It's never too early to order spring bulbs.
Looking through an online catalogue yesterday to see what growers have for us this year, I was alarmed to find that a new Dutch iris was already sold out.
Indoors or in the garden, it's the early bird who catches the worm.
I love Dutch irises (I. x hollandica), bulbous irises that flower in early October alongside self-seeding columbines (Aquilegia sp.) and limey green drumheads of Euphorbia characias.
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They have smaller flowers than rhizomatous, bearded irises that flower a month later (see The Land, January 28) and being bulbous are easier to maintain as they appear obligingly year after year with little effort on your part and rarely need dividing and replanting.
Their name is slightly misleading as they are hybrids of species from Spain, Portugal and North Africa.
The crosses were carried out by Dutch breeders in the 19th century and the flowers became popular with florists as they could be forced in a greenhouse and lasted well as cut flowers.
They appear to cross readily, as new varieties come and go all the time.
Indeed, if you find one you love, mark its place in the garden, in case you lose it only to find it has vanished from catalogues.
I'm closely guarding my recently acquired Autumn Princess (another misleading name as Dutch iris are spring bloomers) which has deeply veined, soft purple standards and lovely bronze-yellow falls.
Pure white Casablanca, yellow and white Apollo and rich blue Professor Blauw multiply quickly and are long lasting in flower both outdoors and in.
If you like darker colours, Red Ember has purple standards and burgundy falls and Purple Sensation is deep, devilish purple, with falls splashed golden yellow.
The earliest and perhaps the most beautiful bulbous irises are the dwarf, winter-flowering I. reticulata, in shades of blue, purple and white, and tiny, delicate I. histroides Kathleen Hodgkin with blue-white flowers exquisitely spotted and streaked in darker blue.
They are gorgeous among the marbled leaves of winter cyclamen but I've had little success in keeping them, let alone persuading them to multiply.
They remain one of those elusive dreams that hover over my gardening life, forever just out of reach.
Hyacinths, on the other hand, are obligingly easy.
Plant bulbs in pots, close but not touching, noses just beneath the surface, put them in your chilliest, darkest corner, keep damp and bring them into the warmth of the kitchen when flower spikes first appear.
When planting, bulb fibre is best for drainage, sterile potting mix is best for keeping bulbs well-fed and plump to plant out next spring.
There's no nicer present for somebody with a mid-winter birthday.
I grow them for our daughter with a July birthday and now that we have a granddaughter born in June I need to get cracking earlier.
Bulbs take 12 to 13 weeks from planting to spicily scented bloom.
Garden Express (www.gardenexpress.com.au/) offer hyacinth bulbs in a wide colour range.
Dutch iris Autumn Princess is available from Van Diemen Quality Bulbs (www.vdqbulbs.com.au/), three for $4.60.
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