Bulb Planting Season

November 3, 2025 / Emma Emmerson

Don’t forget that this is bulb planting season. Planting conditions for bulbs and plants are good at the moment with the recent rain giving us some much needed moisture in the soil. Whilst some of our varieties have already sold out, we still have plenty left to create a good splash of colour in spring.

Eye-catching bulbs

Here are just some of the bulbs that are particularly eye-catching and a little bit unusual

  • Tulip Finola – large blousy pink peony-like blooms
  • Fritillaria meleagris – the popular Snake’s Head Fritillary. Perfect for naturalising in grass or in informal borders
  • Hyacinthoides non-scripta – our beautiful native British Bluebell. Great for woodland gardens and for planting underneath deciduous trees and shrubs
  • Narcissus Mixed Butterflies – gorgeous frilly daffodil flowers with flared trumpets in pretty shades of cream and yellow

Alliums

I’m a huge fan of these stately flowers which are in the same family as chives and onions. We have several varieties to choose from:

  • Gladiator – giant purple heads upto 20cm diameter on stems around 1m in height
  • Mount Evereste – a strong form with white flowers
  • Globemaster – another tall purple variety with large flower heads
  • Schubertii  – dramatic loose heads of metallic pink lowers which have a star-burst like effect
  • Purple Sensation – the most popular and relaible purple alliums growing to around 60cm high
  • Christophii – Loose clusters of pinky purplish flowers on stems around 60cm high

Or if you can’t decide which to grow, we have packs of mixed alliums which are excellent value at £5.99 per pack of 12.

All Alliums need a well drained soil in full sun, and are very good for  pollinating insects such as bees and hoverflies. They make a dramatic display in the garden with their distinctive globe shaped clusters of flowers that are carried high above strap-like foliage.

I think they work brilliantly in a herbaceous border, where the sometimes scruffy leaves are covered by the growth of the herbaceous plants, allowing the flowers to tower above them. Many years ago I took a group of gardeners on a trip to Highgrove House, and we saw probably the best display of Alliums ever – in a grassy meadow amongst the buttercups. There must have been thousands of Alliums planted there and what a planting combination! We don’t all have the luxury of being able to plant on this scale, but even a small group of alliums in your garden will create a wonderful and long lasting display.