Top 10 Summer and Autumn flowering bulbs
Top 10 Summer and Autumn flowering bulbs
Bulbs and corms are often overlooked when it comes to summer and autumn planting schemes but they are an easy and hassle-free way to create colourful, exotic-looking displays that will be the envy of all your neighbours and friends. Keep reading for our top 10 summer and autumn flowering bulbs.
Freesias
There’s nothing quite like the sweet, heady fragrance of Freesias. Flowering from June and through until late August, they’re beautiful when planted en masse in borders or pots but look equally impactful as cut flowers, lasting over 3 weeks in a vase. Available in such a vibrant range of colours, our Freesia mix is a perfect, easy way of creating stunning displays in your garden.
Begonias
If you’re looking to fill your baskets and containers with summer-long colour, then Begonias are the ideal plant for you. Trailing varieties such as Apricot Shades are a particular favourite of ours, as their cascading, layered blooms spill over pots, window boxes and baskets, making a very full and showy display that’s hard to ignore. What’s more, is that they are so easy to grow, so you can have swathes of colour in your garden for very little effort.
Nerine
Stylish and ornate, the unusual blooms of Nerine make an incredible autumn display, turning the heads of anyone passing by. If you really want to make a statement, Nerine bowdenii Isabel is ideal, as the bright pink blooms will certainly grab your attention. Worthy of their own stand-alone display in pots, these beauties look equally good planted in a border where they will contrast with other, paler blooms perfectly.
Lilies
Loved by many, Lilies will add exotic drama to your garden, give wonderful fragrance and make some of the very best cut flowers with their large, trumpet-shaped blooms. Our Roselily mix is truly something to behold, giving your gorgeous double blooms resembling that of a rose. They also don’t produce pollen, so there’s no risk of staining your clothes, and they last even longer in a vase than single flowering varieties.
Polinathes Tuberosa
The intoxicating fragrance of Polianthes Tuberosa will fill your garden like no other, enticing you in as you walk past the blooms. Intensely sweet and floral, it’s heralded as one of the most fragrant bulbs around and is often used as a base scent for perfumes. The clusters of double flowers are also great cut and brought inside the home, where the scent will completely fill the room, like your own natural air freshener.
Gladiolus
Once given to someone to signify infatuation, you will most definitely be infatuated with the remarkable blooms of Gladiolus. If you need to inject some colour into your summer palette, this is the plant for you as the vibrant blooms are impossible to miss. Each stem holds up to 20 large blooms each, creating an impressive display and giving you armfuls of cut flowers to bring into your home as well.
Crocosmia
The unmistakable fiery blooms of Crocosmia will make your garden hot, hot, hot with lively colour from late summer and into autumn, whatever the weather. Ideal for a tropical style garden, the exotic-looking blooms stand in sprays above grass-like foliage which, when rubbed, gives off an opulent saffron fragrance. They’re also completely trouble free, easy to grow and rabbit resistant so they’re a real winner all round.
Ranunculus
Ranunculus are without a doubt one of the most beautiful bulbs around. Perfectly formed rosettes of peony-like flowers with layers upon layers of tightly packed petals bloom on upright stems in late spring and early summer. These vibrant beauties not only make a wonderfully colourful display in your garden, but they also make wonderful cut flowers which is why they are loved by florists and gardeners alike.
Ornithogalum
A lesser-known bulb, the elegant blooms of Ornithogalum really are something to be admired. The star-shaped flowers that appear in large clusters on each stem will almost appear to twinkle in your garden in late spring and throughout summer. They’re so easy to grow and very versatile, perfect for planting in beds and pots alike and they also make great cut flowers too.
Iris
Taking its name from the Greek word meaning rainbow, Iris are a sure-fire way of adding a kaleidoscope of colour to your garden with ease. They’re ideal for beginner gardeners as they’re hassle-free and will happily grow in both containers and borders. Can’t decide what colour to choose? Our Iris Sensation Mix is ideal, as it offers you blooms in shades of yellow, purple, red, orange and white ready for you to create the most beautiful summer displays.
