Complimentary flowers/shrubs for bulbs

Loire

Hi,

I am trying to build up a border with plants / flowers / shrubs in my garden (south facing).

I like colour, particular whites and pinks. I have a few rose bushes planted but picked up a box of mixed bulbs in Lidl the other day.

The box contains:

lilium brindisi (50)
dahlia deco pink (3)
zephyranthus (100)
freesia sinlge pink (100)
gladiolus rose supreme (100)

Apart from planting the taller ones behind the shorter ones, I'm not sure what to plant with them - if I only plant these on their own in a circa 5 foot patch it could look great in the summer but empty for the rest of the year. Any ideas on complementary plant / shrubs etc?

Thanks!
Loire.

looksee

I'm sorry to be a wet blanket, but don't run away with the idea you are going to get anything resembling 350 flowers like the ones on the box! I would be more inclined to put in a framework of shrubs and flowers into your border, then put in the bulbs around them. Those bulbs are often undersized and would really need a couple of years of careful growing on before planting in a border. Put them in, certainly, you might be lucky.

vicwatson

Compli or comple mentory? Thread title ?

looksee

Well the flowers and shrubs are hardly likely to be making speeches, are they?

vicwatson

looksee wrote: »

Well the flowers and shrubs are hardly likely to be making speeches, are they?

No, but it be nice to know when seeing the thread title if there are free flowers/shrubs going

macraignil

Loire wrote: »

Hi,

I am trying to build up a border with plants / flowers / shrubs in my garden (south facing).

I like colour, particular whites and pinks. I have a few rose bushes planted but picked up a box of mixed bulbs in Lidl the other day.

The box contains:

lilium brindisi (50)
dahlia deco pink (3)
zephyranthus (100)
freesia sinlge pink (100)
gladiolus rose supreme (100)

Apart from planting the taller ones behind the shorter ones, I'm not sure what to plant with them - if I only plant these on their own in a circa 5 foot patch it could look great in the summer but empty for the rest of the year. Any ideas on complementary plant / shrubs etc?

Thanks!
Loire.

Viburnum tinus has nice white flowers in winter and there's a type of variegated hebe that has light purple tips to the foliage all year round. Also with white flowers that put on a great show but don't last as long is the shrub called philadelphus or mock orange. There are also a number of spirea shrubs that have nice pink and white flowers and oregano can be found in a pink and white flowered variety. It's a good idea to plant the shrubs before the bulbs as when you are digging there is a danger of chopping through dormant bulbs by accident as they are not obvious on the surface.