Buying Spring Bulbs (Tulips)

I don't think you can call them specialists in any way, but the Mr.Fothergill's Bulb and plant catalogue landed on my doorstep yesterday, with page after page of Tulips on offer.

cheers st ill have a look

Dragon - I have dealt with this company for over 30 years.  They aren't the cheapest unless you order big numbers but their range is amazing and the quality is excellent. I buy 1000/1500 from them every year (we sell them on at our September Village Show!!).   Buy Ballerina, if you haven't already got it - Great colour, amazing scent and lasts well year to year in the ground - It's Mrs Barn's favourite. If you want more recommendations let me know, and don't buy Queen of the Night.

https://www.peternyssen.com/our-shop/autumn-planting/tulips.html

"One of the very few invariable rules of gardening is that one can never have too many tulips" - Anna Pavord

Thanks blackbarn thats great info-  not bothered on price just want some exciting and great tulips to plant for the spring. Please let me have more of varieties that you recommend as im not all that well up on them but think they are fantastic

read on one site that it is not recommended to plant them until November until the first frosts have arrived . apparently it reduces the risk of disease in the soil.... never knew that!!!

blackbarn - some great varities on the site and duly ordered cant wait . Also aordere a very unusual allium which i am looking forward to grwoing and some foxtail lilies which i love but dont get much joy from them . the ones i planted for two yeras now have leafed but never flowered.

Thanks for your input and keep those recommendations coming !!

First tulip I ever saw was on my Mum's allotment in Cambridge.  I thought it was an orchid

and don't buy Queen of the Night.

Can I ask why ?

frames - You can! It's crap.  Its been around for years and years and still fails to excite and still doesn't have an RHS Award, like most decent Tulips. If you want a "Black" Tulip then buy Paul Scherer.

Cheers.I'm sure I have a few already.Thanks for the link to the website ,placed an order for a few.

Dragon - Sorry not to have responded earlier. Three rules....

Never plant before 1st November.  The bulbs are quite happy in their bags till then.
If you are not planting in pots or tubs, plant them 8 INCHES DEEP.
Plant pointed bit facing up.

I grow my tulips in pots and tubs. I then allow the foliage to die back and then "strip" them, roots, bulblets and upper growth and plant the best of the rest in the borders (deep as already said).

mostly in pots blackbarn

I'll do a top ten list later, and all varieties I have grown in pots and in the ground. All from Nyssen.

great stuff cheerts my friend

Ok, here goes.  I have grown all of these in pots and in the ground.   I have to say that I am biased in favour of the lily flowered / simple flowered varieties, as I prefer the purity of bloom,

White Triuphator - simply the best white tulip and many would say the best tulip ever raised
Ballerina - Blackpool fc colour, very very scented, flowers for ages, and then lasts well in the ground
Menton - This is the biggest tulip I grow - it is a whopper in height (65cm)and bloom size (fist!) - Pinky Orange but changes as it matures
Paul Scherer - Why anyone buys Queen of the Night is beyond me, This is bigger, bolder, blacker, and better in every respect.
Princes Irene - This one is earlier flowering than all the others, but nothing matches its various colours, its scented too and not too tall at 35cm
Stunning Apricot - very very long flowering and a wonderful colour. 
Abu Hassan - A man's tulip - Maroon and Gold and early and very long flowering.
West Point - Lily flowered and very yellow. Long flowering, beautiful flower shape and lasts very well in the ground.  Probably the best yellow garden tulip.
Jazz - Just brilliant. It's even got grey stems to offset the dayglo pink.
and to end, just one of the many viridifloras.  Spring Green - Nearly the best tulip ever raised!

Hope this helps.  I am a bit biased as a tulip freak but I have chosen the best I have grown and, from a decent supplier I doubt you will be disappointed. Remember that even in pots they need depth of planting. They do not need rich compost or soil as all the "juice" is in the bulb but you must not let them dry out nor must they be drowned. Depth is the key.

thank you so muck blackbarn will buy them all and let you know how we go

Seems like we have a lot in common!!

tulips grow better if you move them every year,just shift them to new soil ,even if you only move them a foot distance, they are a fussy flower, but to get best out of them when they die off just shift them .and the following spring you will have a nice healthy crop of new tulips.

Brassneck - There is no benefit in moving them per se, but they do benefit from being replanted much DEEPER than they were originally planted, particularly if they are going from pots to open ground. Re your "fussy", I would contend that since nearly everything the plant needs is contained within the bulb they are just about the least fussy plant on the planet.  Still each to his own!.

you are talking to a guy that knows all that there is to know about gardening,i have been there ,bought the tee shirt,and picked up the prizes,but i do not want to be big headed about it, so everyone to their own opinion,its like one driver telling another driver how to drive a car,i believe that tulips will grow much better if they get a new bed every year,blackbarn you have another way ,but i bet you when you try my way(and i bet you will)you will come back to me next March and thank me for my advice,but the very best to blackbarn and enjoy.signed Brass.

Brass - As I said "each to his own". No one has a monopoly on the rules as far as gardening is concerned. What varieties would you suggest that would benefit from your suggested treatment, that would flower in March? 

