn your autumn dreams into spring flowers, by planting bulbs within the next few weeks
Gardeners are always thinking forward. For instance, this week, I've folded winter away into a wrinkle in time, and in my mind's eye it's already spring, with bulbs poking their green noses above the soil.
This is a comforting image, offering hope and sustenance in the cold and grey months ahead. But it will remain pure fantasy if the bulbs aren't already snuggled into the soil, or planted within the next few weeks. September and October are crucial months for bulbous plants, especially for the snowdrops, crocuses and early daffodils that flower at the start of the year. Those that are in the ground now are waking up from their summer sleep, and sending a few questing roots out from the basal plate at the bottom (you can see a basal plate and roots when you slice an onion in half lengthways). Soon afterwards the shoot "nestling at the very core of the structure" will begin to develop into the leaves and flower stem that, some months down the line, will pop out of the soil and herald the start of next year's spring.
I suppose you could have a spring without bulbs, but that would be denying yourself one of the freshest pleasures of the gardening year. So, if you haven't planted some already, it's time to get on with it. Tulips can happily wait until next month to be planted, or even November or December - but buy them now, before they are sold out.
The most popular tulip among gardeners in this country remains the near-black 'Queen of Night'. In second place (but miles behind) is the double pink 'Angelique', closely followed by the double white 'Mount Tacoma' - both of which are fragrant. Each year breeders promise an even better, blacker tulip, and the latest offering is 'Paul Scherer' (available from Mr Middleton). Like 'Queen of Night', it is a single late tulip, flowering in April or May. Other new, or newish, tulips from Mr Middleton are 'Cri de Coeur' and 'La Courtine', both single lates with elegant, red brush-marks on a yellow base.
Irish company Heritage Bulbs specialises in older plants, and this year's catalogue lists some very old tulips indeed. 'Lac van Rijn', with wine flames on an ivory background, dates from 1620, while 'Duc van Thol Aurora', with red streaks on yellow flowers, originated around 1700. 'Silver Standard', another 18th-century antique, is a pure white tulip with crimson flames and feathers. Of course, such venerable bulbs are not cheap, and can cost up to €4 apiece. But that's a bargain compared to the prices these seemingly hand-painted tulips were reaching at the height of Tulipmania in the 17th century, when the Dutch market went mad for the plants. Some single bulbs were traded then for the same price as houses.
The poor man's version (well, mine anyway) of tulips that stop you in your tracks are the modern parrots, with crinkled and crested petals splashed with colour. One of the most over-the-top is the red-and-white-rippled 'Estella Rijnveld', raised in 1954. As with many of the hybrid tulips, it doesn't come back again after the first year, but at about 50 cents a bulb, you can afford to be prodigal.
The daffodil has been subjected to the breeder's art as intensively as the tulip has: there are thousands of varieties in existence, with new ones being registered all the time. Heritage Bulbs have a number of older narcissi, including the great white trumpet, 'Empress of Ireland', raised in Co Antrim by Guy Wilson sometime before 1952.
The latest thing in daffodils is the split corona, where the central cup (the corona) appears to have been peeled back so that it is lying flat against the outer petals (the perianth). Such aberrant daffs are so far removed from Wordsworth's golden host, that some gardeners turn their noses up at them. However, if you don't compare them with other daffodils, it helps you come to terms with - and even cherish - their peculiar structure. For instance, I grew 'Trepolo' this year (which has a squashed and ruffled white corona with an ice-pop-orange stripe), and wasn't at all sure about it. But after every visiting friend raved about it, my mixed feelings metamorphosed into a hearty appreciation. Sometimes it's too easy to get snooty about contemporary, highly-bred plants.
I like to grow larger daffodils in pots for the first year (so I can inspect them at close quarters), and then replant them carefully to the back of the border as soon as they have finished flowering. Unless you have a huge garden with plenty of space, the dying leaves of full-size daffs can be a too-obvious eyesore - which is why it is a good idea to position them where the emerging foliage of perennials will obscure their yellowing straps. Don't be tempted to plait the leaves, or truss them up with elastic bands: they need the sunlight on all their surfaces in order to feed and bulk up the bulbs after flowering.
Or grow miniature varieties, of which there are plenty available now, including 'February Gold', 'February Silver', 'Tête-à-Tête', 'Jetfire', 'Katie Heath' and 'Minnow'. 'Thalia' and 'Hawera', which are also shorties, are both fragrant - although you need to get your nose right up close in order to find the scent.
Of course, the earliest bulbs are the most eagerly awaited: the snowdrops, crocuses and the tiny Iris reticulata and I. unguicularis that bloom in January and February. Snowdrops, it is often said, should be planted only "in the green", that is, after they have finished flowering and are still actively in growth. However, Thomas Quearney of Mr Middleton and Alex Chisholm of Heritage Bulbs have assured me that their autumn-planted snowdrops are plump, fresh and full of life - and will reliably produce flowers in spring. But you have to get the bulbs in the ground immediately and not let them hang around, drying out.
Bulbs that flower in late spring and early summer may also be planted now: the ornamental onions (Allium), which are still the height of fashion; the blue Camassia, which looks so good growing in grass in orchards (if you're lucky enough to have such a thing), the tall fritillaries (mind the slugs), and the gorgeous foxtail lily or Eremurus (ditto).
There are scores of other bulbs, corms and rhizomes that may be planted now. Just pop them in the ground and off they go. You won't find a simpler way of turning your autumn dreams into spring flowers.
Heritage Bulbs, Tullynally Castle, Castlepollard, Co Westmeath. (044-9662744; www.heritagebulbs.com). Mr Middleton Garden Shop, 58 Mary Street, Dublin 1. ( 01-8731118; www.mrmiddleton.com)