The easy way to choose your daffodils, and spring bulbs to buy now

AND: everyone’s telling us to order tulip bulbs, but can you hold your nerve?

Despite murmurings that autumn’s in the air, I’m still hanging on to August: we’re not back to school just yet, and who knows, the Bank Holiday weather might even be ok…

My spring bulb collection, which you can plant from September. See below. Photo: Jason Ingram for Gardens Illustrated

Whatever the weather, I reckon that this August holiday is the time to celebrate what we still have in the garden - the roses, the dahlias - oh those dahlias….

If the weather does decide to get a little bit murky, there could be the opportunity for a spot of spring bulb browsing - and even shopping. But I’m NOT talking about tulips. Whatever you do, DON’T PANIC: you don’t need to order your tulips. Not yet.

Here comes the yearly DON’T ORDER YOUR TULIPS YET post. My advice to you stays the same each year, so if you’ve been a member of The Gardening Mind for a while, you’ll recognise what’s coming next:

• In today’s edition of The Gardening Mind, I’ll be explaining why you don’t need to panic when you see adverts for tulip bulbs. I swear the tulip bulb companies start whipping us up into a frenzy earlier and earlier each year. Everywhere I look, I see reminders, WARNINGS even, that tulip varieties are about to be sold out, that there’s ‘still’ time to get your favourite varieties. I’ll be showing you why you are absolutely NOT TO PANIC.

• You can though be making bulb lists, and you can also definitely be ordering your early spring bulbs - I’ve got some easy collections for you and where to get them from, plus the easiest way ever to create a good combination of daffodils.

  

  Daffodils are utterly brilliant - I urge you to embrace them. The pollinators love them, they’re as easy as anything, and they come back year after year. Plus you can make the most amazing displays, both inside and outside the house.

  

• You can find hundreds of planting suggestions in The Gardening Mind: here are some daffodil collections:

DON’T PANIC: you DO NOT need to order your tulips quite yet

I promise you, we are being whipped up into a complete frenzy about needing to order our tulips right now. And we absolutely don’t have to - doing so will just create more problems for us later on, so I urge you to hang on. A couple of weeks won’t hurt.

The most practical reason for saying all of this is that the earlier you order your tulips, the sooner they’ll be delivered. And the sooner they’re delivered, the more complicated it is to look after them. Remember that you shouldn’t plant tulips until at least November, as otherwise you run the risk of tulip fire, a disease which mottles and blotches both the flowers and leaves and can often shrivel up the whole plant.

Tulip fire - you don’t want it

I’m convinced that all the excitement over tulips on social media has something to do with the prevalence of tulip fire a couple of years ago. In the frenzy to get fabulous and photogenic displays, people raced to order their tulips and get them in the ground, way before the right time, ignoring the warnings.

If the tulip bulbs arrive in September, that means you’ve got at least two months when you’ve got to keep the bulbs cool. They can’t get damp, they can’t get too warm - if they do either of these, they’ll start to go mouldy, so you need a very specific place to store them - a completely watertight but ventilated shed with a steady temperature that isn’t too light. Can you do this for two months?

Do try to wait. The great the thing is that from October the sales will start, when the bulb companies are desperate to offload the thousands that they’ve bought. I even received an email from a bulb company in July proudly announcing that as they’d pre-ordered MILLIONS of bulbs, it was time to get my order in right now. Of course it was - they need a home for those tulips.

And let’s face it, we’re talking about tulips. We’re not talking about life-saving medicines or water supplies. If one variety runs out, is it really going to ruin your year? There are thousands and thousands of different types of tulips, and there’s always going to be a substitute. Please don’t worry.

Don’t overthink your collections and combinations

Is it really the end of the world if that one longed for tulip isn’t available? I’m convinced this is all intensified by social media and everyone wanting the tulip of the day - look at what happened to Tulipa ‘Belle Epoque’. For a few years, this was all the rage, with its extraordinary cappuccino tones at the time so unusual in a flower. But as its popularity soared, and more suppliers grew it, its beauty waned through sub-standard versions being sold, so that now often what you get is a weaker, washed-out, thinner version of the ‘original’.

So we don’t always need what’s at the height of fashion. Go with what you like. And if what you like has sold out, get the thing you like that hasn’t sold out.

I’m hoping that’s calmed you a bit. It’s still August - enjoy it.

And I’ll remind you in a couple of weeks’ time about tulips, complete with some new combinations, so that you can start getting your ideas together.

For this collection, see below

But if your fingers are twitching and you’re feeling the urge to make a little garden purchase, you can of course be ordering some bulbs right now:

September/October is the perfect time for planting narcissi and alliums as well as all those lovely little spring bulbs, and today I’ve got two easy Spring bulb idea for you.

I’m also going to share with you an easy and cheap way of getting a gorgeous display of daffodils without being overwhelmed by the enormity of the huge range available:

You may be thinking that if you plant these bulbs now, then how will you know how to plant the tulips when it’s time to pop them in, without getting in a muddle?

How do you avoid slicing into a daffodil bulb, or digging up those alliums you so lovingly planted?