Hi,

I have a raised bed at the back of my garden (out of the way from the children) where I am planning on growing some bulbs. The area is quite exposed so is subject to the wind, the rain and the sun. Can you recommend anything suitable to grow here?

Kind regards,

Arty

Our Gardening Expert replies:

Hello Arty,

Well, spring bulbs are quite good at putting up with wind, rain and sun so you could certainly grow Narcissus - particularly small Narcissus such as 'Tête-à-Tête' and also some of the alpine species such as Narcissus cyclamineus, which is one of the most attractive and delicate looking of all. This only grows about 6in (15.2cm) high with gorgeous swept-back petals. A larger one, but still quite dainty, is Narcissus 'Thalia' which is a pure white colour.

Crocus would do well, but in addition to some of the large and blousy Dutch hybrids, why not look for some of the more delicate species types such as Crocus ancyrensis? This is one of the earliest to flower and has the benefit of quite a delicious perfume - though you have to get close to detect this unless you can plant some in a bowl and take them inside the house when the perfume can become almost overpowering. Anemone blanda, flowering later in the spring has really attractive purple, pink or white flowers between February and April and will look good in the sun.

Of course, you should always include Snowdrops which can be planted at any time and to flower along with them, try Eranthis hyemalis with lovely 1in (2.5cm) pale yellow flowers from January onwards.

Scilla tubergeniana - or as it's now more correctly called, Scilla mischtschenkoana, is an early one to flower and usually comes up with the snowdrops. These are a gorgeous pale pink with darker blue stripes. The blue, white and yellow of these last three look really attractive together.

Be sure to mulch regularly and you'll find that some of these bulbs will seed and you will have quite a colony of seedlings established. Take care though, most seedlings look like grass when they first come up so you'll need to weed carefully.

Another bulb that will soon establish and make a colony is Fritillaria meleagris. This will do well in your well-drained bed, as will all bulbs, but it will also thrive when planted in stiff clay and will self-seed very successfully.

For flowering later in the year there are, of course, tulips - but as this area is windy try some of the smaller species tulips such as Tulipa tarda, with bright yellow flowers on short stems, and the multi-flowered Tulipa turkistanica, white with yellow centres.

After early summer this bed would not have much interest until the next year's snowdrops start coming up, so what you could do is plant a clematis which could trail over the bed, flower through the summer then be cleared away in winter to leave the ground free for bulbs again.

Happy planting!

Sibe

For more info see: Get Set for Spring, Spring Gardening Tips and Drop in on Spring.

The above image is of a Clematis (Group 1) 'Clematis armandii'.