Get the wild flower look

tenth April 2016 • Timely Advice • Stephanie Donaldson

Bulbs will be naturalised in grass or in borders to make them appear like wild flowers. The same old factor to do is to plant carpets of a single colored daffodil or crocus, however in case you select a variety of totally different species the outcome will look way more ‘pure’.

Snowdrops unfold quickly making them best for naturalising, however they’re finest planted ‘within the inexperienced’ which suggests dug up and transplanted after flowering. Planting them from bulbs right now of yr shouldn’t be beneficial.

The Star-of-Bethlehem, Ornithogalum nutans, additionally spreads shortly and will be planted as bulbs within the coming weeks. The silvery white star formed flowers have a inexperienced backing and so they do effectively in mild shade underneath bushes. At about 25cm tall they will make fairly an influence.

For heavy, damp soils the summer time Snowflake, Leucojum aestivum, appears a bit like a large snowdrop, reaching 60cm excessive. There’s additionally an excellent greater selection which is kind of simple to pay money for, referred to as L. a. ’Gravetye Large’.

Snakeshead fritillaries, Fritillaria meleagris, like the identical heavy damp soils. In April and Could, they produce nodding heads of delicate wanting flowers in purpley maroon and, much less steadily, white. For some purpose, they’ll both love or hate your backyard; there doesn’t appear to be a lot center floor with them.

Cream camassias flower later than the blue

Additionally flowering by late April and Could are the Camassias which have star formed flowers in spikes. The very best for naturalising is the deep blue Camassia quamash, however cool years make them flower much less effectively the next spring. One disadvantage is you can’t reduce the grass till the seed ripens on the finish of July or they received’t unfold.

Chionodoxa on the Cholmondeley Plant Truthful

The Glory of the Snow, Chionodoxa, grows to about 15cm and has star formed flowers in blue, pink or white. It wants a effectively drained fertile soil and though it would develop in solar, it tends to get a bit fried, so it’s finest to plant it in some shade.  Chionodoxa forbesii has blue flowers, C.f.’Pink Large’ is a comfortable pink and C.sardensis is a robust blue harking back to hardy plumbago.

Bulbs will be naturalised in borders and woodland however by far the preferred setting is in grass. As soon as in, the bulbs will be left alone to unfold and improve by seed or offsets – your endurance will ultimately be rewarded with a carpet of color. You must just remember to both use bulbs that come up earlier than the grass begins rising in spring or later flowering species which might then compete with grass. One method to naturalise bulbs is to throw them randomly onto the grass: Take a kind of hand-held bulb planters which in concept extracts a core of turf and soil, then spend days crawling spherical in your arms and knees… Thankfully, there’s a higher approach.

1. First you’ll want to mow the grass in order that it’s nonetheless pretty quick when the bulbs come up in spring. Subsequent reduce an ‘H’ form into the bottom about 5cm deep utilizing a spade, or half moon edger which tends to be a little bit extra correct.
2. Maintain again the turf on both aspect and,relying on what sorts of bulb you can be planting, fork over and take away a number of the soilif needed. As a common rule, smaller bulbs like crocus will want 5cm of soil above their suggestions and bigger bulbs will want 10cm.
3. Throw a handful of bulbs into the opening and plant them the place they fall, so that you simply don’t find yourself with evenly spaced bulbs in straight strains.
4. Make certain every bulb is the best approach up. Very gently rotate it to settle it into the soil and eliminate any air hole beneath. Don’t, nevertheless, power the bulb into the earth as a result of it might get broken.
5. Put any soil which was eliminated again into the opening and fold again the flaps of turf. Light tread down the turf however don’t stamp on it.
6. Don’t mow the grass for a minimum of six weeks after the flowers have pale to permit time for them to construct up their nutrient shops for the approaching winter. This may guarantee a dramatic show yearly.

This text was offered by Mike James working along with pal and multi award successful landscaper Andy Sturgeon. Photos offered by and edited by Stephanie Donaldson.