Plants with Purpose: Summer Bulbs

In the first of a new series, Carol Klein looks at the plant groups every gardener should grow. This month, find out how to plant and care for summer bulbs

- By Carol Klein. Photographs Jason Ingram, Sarah Cuttle, Paul Debois

If you want to find one word to make most gardeners smile, just say bulbs. It is a magical word conjuring up a thousand pictures – and all of them in glorious technicolour. No other group of plants sets the heart racing and the imagination whirring more than bulbs. Their other attraction is that they are so rewarding – dig a hole, drop in your bulb, forget about it then in a few months’ time rejoice when suddenly fat buds burst into a flurry of colour. Their show is spectacular and, though it may not be prolonged, with a little thoughtful planning a succession of different bulbs can be used to bring colourful variety to beds and borders, balconies and patios and shady corners. If you don’t already grow bulbs that flower in summer’s dog days, you simply don’t know what you are missing. There’s a world of treats waiting to be explored that will delight your senses, attract pollinators and bring pizazz and panache to your summer borders.

The tradition of planting bulbs in autumn that will flower in spring is long established. It is part of our gardening DNA. Daffodils, tulips and a host of other bulbs are planted and enjoyed in their millions, but summer-flowering bulbs are less appreciated. Perhaps it is to do with spring bulbs arriving at a time when our gardens are comparatively stark, their colour and jollity announcing the beginning of the gardening year. By summer, though, the garden party is in full swing and there is all-round competition.