Bulbs and Shrubs for a spring garden

There are scores of different species of irises and more appear each season, in fact irises is a genus of 260 -300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers, which never cease to amaze me, there beauty is from another world, and they fit inwith any landscrape.

Bulbous Iris

There are English, Dutch and Spanish irises within this group.

The Dutch Iris produces larger blooms early in spring and plantings are usually made from February to May in New Zealand.

The English iris thrives in cold districts but needs good winter drainage, the flowers appear in Summer in various hues of blue, wine and white.

The Spanish iris, planted at the same time of the year as the Dutch irises, will flower in late spring and are ideal cut flowers.

All bulbous irises like a light rich soil and the bulbs should be lifted each year after the foliage has died down.

Other Iris species are Bearded Iris, Japanese Iris, Dwarf Iris.

Bearded Irises - They flower when most of the spring flowers have waned, flower colour is wide ranging.

Japanese Iris - Thrives in damp situations, and in summer bears immense flowers in colours ranging from white to lavender, blue, violrt and purple.

The soil should be well enriched with organic material, are ideal for edges of pools, you can leave them for two or three years before dividing and replanting in early spring.

Dwarf Iris - Bears flowers of yellow, plum and white, in early spring.

The photo above is the Aphylla Iris.

Photo Credit.

The first sign that spring is arriving is when you see the snowdrops.

Snowdrops are the earliest of all bulbs. They open their white, winged flowers before anyone dares whisper spring.

With the first hint of lengthening days, spring bulbs begin to make an appearance.

Galanthus Snowdrop is a small genus of about 20 species of bulbous herbaceous plants in the Amaryllis family.

Narcissus - The best known members of the large narcissus family are the daffodil and the jonquil, but there are numerous other classes.

Hybridising has resulted in thousands of varieties.

Daffodil is a common English name, sometimes used now for all varieties.

The range of forms in cultivation has been heavily modified and extended, with new variations available from specialists almost every year.

The Photo below is the Narcissus Geranium (daffodil).

All narcissi need a similar growing medium, well drained, well dug light soil dressed with bonedust or basic slag.

The bulbs should be planted in autumn with planting depth equalling twice the bulb diameter.

Bulbs in borders often need to be lifted and separted every two or three years.

Photo Credit.

Gardeners when referring to bulbs,include not only true bulbs, but also plants that arise from corns, tubers and thickened rhizomes like the iris.

A true bulb, such as daffodil, is a short underground stem surrounded by fleshy leaves or scales.

A corm is a smaller underground portion of stem covered with one or more dead leaf bases.
Gladiolus is a well known example.

A tuber is a short underground stem which stores food.
Tubers are rounded, as in potatoes, flattened as in tuberous begonias, or irregular in the case of ranunculus.
Dahlias are an example of tuberous roots, the food being stored in the roots rather than in the tuber.

Spring maybe the main season for bulbs, but there are also many beautiful flowering bulbs for summer and autumn display.
Dahlias is one of them.

Photo Credit.

Tulips are spring-blooming perennials that grow from bulbs.

Depending on the species, tulip plants can grow as short as 4 inches (10 cm) or as high as 28 inches (71 cm).

With daffodils tulips must be ranked as the most striking spring flowering bulb.

There are many garden varieties and most can be grown quite easily in any free draining, well dug loam.

They should be planted between March and June (in New Zealand) September to December (in USA) and do especially well if
well rotted manure is worked into the soil some weeks before planting.

Tulip bulbs should be planted 15 cms (6 ins) deep in light soil and 10 cm (4 ins) deep in heavy soil.

The somewhat tender bulbs fare best if protected by 2-3 cms (1 1/4 ins) of clean sand.

Treated this way, the tulip will come into bloom soon after the daffodils have finished blooming the following spring.

After the leaves have withered the bulbs should be lifted carefully and stored in trays in a dry shed.

A number of species and many hybrid cultivars are grown in gardens, as potted plants, or to display as fresh-cut flowers.

Most cultivars of tulip are derived from Tulipa gesneriana.

Photo Credit.

Careful thought must be given to achieving a balance garden with trees and shrubs, that associate well together and look attractive in all seasons.

Too many deciduous trees and shrubs will result in a bare winer garden, just as a concentration of spring flowering plants makes a dull garden at other times of the year.

Rhododendrons are beautiful while flowering in the spring, you cannot help but love them, but it is short term beauty.

One thing they are evergreen and are hardy to cold, and do not require shelter from the wind.
They must have a acid soil, preferably rich in humas.

Rhododendrons range in size from dwarf shrubs to small trees, their colour range from white to pink, red, yellow, orange and blue

There are two groups of Azelas, deciduous and evergreen.

They flower in late winter and spring, they include some of the showiest and most colourful of our hardy garden shrubs.

They grow in most areas provided they have a rich acid soil, year round moisture and shelter from wind.

The Mollis azaleas are outstanding among the deciduous group, they are large growing up to two meters in height and have large colourful flowers in shades of yellow, orange, red and pink.

The Ilam hybrids are also notable.

Among the evergreen azaleas, A. kurume and its many named cultivars are widly grown, hardier than the similar but larger flowered and more tender A.indica, they can be clipped as dwarf hedges or formal specimens.

Flowers are single or double and occur in a wide range of colours from purple, to pink, white and red.
They vary in height from dwarf shrubs to 2 metre high specimens.

Anemone ranunculoides, the yellow anemone, yellow wood anemone or buttercup anemone, is a species of herbaceous perennial plant that grows in forests across most of Continental Europe, and less frequently in the Mediterranean region. It's occasionally found as a garden escape.

It flowers between March and May.
Growing to 5-15 cm tall, the plant is herbaceous, dying back down to its root-like rhizomes by mid summer.

The rhizomes spread just below the earth surface and multiply quickly, contributing to its rapid spread in woodland conditions.

The flower is about 1.5 cm diameter, with from five to eight petal-like segments (actually tepals) of rich yellow colouring.
The plant is widely grown as a garden plant, especially by rock garden and alpine garden enthusiasts

Photo Credit.

The best known is Sparaxis tricolor whose flowers are usually red or pink and white with a yellow throat.
This species has been crossed with sparaxis grandflora which is creamy white and purple.

Today these bulbs are therefore, a mixture of colours: white, cream, yellow, orange, pink, red and purple Sparaxis and blooming med spring.

Sparaxis tricolor, known by the common names Wandflower, Harlequin flower, and Sparaxis, is a bulb-forming perennial plant that grows in well-drained sunny soil.

It gained its name from its colorful flowers which are bi- or tri-coloured with a golden centre and a small ring of brown surrounded by another colour.

The plant is native to southern Africa, bearing brightly coloured spikes of flowers on slender stems.

They should be planted late summer about 5cms (2ins) apart,lift every two to three years as they tend to become overcrowded.

Photo Credit.