Spring bulbs for containers, beds and meadows

With judicious planting, you can have a run of flowering from early February to late May, starting with snowdrops, crocuses and Iris reticulata, and ending with late tulips such as ‘Queen of Night’. In beds, alliums and camassia extend the show further.

Even varieties within species flower at different times, so check flowering times on the supplier’s notes and make selections for early-, middle- and late-flowering bulbs. Two to three varieties of each for containers and borders is usually enough.

“One of the pitfalls of bulbs is not ordering enough,” explains garden designer Jo Thompson. While ordering larger quantities might seem like an outlay, Jo observes that in terms of filling space, in relation to buying a two-litre perennial plant, “bulbs are cheap. More is more with bulbs, although you can’t always expect them to come back the following year.”

Gardener and designer Arthur Parkinson’s personal garden is almost exclusively containers, largely because of the wet soil – most bulbs need good drainage to thrive. “If I have bulbs in the garden, I put a big pot of them in the middle of the bed, which gives a living, changing, colour island in spring,” he explains. Arthur believes it’s much more cost-effective to focus on containers when you plant bulbs. This is partly because they can be moved to high-traffic areas, such as beside a front door, where they can be better enjoyed. This is especially true of smaller bulbs, which would be lost in a border.

Jo adds that you can move containers out of sight as the foliage of bulbs such as narcissus dies down. She prefers galvanised buckets, the type found at builders’ merchants, because they’re lightweight and have a handle for easy carrying. She drills holes in the base for