Something special

There's still time to replace colourful summer-blooming bulbs that might have been victims of winter's ravages, writes JANE POWERS

BULBS, AS I WAS writing here recently, are the ultimate low-maintenance plant. Proof of this is all over our gardens and parks – in the stands of snowdrops and daffodils that have come back year after year for decades, and even centuries (if they’re not interfered with by development).

The main bulb planting time is autumn, but springtime marks another important planting period. Around now is the last possible time for getting summer-blooming bulbous lovelies going. This group of plants includes some familiar species: agapanthus, dahlia, gladiolus, lily and the marvellously gaudy tuberous begonias. Another is the well-known, but rampant orange montbretia of the southwest of Ireland; it has posher relatives in the named crocosmias, such as the tall, bright red ‘Lucifer’, and the smaller, starry ‘Emily McKenzie’.

There are some less commonplace summer bulby things too: the towering white hyacinth-on-steroids Galtonia; the stately foxtail lily (Eremurus) with its strange starfish roots (both available from heritagegardening.com); and the well-named pineapple lily (Eucomis autumnalis) with its flower shaped like a miniature version of that fruit (from johnstowngardencentre.ie and mrmiddleton.com).

All have one thing in common: at this time of the year, their energy and potential is concentrated in a swollen storage organ: a bulb, a corm, a rhizome, a tuber or other enlarged underground structure.

They can be got in garden centres, from mail order, and even from DIY shops and supermarkets. Because they are easily packaged and transported when they are dormant, viable summer bulbs are available all over. Buy them now, pop them into the soil, and off they go. Except, alas, it isn’t always quite that simple. In this country, there are three main problems: cold, damp and our slimy gastropodal friends, the slugs and snails.

Most of these warm-weather bloomers (although not the lilies) come from milder climates than ours, and can be a bit picky. Take garden dahlias, for example. The forbears of these –- the wild species – are native to Mexico and Guatemala.

In times past, gardeners dug up their dahlia tubers after first frost, dried them off and stored them in the garden shed. But in the last decade or so, our incrementally warming climate had lulled us into thinking we lived in the Mediterranean. So dahlias were left to fend for themselves in the ground all year round. The last two winters, however, produced some shockingly arctic weather, and the sleeping tubers of droves of dahlias were reduced to mush. Nature had delivered a sharp rap on the knuckles to precocious gardeners.

Dampness can also demolish some of these summer bulbous types, especially if you plant them in cold ground: they rot before they sprout.

The way to avoid casualties from cold and damp is also – rather conveniently – the way to outfox slugs and snails. Quite simply, if you start off these plants in pots, you can better control their conditions in their early and vulnerable weeks. The young foliage, which can make a tasty snack for molluscs, has a good chance of getting beyond the tender and toothsome stage if it’s raised off the ground in a pot. But don’t get complacent: some slugs and snails will scale great heights, so vigilance is always required. Crocosmias, though, are mollusc-proof – in my sluggy and snaily garden anyway – and are also fairly robust, so the corms can go straight into flower beds and borders.

For the rest of this group of summer show-offs, you can keep them in pots for the whole of their lives, or you can gently manoeuvre them out of their containers and into the soil when they are big enough to look after themselves. I prefer to grow this sort of plant – the dahlias and lilies anyway – in big terracotta pots, as they are easier to keep an eye on, and are more versatile this way. The terracotta adds weight to the base, so they are less likely to topple over when fully grown. And, being mobile, they can be discreetly popped into little gaps in borders, or can be used to create displays by front doors or in corners of a patio.

Some of these plants don’t do well if they are crowded in their early stages of growth. They need light and air to get going properly, so if they are containerised, you can bring them to the brink of flowering before you introduce them to the hurly-burly of a busy flower bed.

Tuberous begonias are best confined to pots all their lives. When planting, use a small pot to start with, and make sure that the concave part of the tuber is uppermost. Be careful not to let water pool in the dip, as this can cause rot. When the leaves have appeared, and the roots have filled the pot, move the begonia into a larger container.

Bulbs switch on colour

This weekend marks the launch of the Year of the Honey Bee at the National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin. Talks, lectures and demonstrations today and tomorrow. Admission free. See botanicgardens.ie for details.

The Irish Specialist Nurseries Association first plant sale of the year is today at the Red Stables, St Anne’s Park, Raheny, Dublin 5 (10am-4.30pm). Admission is free. For details of participating nurseries and further events see isna.ie