Flower Bulbs & Corms

Flower bulbs are low maintenance, adding loads of blooming colour to your borders, containers, woodland, orchard, or around the base of hedging and trees at times of the year when there is little else to see; early spring flowering bulbs are also great for bees.
 

If you planted a hedge or group of trees during the last couple of years, now is the time to order a spread of bulbs for delivery & planting around them for a brilliant Spring display next year! 

The easiest way to kick-start a border or large pot full of bulbs is a professionally designed mixed Bulb Lasagne of different species that flower in successive symphony. 
 

Our mail-order bulbs are all Premium Size, which is what distinguishes them from the cheaper bulbs in the shops. 
Bigger bulbs produce more and better flowers because they contain more stored energy, it's that simple! 
 

For strong establishment and the best flowering, especially in rockeries & poor soils, we recommend using Rootgrow.
 

Spring bulbs are much hardier than Dahlia tubers, but they look wonderful arranged together; Spring bulbs flower earlier and so will be finishing for the year as the Dahlias are starting.

Read our Bulb Planting Guide for more tips.

Bulbs are all about bright flowers at or near ground level in those off seasons of winter and spring when there isn't much other colour in the garden. Perfect for filling in gaps next to paths or along the base of hedgerows, their shallow roots are generally well adapted to pots (see our bulb lasagne collections), and many bulbs are ideal for rockeries. 

Use taller narcissi and daffodils where there is long grass, and dwarf daffodils, snowdrops, and crocuses where it is short.

Bluebells do best under deciduous trees or beside hedging that casts enough shadow to stop grass growing entirely. For the shadiest sites, like a woodland or the north facing foot of a hedge, use bluebells, and especially snowdrops for wet sites. 

Tulips naturalise well, but are probably at their best, along with alliums, in borders and containers.

• Make your dry bulb planting plan early, in April-May, when you have seen all the bulbs flowering since February
• Mark the bare patches you intend to plant in Autumn with bamboo canes etc

FAQs

• When do Different Bulbs Flower?
• How to store bulbs between delivery and planting
• When to Plant Flower Bulbs
• How to Plant Flower Bulbs
• Types of flower bulb
• Difference Between Spring and Summer Flower Bulbs

What growing conditions are best for garden bulbs?

Most bulbs need good drainage (snowdrops, bluebells, and daffodils are best for damp sites), and so will thrive in any normal garden soil.
Rockery bulbs in particular are great for poorly fertile soils that get dry in summer. 

Most bulbs need plenty of sun.
However, all the Spring flowering varieties emerge before most deciduous trees & shrubs, so they can grow in places that will be in the shade of bigger plants all summer.
 

Cyclamens are among the most shade-tolerant, and will grow under evergreen trees. Bluebells are classics for dappled shade under deciduous trees.

Full Sun, Well-Drained Soil:

• Dahlia

Full Sun to Partial Shade, Well-Drained Soil:

• Allium
• Anemone
• Camassia
• Crocus
• Fritillaria
• Hyacinth
• Iris
• Muscari
• Snowflake
• Squill
• Tulip

Partial Shade, Moist or Damp Soil:

• Bluebell
• Daffodil
• Snowdrop

Partial to Full Shade, Well-Drained Soil:

• Cyclamen