Planting flowers

Ciarrai76

I need some flowers for a bit of colour in my garden. I'm not sure where to start though and I'm not much of a gardener! I have seen flower bulbs in those euro shops, such as Dealz etc, and am just wonder are they as simple as dig a patch in garden, plant & wait for them to grow?? I was thinking that the perennials would be better so I'd have them each year.

Are these bulbs ok to just plant in garden or are they more for pots & greenhouses etc?

looksee

It could be as simple as that! However a lot of those bulbs, corms and plants are now getting late in the season, many of them have been in the shops too long, and the whole thing could be a gamble.

It usually tells you on the packet what sort of conditions the plants prefer. Most of them would be ok in the garden.

Have a careful look at the plants. If there is a lot of straggly pale growth they have already used all their strength growing that far, and are unlikely to survive in the garden. If they are bulbs, can you see a lot of pale green, if there is no more than half an inch of a shoot you might be ok, but gently press the bulbs. If they are soft or you cannot feel a hard inside to the bulb, they are no use. If there is a shoot and still a firm bulb it may well grow.

Generally you get what you pay for. Reduced price bulbs and plants at this time of year would not usually be the best, but you might want to take a chance.

I would be more inclined to spend the few euros on a tray or two of well-grown annuals from a local garden centre to get your splash of colour this year, then buy bulbs at a more suitable time of year (generally autumn). On the whole perennials are better grown from seed, or purchased as properly grown plants.

Ciarrai76

looksee wrote: »

It could be as simple as that! However a lot of those bulbs, corms and plants are now getting late in the season, many of them have been in the shops too long, and the whole thing could be a gamble.

It usually tells you on the packet what sort of conditions the plants prefer. Most of them would be ok in the garden.

Have a careful look at the plants. If there is a lot of straggly pale growth they have already used all their strength growing that far, and are unlikely to survive in the garden. If they are bulbs, can you see a lot of pale green, if there is no more than half an inch of a shoot you might be ok, but gently press the bulbs. If they are soft or you cannot feel a hard inside to the bulb, they are no use. If there is a shoot and still a firm bulb it may well grow.

Generally you get what you pay for. Reduced price bulbs and plants at this time of year would not usually be the best, but you might want to take a chance.

I would be more inclined to spend the few euros on a tray or two of well-grown annuals from a local garden centre to get your splash of colour this year, then buy bulbs at a more suitable time of year (generally autumn). On the whole perennials are better grown from seed, or purchased as properly grown plants.

thanks for your advice!
I also noticed in the perennials packs, they seemed to have a lot of either soil or sort of saw dust for want of a better word. How does this all get planted?

These packs have very little info or instructions, just some diagrams and they tend to say plant March - May, so I was thinking the time of year would be ok.

I was going to plant normal flowers from trays, but I thought if I got these bulbs now, they would bloom by July (as they say they will on the pack!). My only other issue is how much sun do these all need as the area I need a bit more colour is by a back wall in back garden. Our back garden gets a lot of sunshine, mainly in afternoon, however not sure if they will get enough at the wall and if they will all just die!?

We are lucky to have quite a nice garden which was well landscaped when we bought the house, and I've managed it ok to now, but flowers are the main thing it needs, as it has lots of shrubs/trees, but not enough colour. I do plant boxes/baskets during summer, but thought having some perennial flowers in garden would brighten it up a bit. I just don't have enough confidence with what to do!