watchingthedaisies

Planting Bulbs for Spring and Summer

Last spring, I removed some Wallflowers which were well past their best, making room for some new planting. All that remained in this little corner of my garden was Rosa glauca and her close friend Clematis jackmanii, with a climbing Honeysuckle and an acid yellow Achillea at the opposite side of the bed.

In early summer, I added a few blue perennial Geraniums along the edge of the plot; the blue petals should look well against the dark leaves of the rose.  Meanwhile, I let the weeds grow…

IMG_7125A Little Garden Design

Inspired by my trip to The Keukenhof Gardens, I created a new planting scheme.

Lilium Manitoba Morning is described as “the ultimate butterfly magnet,” and although her flowers are small, she can provide as many as fifty on each stem when mature. She will flower in mid summer.

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Planting Tip

Check packaging for planting instructions. These new Lilies require a planting depth of 6 inches and spacing of 10 inches. They can be planted in the fall or in spring, and do well in shade as well as full sun. I bought 5 packs of two to fill my plot to capacity.

Weeding

I took time to remove all the weeds that had grown unchecked over summer. It is much easier to remove them when they have matured a little.

I discovered a lovely little group of Foxgloves under Rosa glauca. Foxgloves are perennial plants which means that these little babies will flower next year, eventually providing lots of seed for more new offspring.

I am incredibly fond of Foxgloves as they remind me of a wonderful visit to The World of Beatrix Potter in The Lake District. Jemima Puddleduck comes to life in one of many beautiful displays surrounded by Foxgloves!

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Digging Holes

I dug 10 6 inch holes 10 inches apart, as per instructions. The lilies were placed in their new homes, pointed side up and root side downwards.

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Tulips

I chose a lovely ready prepared mix of three varieties of tulips to give colour for spring – Tulip Van Eijk, Tulip Toronto and Tulip Mystic Van Eijk ( pictured on the left and right). The pack in the centre will be planted in another bed.

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Planting Tip

Tulips like to grow in well drained soil. The depth suggested for these varieties was 5 inches with a spacing of 4 inches. I was not certain of the numbers needed for this spot but in the end I planted two full packs of 25, a total of 50 tulips.

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Covering with soil

Finally, my new tulips and lilies were covered with top soil. I know that they will fill my heart with JOY for many years to come.

Here is a little reminder of the Keukenhof Garden’s tulip displays:

 

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Happy Gardening.

Brigid P. Gallagher is a retired natural medicines therapist, passionate organic gardener and author of “Watching the Daisies- Life lessons on the Importance of Slow,” a holistic memoir dedicated to the art of mindfulness and healing from debilitating illness.

 

 

65 comments

  1. Beautiful, Bridgid. I can see you have been busy planting and sowing – what a wonderful way to stay mindful whilst receiving the gentle gifts of nature. I loved Beatrix Potter books as a child! Wishing you a beautiful day ❤ x

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  5. I so enjoy reading about your garden …. more so having read your book and understood that this is your forever home. I have a shared garden here and intend to weed and deadhead and generally put it to bed at the weekend. I have no idea what it will do in Spring so rather than plant bulbs in the beds I thought I might do some in planters. Your garden is ever beautiful, really it is.

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  6. What a lovely way to pend an autumnal day Brigid – I can’t wait to see the results of your planting next year.. and I remember you asking me to post an update on my new kitchen – Finally I got round to pulling something together – it’s on my latest blog post today.. Are you holding on to something when you should just let go.. video at the end.. Have a lovely day Brigid.. x

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  14. How exciting and fantastic to have a good-sized space to indulge in some mass planting. I am forever shoe-horning new purchases in and discovering that I have just chopped through the bulbs that I planted last year! I look forward to seeing your beautiful patch next spring.

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  16. This is going to be lovely Brigid!! So fun that you have the images of your trip to Holland to inspire your garden at home! Our backyard needs a big overhaul– we’ve been talking about plans to work on it in the spring! You are getting me thinking… thanks!! xox

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