Direct Bulbs Gardening Blog

As we all keep on hearing about the mild weather these last few weeks it really has confused Mother Nature. It is however, as I write this blog, good to note that we had a decent frost this morning which is good as a spell of cold weather kills off pests and diseases that lay about in the garden within the debris of last years growth.

We have managed to pick a number of early flowering Rynveld Sensation which this year have grown before our snowdrops but this is probably as they are in a much more sheltered position. We have also noticed that one of our more interesting plants, the Drancunculus has poked its head well above the soil but to protect it from todays and future frosts, we have covered it with mulch.

August has seen the last of our range of lilies come into flower. Many of these are the late oriental types wihch are very fragrant and have made walking around the garden even more enjoyable.  We are also now seeing the first of our dahlias come into full flower and are looking forward to a summer of colour from the many vairietes scattered around the garden.  These will of course keep on flowering right through to the first frosts as long as the dead heads are removed.

The begonias we started off in the greenhouse in late February were planted out into our containers and hanging baskets in early May after we were confident that the frosts had subsided.  These have continued to grow and although they need a lot of watering to keep the massive amount of tuberous leaves looking good, it has all been worth while as the first of the flowers are appearing and looking quite stunning.

It is a busy time in the garden both in keeping things up together and of course enjoying the odd BBQ and glass of wine whilst admring the fruits of our labour. Thoughts during these times turn towards Spring flowering bulbs as experience has shown us that to get some of the more new and unusual bulbs we need to obtain these early.

Directbulbs now bring you a fantastic range of products from Burgon and Ball – UK tool manufacturers.   The range includes bulb markers, Sophie Conran designed Hand Tools and gardening gloves, copper tags and tees and pocket pruners.  Hand tools, pruners and gloves are £14.95 each, Bulb markers are £7.99 (choose from Tulip or Daisy designs – 4 per pack) and £4.95 for a pack of 10 copper tees or tags.

To order just visit our website via the link below.

http://www.directbulbs.co.uk/results.asp?species=Burgon+and+Ball&search=&colour=0&Search.x=161&Search.y=15

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Lily Flowering Tulip: Claudia

We have had a wonderfully warm and sunny April and with plenty of watering our bulbs have enjoyed the warm weather, some of our  results we have displayed here.

Historical Tulip; Theeroos (Tea Rose)

Tulip Peacock Mixed planted with Muscari

We are now getting ourselves ready for Chelsea Flower show and the launch of our new catalogue for the Autumn 2011 season. We have many new stunning varieties coming and also will be presenting some Gift Ideas from the quality Garden Tool Manufacturer Burgon and Ball.

Muscari Valerie Finnis

All our bulbs planted back in the Autumn are starting to grow rapidly now. The White Pearl hyacinths are providing a beautiful fragrant display in our pots by the door and are growing well alongside the Topolino Narcissi.  The Muscari azureum is raising its pretty heads amongst the stunning striped foliage of the Red Riding Hood Tulips.

With the wedding season rapidly approaching we are looking forward to helping brides source a lasting and memorable gift for thier wedding favours. We are able to provide collections of small bulbs which can be wrapped and packaged beautifully by the bride and then planted by your guests for a lasting reminder of the special day.

Mother’s day is also coming up soon, on April 3rd and a ’grow your own bulbs’ gift might be the ideal thing for those Mum’s who love their gardens.

Well it has been ages since we had the chance to post a blog!!. We have been busy during the Autumn season packing orders for all our customers – we hope you have planted all your bulbs by now and are looking forward to a colourful display in a month or two’s time. Ours are just starting to show themselves.

If we weren’t busy enough, we have decided to expand our range and service, and we are delighted to introduce our new gift ideas. We are now able to provide ‘grow your own’ bulb kits which we will gift wrap and send with full growing instructions and a gift card, so that the person of your choice can enjoy growing bulbs just as we do. They are a great idea for a lasting gift that you can enjoy for many months. In addition to this we have had a few enquiries regarding supplying bulbs as Wedding Favours and so have decided to offer this service too. We can source and supply bulbs to make an ideal table gift, and they can then be personalised by you for your own occasion.

In addition to all these new ideas we are now well into supplying our Spring collection of bulbs. At the moment Lilies are proving to be a popular choice again with over 30 different varieties we will be looking forward to planting our own very shortly for our new Summer display of colour.

