"Bulbs, Glorious Bulbs" - Karen Phillips - 11th November 2021

Members had already had the opportunity to pre-order a variety of bulbs from the  catalogue, which Karen bought with her….all beautifully packaged up and individually labelled. She also came with a huge array of bulbs for sale, including daffodils, tulips, alliums, fritillaries, camassias, muscari, crocuses, dogtooth violets, iris, and many more. Lots of the tulips and daffodils came attractively packaged as pre-selected, colour co-ordinated stunning collections. Amongst other items for sale were a selection of bulb planting tools, soil thermometers and gardening gloves.

Karen described how she and her husband had purchased Linnels Farm eleven years ago as a very run down property, but which they have since gradually repaired, restored and converted. It is now their home with farm buildings used as a venue for a variety of courses, and cottages to let. They have also developed the surrounding land into beautiful gardens, including an orchard and apiary.

Karen illustrated her talk with slides showing examples of the many bulbs which she sells. Due to the recent weather, pandemic upheavals and Brexit, the ordering of bulb stock from the Netherlands, has been fraught with difficulties. Some of the 90,000 bulbs Karen orders each year were below standard, due to poor spring weather conditions, and this led to late deliveries and then a frantic rush to dispatch bulbs to her many U.K. customers.

The theme of the presentation was divided into what types of bulbs will naturalise easily, what bulbs are good for tubs and container displays, and which bulbs are best for picking and favoured by florists. She also gave tips on propagation, care and the best ways to plant bulbs.

Report by Jude Jansen

Other Top Tips from Karen:

1. Cut scented narcissi bunched & held together around their heads by raffia make for a stunning table decoration. Their turgid stems & tied raffia keep the arrangement upright within a saucer of water. The arrangement looks & smells great for at least 2-3 days

2. Remember bulbs can not ‘polar navigate’ so do plant them in their correct growth orientation; viz. roots down.

3. Fritillaries – their bulbs don’t have a ‘nose’ and instead the stem head is inverted. 

This is fine for their climate of origin (Asia & Middle East) but not for the soggy UK. Instead plant the bulb on it’s side to prevent rotting. For a startling late spring show why not try Fritillaria persica (the Persian Lily) at 90cm and which naturalises readily.

4. So what’s a good bulb size?

“As you can imagine, the quality standard you should apply to various flower bulbs depends on species, but it also depends on the variety you choose. Here are a few basic guidelines that you can apply:

Tulips
‘Landscape’ grade, or smaller bulbs should be at least 10cm in circumference. They produce relatively small blooms that are a bit bigger than a golf ball. If you choose smaller bulbs, be sure to mass plant them. For really good flowers, your tulip bulbs should be 12cm or more.

[Karen is clear that the tulip needs to have a minimal

circumferential diameter of 9.5cm to flower]

The larger bulb circumference produces an astounding difference. The blooms are at least as big as tennis balls and usually even larger (depending on the variety). The species type tulips are an exception to the rule and have naturally smaller bulbs and smaller blooms.

Daffodils and Narcissus 
There’s a lot of variation in this group of plants. As a rule, the dwarf varieties have smaller bulbs and the big trumpet varieties are larger. Bigger is always better regardless of variety, and in general, top-grade bulbs will be 14-16cm.

Amaryllis
Amaryllis are magnificent in bloom – but only when the bulbs are big enough! You’ll get a fabulous show, bigger flowers and more blooms with bulbs 34cm or more in diameter.

Hyacinths
These scented beauties should be at least 16m, but for pot forcing 17-19cm is better.”

https://www.dutchgrown.com/blogs/planting-tips/how-flower-bulbs-are-measured

Complied by Trish Rodgers

November - a time of and for Remembrance...

Onward progresses the season of Autumn; through days of mists, fruitful harvests, Hallowe'en & Bonfire Night. Leaves continue in their glorious colour transformations before their final descend: reminding us of that special time of remembrance at 11am on the 11th of  Novemeber...

Countrylife's article by Jack Watkins is well worth a read. It was the field surgeon John McCrae who penned those famous lines, whilst attending the wounded soldiers in the aftermath of the 2nd Battle of Ypres;

"In Flanders fields the poppies blow                             Between the crosses row on row..."

Though not native to Britain the common poppy is thought to have first arrived as seeds within the corn-crop imports of Iron Age farmers 5,000 years ago.

Poppy seeds germinate on disturbed soil, typically after ploughing or tilling, which is why it thrived on the battlefields of the Western Front during WWI.

"Poppies produce 15,000 - 20,000 seeds each, which can survive for almost a century".

Assyrians called poppies "the daughters of the field"

and the Roman godess of food plants, Ceres, wore a wreath of them.

This is an interesting book about memories and

mindfulness through the gardening calendar 

- a great stocking filler perhaps?