Your Garden – Jude Costello
WHAT a fizzer! The forecasts were promising but have produced very little except for some better temperatures.
Those of you who have town water are blessed, am hearing some horror stories from those who have to supply their own water, with dams empty or running very low.
I am lucky to have several dams but the shifting of pumps, breakdowns and the cost of fuel make it all a bit difficult.
However, it will rain and when it does we need to be ready.
Now is the time to be thinking about and ordering your spring bulbs. There is so much choice, not only species but the varieties within are many and varied.
If you are planning mass plantings I would suggest you choose varieties that will naturalise and flourish without too much care. These ones are generally not too expensive allowing us to afford to plant considerable numbers, swathes of daffodils for example.
Dutch Iris, Jonquils, Snow Drops, Irises, Tulips, Muscari, Spring Stars, Anemones, Ranunculi and Blue Bells, to name some of the more common bulbs and rhizomes, are fairly easy to grow and look great mass planted.
There are so many more spring and summer flowering species you can plant soon that produce beautiful flowers and foliage, giving your beds dimensions, textures and colours.
Sometimes just the one can add that special something to a garden, it could be a Galtonia or a Pineapple Lily (Eucomis).
The early flowering bulbs can be planted under perennials giving a longer display over spring and summer as well changing the colour palette as the season progresses.
I like to use seasonal colour changes when designing, a dramatic colour change can give such a different look through the four seasons.
Areas without the four seasons don’t have this luxury!
Everyone outside, you have rain dances to do!
