We hope your garden is coming to life with colourful spring bulbs. Maybe you planted them last autumn or they have been there for many years. As you admire the vibrant colours take the opportunity to check that all the clumps are doing well.
When a spring bulb is in flower it really is the best time to check the health of the plant. Over time clumps of spring bulbs will increase, and can start to get crowded. Others may be at the end of their lives and have stopped flowering. Your garden design may have changed and the spring bulb is now in the wrong place.
Traditional advice is to put a garden cane or marker by a clump of spring bulbs that need your attention. I recommend you also take a photo so you can see what the problem was when you come to act.
Now is not the time to act. With spring bulbs, the best time to move, divide or replant is 6-8 weeks after the bulb has finished flowering and all the leaves have died back. That means it will be mid to late May before you do anything, and by then everything else will have grown up and could be in flower. This makes it difficult to remember what you wanted to do with the bulbs, so a photo is the ideal memory jogger.
Many people like to plant bulbs near hedges or under trees to mimic their natural woodland habitat. Spring bulbs look fantastic in this setting. If you want to create this look, please do take the needs of your tree or hedge into account. The hedge or tree has surface and deeper roots, they can tolerate a little disturbance as you did down to plant bulbs, but give the plant a chance and don’t dig trenches for bulbs all the way round a tree or along the length of a hedge.
Here at Chopwell we want to help our customers achieve the look they desire in their garden. Call our friendly team for advice on how bring colour into your garden this spring!