If you are anything like me, I am desperate to get on and do some work in the garden and although we sit on good old free draining chalk, it seems that it never stops raining enough to let the ground dry.

The garden and containers are now starting to produce colour from varieties planted last autumn and such things as daffodils, puschkinias, hyacinths and specie tulips are coming into flower although we are keeping the containers out of the windy areas of the garden to prevent damage. We have also started off our summer flowering bulbs with the begonias and cannas being placed in seed trays to start them off and the dahlias and lilies planted into pots and containers.

With the pots we will wait until they start sprouting so that we can then plant them out into the garden.

Although  lilies could be planted straight into the garden if required, we prefer planting the dahlias into pots as this saves the young shoots being eaten by slugs as they emerge. If you are buying lilies at this time please but from a reputable source or ensure you check them thoroughly as they may be sprouting or even dried out, which will significantly affect performance.

Newspapers report that on average spring is now some 11 days earlier than it was in years gone by! To gardeners like you and me that would seem very far from our own experiences over the last two years. This year I can tell you that the snowdrops in my garden did not flower until at least 3 weeks later than 2009 and with the cold weather we are still having they are producing a fantastic show but crocus, dwarf iris and some of the early daffodils have yet to produce any flowers.

On talking to colleagues producing cut flower daffodils in Cornwall they note that the number of bunches that they have picked to date is the lowest in the last 20 years. To look at the positives the cold spells we have had over winter will kill of a lot of those pests and specifically diseases which in warmer temperatures, survive from year to year. I am like you desperate to get out into the garden to clean up a lot of the debris that has appeared over the winter and to check on those bulbs and plants that I probably should have dug up or protected but never got around to it and to see if they have survived the winter cold. I am sure that I would have lost a number of dahlias and begonias which again looking on the bright side will allow me to change certain borders and colour schemes and buy new replacements which are readily available at retailers at the moment.

One thing for sure is the warmer weather will appear at some time and then mother nature will unleash a season of colour and we will have plenty to do in the garden as always.

We are now just getting over the cold snap and we have been keeping a good eye on the containers which of course are most susceptible to the lower temperatures. We have also moved the dahlia, canna and begonia tubers that we lifted for overwintering into a warm spot until the coldest of the weather is behind us.

This year, as in the last few, we have only dug up the summer flowering dahlias and cannas which are a bit more unusual rather than everything. The more common ones we have left in the garden and given a good mulch before we came into the winter so hopefully these will still survive. The begonias we only use in hanging baskets or containers so these are put into the greenhouse and protected against the cold weather. As we write this we note that the snowdrops are again fighting their way through the frosted ground and although the cold will slow them down they will continue to progress and we are sure will flowershortly. After the long winters it is especially pleasing to see them as to us they really do signify that the worst of the darker days and nights are now behind us.

 It is also the time that you should be planning what you are going to do in the garden this year and of course if it involves summer bulbs buying them sooner rather than later as the more unuusual ones we find are soon sold out by retailers who increasingly seem to have a smaller range of summer bulbs available.

Although we are now well and truly in the holiday season and wondering were all the good weather has gone it is just becoming busy for us as we take delivery of our autumn bulbs. The daffodils that are grown in Jersey have now arrived and many of the bulbs from Holland are starting to appear as well. I am not sure if you know but the UK grows the majority of the taller daffodils on offer by retailers, but Holland produces/markets the majority of all other bulbs that you see and buy.

Once we have the majority of our range in house we will start dispatching orders which as last year will be early September although we have already sent out a number of bulbs to be used as wedding favours in August.

Some varieties of lilies have been flowering for a few weeks already such as Stargazer and Landini, but many are now coming into their own such as this oriental lily Bon Bini.

Of course now is the time that the summer flowering bulbs take over the garden and such things as zantedeschia, crocosmia and gladioli are either starting in to flower or have good buds ready to burst into bloom. The dahlias (those that survive the slug attacks) are some of our most favourite and you can easily see why when they come into flower.

Dahlias offer a huge range of colours, heights and flowering times along with a long season of flowering (pick off the dead flower heads to encourage continual flowering).

The hanging basket begonias are also adding great colour to the garden and in a few pots we have the double begonias which are abundant with flowers. August is a time to enjoy the flowers from the bulbs planted in the spring and the time to also plan for the spring flowering bulbs and the show you want in 2010.