The trouble with wind up's Brass is that you need just a little knowledge to start with to make your post credible

silence was the stern reply

Can any of the gardener's here give me some basic advice on Daffodils?

I tried a bit of gorilla gardening this year, and had a small success planting sunflowers on various patches of urban sprawl.
Inspired by that modest success I want to go big time with about 1000 to 2000 Daffodils.

I've never had a garden and don't know diddly squat about when to buy and plant daffodils.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks

Get some hamsters, sugar and boiling water blend them altogether in a food processer and there you have it


Tulips from hamster jam

Escapee - assuming that this is not a wind up, how much ground do you have available, and what is that ground currently used for , and what is your plan for its future. If it helps when to buy is anytime soon and you can plant anytime soon.

Blackbarn,

There are various small bits of grass (10 - 100 square foot) in poor condition and a couple of unloved urban planters

Basically the soil is probably in very poor condition, So I was going to sprinkle some pound shop fertaliser type stuff on the ground as preparation.


"when to buy is anytime soon and you can plant anytime soon."

Thanks.
I was thinking October, would that be still ok?

sure would

Parkers Wholesale (anyone can register) is good. GeeTee also.

As for daffs - look for interesting varieties - be creative. Plant 6 inches deep at least. Dig a hole and put 5 in. Can use an augur or spade. If you hire a mechanised augur you'll do 1000 very quickly.

You could do some growing at the London stadium Injera ! Fxxk all happening on the pitch

Up yours!

That's not nice

"TULIPS ARE US "   Great link Barn , Thank you  ...

If you keep the Bulbs can you Replant Tulips ?

Feeling full of remorse Injera so I've dumped my bank on West Ham tomorrow surly you can beat Wolves at home

Ffs Injera

Thankfully laid the draw in the last few minutes

Wise move!

We were shocking. As bad as I've seen.

It's a strange one mate, paying next to nothing for the stadium or though there maybe there in lies the problem. Upton Park was never nice to visit on the pitch or terrace. Intimidating place for player and fan alike. Personally wouldn't rush to get rid of the manager. Bit like my mob think the board has a lot to answer for although it looks like we're getting away with it again. Mind you shocking defence so won't be long before we're found out

Dan the new UP was cack. Hated it. Nothing like the old days. Sanitised football. The LS is ok,. My seat is fine. No excuse. 50k fans supporting a shoite football club. Mad? I reckon we are!

CFC are a cracking team. You see great football. Oh that Roman looked east not west. Maybe Newham didn't appeal.. Funny that...

Still a good crack. Our lads helped a Chelsea fan who was worse for wear on the train coming home.

Anyway, back on topic, tulips.... great story from one of ours from 1989. Barcodes away. 1-2. 1300 WHU. End of season game and the Barcodes invade the pitch and run toward our lads. 3k at least 1 copper (I kid you not..ok he had a dog) says to our lot, get out the back NOW!  They said no we're west ham we stand. The geordies run right up to us and we say 'well?' They back down and wander off.

Tulips...

keeping it to plant based topics. They weren't to impressed when we took over and drank in the Strawberry

hey blackbarn

Tulips have now arrived will probably plant over half term period really looking forward to my spring show!!!

I've just planted 80 daffodils in the shape of a in a 15' x 15' patch of public grass in Kennington.

A lot harder work than I expected.

hoping to plant about 500 round my area, originally aiming for 1,000 but phew, not sure I'm up to it.

Escapee - If you are planting daffs as singles, it is indeed a thankless task, even with a proper bulb planter.  The key is the fling the whole on the grass, rearrange them a bit into fairly close individual groups of random odd numbers of bulbs, 9 to say 21 in a group, cut round the space with a spade or half moon edger, put each group aside and then just strip the areas of turf to about four/five inches deep, fork over the ground quite vigorously and then replace and press the bulbs into the ground as random as you can get them, and pop the turf on the top and tread in and water well. Hope this helps.

Leopard - missed your post.  Glad they've arrived!!.  You'll love them.  Hope you ordered Ballerina.

For Leopard read Dragon

@blackbarn,  thanks for advice.  what does a bulb planter look like? I used a trowel, and now my hand really hurts

No wonder escapee, you did well to do 80 with one wrist - Here is a bulb planter - Sorry about the link length.  I use one of these for my ground tulips that need to be deep. Daffs find their own way down, so depth is not so serious, hence the method I quoted. 

https://www.waitrosegarden.com/product/_/kent-and-stowe-stainless-steel-long...

great stuff, I looked at it and thought it might not be sturdy enough ( my new spear and Jackson trowel bent trying to get below 4" ).
But I see it has a 15 year guarantee, so I'm on a freeroll if I break it in the first week or two.

thanks

@Blackbarn,

I bought the equivalent tool from homebase on Sunday, hmmmm not a lot of use in the stone filled stuff I'm digging.
Think I'm taking it back for a refund at the weekend.

Also bought a small 'gold digger' type pointy spade, much better.

440 daffodils planted so far, aiming for between 1000 and 2000 so a lot more to go.

Think I need to find a Polish attachment for the spade ( Someone who'll dig for £7/hour )