The beauty of bulbs...

9:30am Friday 14th March 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

DAFFODILS are always a cheery and welcome sight in early spring but I must confess that, by the time they have been out for a week or so, I'm ready for something a bit more subtle.

There are plenty of other spring bulbs we can use in our gardens, though I will admit that not many of them would fill a roundabout or grass verge quite as efficiently as daffs.

Among my favourites are the erythroniums, which I mention every spring because they are excellent garden plants; once established they will come up reliably year after year, providing colour and interest over a period of several weeks.

Jobs for the week...

Sow cabbages, broccoli and other brassicas in a sheltered seed bed or in trays in the cold greenhouse.

Prune Buddleias (B. davidii and cultivars) by cutting back hard to a low framework of stout stems about a foot high. The plants will flower in late summer, on shoots produced this spring.

Prune hardy fuchsias to ground level.

Fo find out more about erythroniums see this week's Leisure section in The Westmorland Gazette.