The last autumn sunshine

Believe it or not, you don’t have to be working in a cold garden under grey skies to have a riot of colour in your garden early in spring. Flower bulbs have to be planted much sooner than that: in the autumn. They actually need cold winter temperatures to be able to grow and produce their flowers. The perfect time to plant them is just as it’s getting a little too chilly to sit outdoors, but not too cold to enjoy the last rays of autumn sunshine while you plant your flower bulbs. Afterwards, all you have to do is go back indoors where it’s warm and await the explosion of colour in your garden. Easy peasy!

Enjoyment from January through July

Did you know that the first flower bulbs can bloom as early as January? That’s when snowdrops kick off the flower bulb season. These are followed in February by white, purple and yellow crocuses and cobalt blue Glory-of-the-Snow (Chionodoxa). After that, it’s a continuous flow of other kinds of flower bulbs that bloom on into the summer. The last are the ornamental onions (Allium) that flower in July. Would you like to know more about choosing flower bulbs and exactly when they will bloom? Then take a look at the product range here and start planning an explosion of colour in your own garden.

Planting bulbs in 4 steps

Summer is over, it’s getting cooler, and the garden is almost ready for winter. October until the end of December is the perfect time to plant flower bulbs. But how, exactly? It might seem complicated, but you can do it in just four steps.

1. First, loosen the soil with a spade at the place where you want to plant the flower bulbs.
2. Dig a hole with a spade or bulb planter
3. Plant the flower bulbs in it with their pointed sides facing up and rounded sides pointing down. Keep a distance of three times the diameter of the bulb between the bulbs, and use three times the height of the bulb as the planting depth.
4. Fill the hole with the previously removed soil and tamp the surface gently.

Tips & tricks

• Make sure to plant the flower bulbs before the soil freezes for the first time. Snow is no problem for flower bulbs, and actually insulates flower bulbs from freezing temperatures and thus protects them.
• Did you know that flower bulbs can also be planted in layers? This way, you get successive flowering in a single spot in your garden or in a pot. It’s called ‘lasagne planting’.
• Flower bulbs will also grow and flower in pots with ease. In this case, it’s important for the pot to be deep enough and have a hole in the bottom to allow excess water to drain out. Then make sure that the potting soil in the pot is kept moist to prevent the flower bulbs from drying out.