Create bulb carpets of colour
By Julie Hollobone
Use valuable space below trees and shrubs for dramatic displays of spring bulbs
'Snowdrops make good planting partners for other spring bulbs, and are especially effective paired with a white-stemmed birch.'
There's valuable space beneath trees and shrubs for planting carpets of spring bulbs. For the best results, plant bulbs under deciduous trees and shrubs. This allows plenty of light to reach the blooms and foliage at a time when they are in full growth, so that food is stored in the bulb to fuel flowering the following year.
For bulbs flowering later in spring, when the leaf canopy is beginning to thicken, prune the trees and/or shrubs carefully to let in more light. Remove lower branches back to the main stem, or trim the branch tips back. Alternatively, thin the whole canopy carefully, removing branches where they grow close to others. This can also improve the appearance of the plant.
A large number of small bulbs only go a short way to creating a dense carpet, but if you plant them more sparsely in growing conditions that they enjoy, they will thrive and spread over time. Plant bulbs of a single variety for a stunning uniform display, or mix bulbs that have different flowering times or heights for a more textured planting.
Anemones The low-growing forms Anemone blanda and Anemone nemorosa both appear in early spring, with flowers and foliage appearing simultaneously. Anemone blanda flowers well in sun or light shade, so plant in an open site or where the canopy of branches is high or not very dense. The delicately dissected foliage is topped by open flowers in shades of blue, pink and white.
The wood anemone, Anemone nemorosa, is more suited to a shady site that's moist in winter but dries out in summer when the tubers are dormant. Often seen in deciduous woodland, it will spread to form large sweeps of white flowers through spring.
Bluebells A typical woodland bulb, bluebells are at their finest when seen flowering in a light woodland setting and lit by dappled spring sunlight. If you want to create a woodland area in your garden, or preserve the English bluebell species, Hyacinthoides non-scripta, try establishing a colony under deciduous shrubs such as Azalea, Viburnum or Rhus.
Chionodoxa These little star-shaped flowers grow to just 10-15cm (4-6in) high so can easily nestle under low branches. The bulbs are happy in sun, in rockeries or at the front of borders, but also tolerate light shade under deciduous shrubs. Each stem has up to 10 flowers, but plant as many as possible to get the full impact of the blue or pink blooms.
Cyclamen Of the hardy cyclamen, there are those that flower from summer into autumn and others that flower in spring. Cyclamen coum is one of the earliest, often seen with snowdrops and winter aconites. The rounded leaves with individual markings appear in early winter and form a pretty carpet in themselves. The flowers follow with their distinctive backswept petals, forming an extra layer of colour in shades of pink and mauve paling to white, depending on the variety.
Leave the plants undisturbed to allow the seeds to spread, and then look out for new plants with new marbled patterns.
Grape hyacinth Although the little bulbs of Muscari armeniacum flower in spring, the needle-like foliage appears in autumn and only disappears after the flowers fade. In spring, the tiny blue flowers, clustered together on spikes, poke through the collapsing foliage and form a sea of blue if planted en masse. Tolerant of woodland sites, plant them where there is plenty of space under an aged tree, such as a flowering cherry like Prunus 'Shirotae'.
Scilla The distinctive blue flowers of Scilla are similar in appearance and habit to Chionodoxa. Try Scilla bifolia for naturalising under trees and shrubs. The long-lasting, soft-blue flowers appear in mid spring and form a useful bridge between early snowdrops and later bulbs such as daffodils and tulips.
Snowdrops There are many forms to choose from, but if planting in bulk in a shady place, the simple Galanthus nivalis will do the job.
Snowdrops establish well if planted 'in the green', either from a nursery or from thinning established clumps. Plant them singly with space around and they quickly bulk up to cover the bare soil. Snowdrops make good planting partners for other spring bulbs, and are especially effective paired with a white-stemmed birch.
Winter aconites (Eranthis hyemalis) These relatives of the buttercup have bright-yellow flowers surrounded by a leafy ruff and flower from January to March. They give the best display if they catch the sun, as the flowers only open when they are warmed to over 10°C, although they prefer to sit in shade during the summer. This makes them ideal for planting under a shrub – try Hamamelis x intermedia 'Arnold Promise' as its bright flowers give extra impact. The tubers don't do well if they've dried out before planting, so plant them 'in the green' after flowering, or plant young plants in pots. The flowers will soon cast seed around to develop the carpet.
Watch out if you make contact with the sap, which is an irritant, and you may experience stomach upsets if you ingest any part of this plant.
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