GARDENING is full of surprises. When we re-did the front garden last year I expected to lose lots of bulbs.
I'd saved a few, including my much-loved, mid-winter flowering Paperwhite narcissus (N. papyraceous) but I then became disheartened digging randomly for other, later flowering treasures and resigned myself to their loss.
Yet this winter, every time I began weeding I discovered new clumps of bulbs.
They had evidently survived the upheavals overhead and had gone on quietly existing and multiplying far below ground, ready to emerge in their own good time. I couldn't have been more thrilled.
Most of my spring bulbs flower in September so the August bloomers are extra special, a sign that winter is nearly past and lovely spring will soon be here.
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True snowdrops (Galanthus) are the first to flower, opening in late July, a week or so before the similar but taller snowflakes (Leucojum vernum). English snowdrops (G. nivalis) like damp woodland but elegant G. elwesii hails from sunny Turkey, though in a dry winter the flower stems may not reach their full height of 25cm.
I shouldn't have been surprised at the re-emergence of the bright gold jonquil, Narcissus Soleil d'Or, it's one of the most irrepressible bulbs in the garden. It's slightly taller than the snowdrops (30cm) so it's tempting to pick a few for indoors. All I can say is, don't, after 24 hours it smells like unwashed socks.
The creamy white jonquil, N. Silver Chimes (35cm) has no such problem, a cluster has been sitting on my desk for three days and looks and smells gorgeous. This jonquil starts flowering in mid-August at the same time as Soleil d'Or, just as the snowdrops finish and continues for several weeks.
Another early starter is the miniature yellow daffodil, N. Tete a Tete. This is a true miniature, fetchingly pretty in the shelter of a rock, alongside a patch of a rosy purple, winter flowering wallflower.
Cat's Tail (Bulbinella floribunda) from south-western South Africa has poker (Kniphofia) type spikes of canary yellow flowers. For many years a clump growing in a windy, exposed position near the front drive flowers reliably in late August, but I'm thinking its narrow, grassy leaves would flower earlier in the more sheltered conditions of the front garden and would fit in well.
Purple stylosa iris (I. unguicularis) Mary Barnard would make a good companion, with early flowering Crocus tommasianus in front.
Another surprise has been how well the low growing, early flowering bulbs fit into the replanted garden with its rocks, small shrubs and clusters of ornamental grasses. They look absolutely natural and I'm hoping that their leaves will settle into the dried lucerne mulch as they die down.
At this stage they are maintenance-free though down the track I'll probably have to dig and replant the more invasive grape hyacinths (Muscari) and spring star flowers (Tritelia, syn. Ipheion).
This year's Daffodils at Rydal (www.rydal.com.au), an annual event held during the second and third weekends in September, has been cancelled due to COVID-19.
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