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Spring Bulbs and Wildlife

It is the time of year that bulbs need to be planted ready for spring flowering, though Tulips are best planted in November. This year I have got lots of ideas.....

 As you're aware last spring I bought plants and made some displays in pots with differing levels of success, they did look pretty for example my Hyacinths looked stunning and smelt wonderful but fell over. I did not have the wow effect of spring flowers that I was looking for, one bluebell here with one daffodil there was not the result I wanted. 

 Last Years Spring Planting

 This year is all change and I have decided to go for bulbs and lots of colour. Part of the motivation is that the babies due date is the 1st January and it would be very lovely to have plants that would give us all some beauty with not too much effort.

 I have been doing some research as I wanted to improve the wildlife aspect to the garden and what I have found is very interesting. The fact that bright, yellow, beautiful daffodils do not have much pollen for our bees and that we need single flower varieties, not all these adapted double flowers, I kind of like this "keep it simple" approach.

 Keep out for the RHS Logo on plants that you buy to help choose ones that help our pollinators we can all do a little bit when looking for plants and these logos do help me.


These are a few flowers that have been noted for attracting bees are:

English Bluebells

Crocus

Snowdrops

Hellebors

The one daffodil to try is the Narcissus pseudonarcissus this is the wild daffodil.

Snake Head fritillary

This has given me something to work with and I shall be buying a mix of all the above but I will be mixing in with this Narcissus as I just love the yellow spring colours.

I will have pots by the front door packed with pretty yellow Narcissus these will be the dwarf varierties, so when we arrive or leave the house there will be lots of happy, yellow flowers.

 In the border I will do a mix of crocus, bluebells, snowdrops, hellebore's, Snake Head fritillary and wild daffodils. We will be putting a membrane down and cutting out where the bulbs are going to go then covering with a layer of bark. As spring comes in I will buy some primroses and plant them up in the border.

The baskets attached to the walls will have a few different bulbs, maybe some small tulips, again not great for the bees, but hopefully my border full of wildlife bulbs will give a good mix.

 I will also be buying myself a bee hotel, but that will be another blog.

 So here we go on another adventure and I will of course post when these get planted and how we do it. 
Then we can see what has worked and what has not as I learn more every year and happy to share my successes and disasters!

 A couple of links for wildlife gardening

 RHS Guide to helping wildlife

Thompson & Morgan guide to encouraging bees

A Cornish Mum

Mami 2 Five

Comments

  1. Mark Willis4 October 2015 at 07:46

    Sounds as if you have made some sensible decisions there. I'm currently very enthused by Hellebores, so I'll be most interested in how you get on with those. I bought some as plug plants, which is a good-value way to get started. They are expensive to buy as mature plants, but take ages to grow from seeds.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Something Crunchy Mummy10 October 2015 at 20:49

    Sounds lovely - wish I could get garden organised, maybe in our new house. Thanks got linking up to #justanotherlinky xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Stevie - A Cornish Mum12 October 2015 at 22:57

    I get awful hayfever most years, but once our garden is done I really do want flowers, I may have to research which are the least likely to affect me! So excited for you about the future new addition :)

    Stevie xx Thanks for linking up to #PicknMix

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lucy Howard16 October 2015 at 06:57

    This all sounds wonderful. I love the idea of having happy yellow flowers by your front door to greet you. I also think the idea of having a border full of colourful bulbs to attract that bees sounds great. I really want to do something similar in our new garden. I can't wait to read more about it. Hugs Mrs H xxxxx

    ReplyDelete
  5. Life-As-Mum16 October 2015 at 22:11

    Sounds lovely. I'm terrible in the garden! My nain loves her gardening though. Thank you for linking up with #justanotherlinky

    ReplyDelete

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