WHILST it might only be September, gardeners are thinking about Spring 2025.
Michael Griffiths, aka @the_mediterranean_gardener on Instagram has shared the Spring bulbs you need to be popping into pots, containers and borders this month.
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And the one flower you need to wait until October to December to plant.
Sharing a video with his 300,000 followers, the gardening expert named Daffodils, Hyacinths, Crocus, Snowdrops and Aliums as his “favourite” Spring bulbs.
They “all look fantastic in a pot or a border”, he added.
“Spring flowering bulbs should be planted from September to October so the bulbs can develop roots before going dormant in winter,” Michael explained.
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However, gardeners want to avoid planting tulips this month.
Michael suggested leaving tulip bulbs until “late October to December so they don’t get a disease called Tulip Fire”. So November is the perfect time for them!
When it comes to planting your Spring flowering bulbs, there is a right way to do so.
Plant them two to three times the depth of the bulb, and the right way up!
If you’re unsure about which way is the “right way up”, fear not, plant them on their side and they will find their way to the surface.
How to plant a bulb lasagne
Rather an unusual term for gardening, but it was coined by the Dutch and refers to layering bulbs one on top of another.
The largest and latest flowering bulbs go in deepest, moving to the smallest and earliest in the top layer.
It’s a great way for plants with different flowering periods to all be in the same pot – crocuses and tulips for example.
It also creates a lovely, long succession of flowers, so you get a prolonged interest from one, space efficient container.
As for what bulbs go where…
Layer 1 or bottom – Tulips, Hyacinths, Alliums
Layer 2 or middle– Narcssi (Daffofils), Muscari, Anemones
Layer 3 or top – Crocuses, Dwarf Iris, Snowdrops
Why I don’t think bulb lasagne’s are a good idea
Fabulous’ Associate Editor and gardening enthusiast, Rebecca Miller, shares her opinion on why bulb lasagne’s are not the best way to display your spring bulbs.
“Spring is my favourite time of year – seeing the dainty daffodils bobbing in the wind, the tulips catching raindrops on their leaves, and the alliums soaring to the sky before bursting their big heads.
I have, like the majority of gardeners, tried the bulb lasagne method, and I won’t be doing it again.
It works if you have consistent and reliable weather for each bulb to grow at its designated time. But we don’t get that in the UK. I’ve had tulips springing up earlier than daffodils, or allium leaves dying back (as they should) and looking scraggly in amongst my cute narcissi minnow display.
If you’re someone with a limited amount of outdoor space, you’d think bulb lasagnes are a good idea – lots of flowers in one pot – think again.
For the past 5 years, I have ‘balcony-gardened’, desperately filling my tiny outdoor space with as many plants as possible, throughout every season.
If you have a pot with only daffodils, whey they have finished flowering, you can remove the bulbs and go about organising and planting or sowing your summer plants into the same pot. But if your pot contains daffodils and tulips – some of which can be late flowering – you end up falling behind on your gardening schedule, and waiting for them to finish before moving onto summer displays.
And don’t get me started on trying to identify which bulb is which from one pot at the end of the spring season…
I know some spring bulbs can be left in the ground to grow again the following year, so maybe I’ll try a bulb lasagne again when I get a garden.”
If you’re planning on doing a bulb lasagne using tulips, then the @the_mediterranean_gardener says to hold fire for next month to reduce the chance of Tulip Fire disease.
What is Tulip Fire disease?
Tulip fire is a fungal disease that affects tulips and is caused by the Botrytis tulipae fungus. It’s also known as Botrytis blight or grey mould.
Tulip fire can be more prominent in very damp autumns.
How to spot Tulip Fire:
- Leaves – brown spots, twisted, withered and distorted
- Flowers – spots that can lead to rotting in wet weather
- Stems – grey to brown or collapsing