combination planting with spring bulbs

Really lovely and inspiring ideas, thank you, all of you

All 3 beds are raised by 8" and 6 sided, estimating something over a sq m per bed and I have now ordered

bed 1, tulip collection mix of purples and streaked orange with violas sorbet orange duet

Bed 2, narcissus sensation plus auricula mixed

Bed 3, giant mixed crocus plus a hyacinth mix

I don`t want any shrubs in those beds and nothing potentially a nuisance. I am not going to overplant but will add some bark from time to time. Those beds will give me a cheery outlook during spring, then the rest of my garden will follow on.

Main garden, ground cover sedums, echinacea, cranesbill geraniums (not the thuggish blue ones) apple trees, roses, standard gooseberries. All easy care and the sedums are great weed suppressors. No grass and generally 5 years old and proven to work as I wanted

In large permanent pots on my very large L shaped patio 5 figs, 2 square self watering pots of twisty agapanthus, 6 beautiful productive blueberries and several etageres with troughs for summer/autumn trailing begonias. I have bought brown paper bags and will try to save the corms this winter

I have been incredibly busy, making everything ready for an easy life as I get older. eg I have emptied, dismantled and removed 4 large metal vegrugs and umpteen large and very large pots. I only have two lavenders left now, dwarf each side of my front door and easy to trim into ball shapes. They are in the ground. I used to have a lot needing trimming

I actually have golden bamboo in my raised beds, and spring bulbs. I didn't know it would work, but the bamboo dies back from november & the bulbs power through, in april I have tulips among the new shoots of bamboo which I think look lovely.
Although bamboo is a thug, its roots mean that the soil is always well-drained so my bulbs come back year after year. And the spikes of the old bamboo discourage badgers / squirrels from digging the bulbs up.

I had camassia in my last garden. They have lovely blue flower spikes and don't need any care other than to remove the flowers after they've gone over. When the foliage starts to die off it can look tatty but I'd planted hostas and irises to the front of them which camouflaged the dying leaves. Reminds me that I must buy some more of these bulbs.

I am a lazy gardener. I have snowdrops and crocus, mixed with bluebells and tulips. (My garden is pink/blue, but you could add mini-daffs - they are not so ugly when they die off, as the bigger ones) My fritillaria only lasted 3 years. They grow up through my snow-on-the mountain. Then I have Japanese anemone that swamp them all later in Summer, but I do have to pull them out a lot because they are invasive. My peonies come later than all the Spring bulbs and are gone by October, dying right back to ground. The birds donated poppies, which come in Summer, but I do sometimes need to pull the last out

My mother always called wallflowers gilly flowers, not heard it used in other parts of the country other than the Midlands.

Gilly with a soft 'g'.

twiglet77

Super ideas here which I’m following g. Do wallflowers not need watering?

They need water, particularly at first but they are fairly happy in drier conditions. We had some self-setters which grew in cracks between paving slabs!

I like tulipa turkestanica, they will naturalise and they look lovely. Also Scilla Siberica.

Super ideas here which I’m following g. Do wallflowers not need watering?

We have daffodils and muscari planted for a blue/yellow show in the Spring. Also planted are a variety of geraniums. In the middle of the bed are big blue/purple flowering ones. Around the edges are smaller pink or blue flowering ones. The geraniums help to hide all the leaves from the daffs and muscari as they dry out. Once the geraniums are cut back in the autumn the bed turns red white and green with cyclamen. All I ever really do is clear up the leaves and put a layer of bark down.

When the bulbs have finished flowering you could sprinkle annual wildflower seeds. These would provide a colourful summer display. Then pull the lot out when they’re over.

Another fan of Alliums here, I prefer the giant Christophii ones. They have a long flowering period and the seed heads are still decorative in my garden. The stalks are thick and not too tall so that they withstand all weathers. I planted them years ago and the numbers have not diminished.

I have some pots with Muscari planted with Narcissi Yellow Cheerfulness, which flower at the same time and the colours really complement each other.

Enjoy your planting!

Cyclamen are pretty and will flower in Spring and again in Autumn.

Muscari (grape hyacinths) add blue colour and they spread year by year. Forget me nots are lovely for a soft effect but they do self seed everywhere!

I would put alium bulbs in, they look lovely whilst they’re growing and flower after tulips then the seed heads also look good . The small ones are lovely and will keep coming back

crocus flower before daffodils as a rule.

Why nit go to Goodle, type what yu want then maybe you will get a number os ideas.

J52

I’d put a couple of small slow growing conifers in for interest, perhaps a couple of largish rocks as well. You could buy some snowdrops in the green next spring and plant them for repeated flowering, small spring iris bulbs and Pulmonaria are pretty and will spread.
It is worth bearing in mind that modern bulbs are treated ( not sure how) but they often diminish in quality as years go by. They can also perish if the soil becomes too wet. Monty recommends replacing tulips every couple of years

That sounds lovely.

Definitely wallflowers. As Jaxjacky says the perfume is fabulous.
I am planting forget-me-nots with my bulbs this year. Not done that before, so can't wait to see what it looks like

I have a bulb bed, and plant bulbs that will flower through the year in it. Nerines are good because they give colour in the autumn, and the leaves in the spring are less ugly when surrounded by spring flowering bulbs. I’ve also got cyclamen corms, and a couple of peonies. I tried crocosmia, but it was a thug, and the bulbs are so densely packed they drowned out the spring flowering bulbs so I dug them out.

I’d put a couple of small slow growing conifers in for interest, perhaps a couple of largish rocks as well. You could buy some snowdrops in the green next spring and plant them for repeated flowering, small spring iris bulbs and Pulmonaria are pretty and will spread.
It is worth bearing in mind that modern bulbs are treated ( not sure how) but they often diminish in quality as years go by. They can also perish if the soil becomes too wet. Monty recommends replacing tulips every couple of years

oh yes, thanks Jaxjacky, nice combination

I have just ordered again crocus, hyacinths, narcissi and auricula

I do have another space I can fill

Wallflowers with tulips underneath, warm tones and lovely scent.