Spring Bulbs: the heralds of summer

At the moment at Hegarty Hall, Lesley has some stunning black tulips by a small terrace just outside the kitchen. Out in her Romantic Garden are violet and white tulips. And up in the woods are some vermilion stunners. Quite why they are there in the woods we can only speculate. Some gardener long gone no doubt! And why they survive also makes us wonder.

Tulips do tend to fade out after a few years and also favour sun. Our speculation is that since her soil is thin over solid free draining limestone this helps. And there must be sufficient sun penetrating the tree canopy for them to survive.

Seeing her tulips reminded me of one of our formal garden designs in Clifton and photographs we recently received from the gardener there:The garden is behind a five storey regency townhouse. And this photo is taken from the terrace,below which the real garden sits a further storey down! So we were quite clear that a strong ground plan was important since the garden would mostly be seen from above.

Our garden design was constructed last year with planting taking place in the autumn. So the timing was perfect to put a layer of bulbs in among the herbaceous perennials at time of planting. And there is no doubt that spring bulbs give that extra boost to the start of a new garden. But in any garden they give us an extra boost of visual enjoyment after a long grim winter. They are heralds of summer magnificence to come.

Of course in the spring there is an 'almost any thing goes' aspect to attitudes to colour. You will find that many gardeners who shun yellow do not mind yellow daffs. However, a 'dolly mixtures' approach is best avoided and you can tell from Lesley's garden that the good garden designer thinks location, colour and grouping. (Well except for the scarlet tulips in the wood!)

Here in this Clifton Bristol garden design

our clients favoured pastel colours and so even our bulb choices reflect that. So tasteful!

R