Giving bulbs a lift

By Jim McColl

Published:

The so called Spanish bluebell

NOW that we’ve had a week of great weather, let’s be thankful. That might just be all the spring we are going to get.

I got into that kind of conversation with some chums the other night. We were actually talking about how slow the grass growth has been and that now, suddenly, it has taken off.

We came north to Aberdeenshire in 1973, having spent a lot of years south of the border. For 12 of those, we were in the Midlands, where spring was quite recognisable and predictable most years.

My abiding memory of our first spring (1974) here in Aberdeenshire was that there really wasn’t one! One day it was still winter and, a couple of days later, spring – and then, woosh, summer had arrived. To date, I have actually cut the front lawn four times, and seven days is now too long an interval.

In the back garden, I have a little area of naturalised bulbs which haven’t done so well this time. I am going to take the opportunity this year to lift the clumps and split them up before replanting.

Because there is much to do in the garden at this time of the year, the likelihood is that I will sheugh them in somewhere out of the way to let the leaves die down completely and then, in late summer, I will lift the lot again, grade the bulbs for size and replant the best of them in a new location.

The same can be done with other bulbs, and need I remind you that now is the recommended time to shift snowdrops, when they are still “in the green”?

The same technique can be applied to bluebells, but that brings me to another wee problem. You may have noticed reports about the spread of Spanish bluebell, a much more vigorous and aggressive species than the native.

In a sense, you could say that the arguments are rather similar to the situation with grey and red squirrels. It is a case of a foreign interloper being more robust than the native. What’s to be done?

Well I confess to being in a bit of a dilemma on this, and I’ll tell you for why. I don’t like grey squirrels and I do believe that stronger measures should be taken to limit their spread, especially where they threaten the very existence of the reds.

On the other hand, I actually like the Spanish bluebell for the very reason that you can often grow it where the native one will not thrive. The trouble is, it is a great deal more precocious than the native; it hybridises wherever it pops up and it seems to be able to spread insidiously.

The solution to the problem is in making people aware of the dangers. Even within your own garden you may see new clumps of Spanish bluebell emerge in places where you are sure you never planted them. That is how this rascal spreads – och, it actually looks quite nice there. Natural, eh? The next jump is over the fence and it’s away. Be aware of that – keep it penned in and enjoy.

Before moving on, one last comment about lifting bulbs. In the same conversation, when the spring growth was discussed, another question was asked. It was about tulips.

In autumn 2006, my pal planted some new tulips that gave a wonderful display in spring 2007. He left them in situ as you would daffodils. This year, there are some gaps and the plants that have emerged have pretty sad looking leaves and if there are flowers they, too, are misshapen, small and lacking the vibrant colours of 2007.

What’s up? Answer – do you remember how wet it was last July? That would have killed or severely damaged some tulip bulbs. Many tulip types are better lifted after flowering, put in a well aired cold frame where they will be protected from the wet and planted back in the autumn.

The Dutch suppliers refer to some tulips as “botanical tulips”. What they generally mean is the group which includes the Fosteriana, Greigii and hybrids such as Red Riding Hood, Kaufmaniana, and so on. These will naturalise successfully and are usually chosen for planting in rock gardens and similar situations where the soil is free-draining.

The so called garden tulips, basically all the others – including Single early, Double early, Triumph, Darwin, Lily-flowered, Parrot, Rembrandt, Single and Double late-flowered – should be lifted and dried off each year. These names refer to divisions of the tulip family; within each one there are numerous varieties).

Gardening Scotland

Not long to go now before Gardening Scotland opens its doors to the public once again at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, Newbridge, near Edinburgh. Dates are Friday and Saturday, May 30-31, and Sunday, June 1. Get it in the diary if you haven’t already done so because we have a belter of a show for you once again.

I hardly dare say it, but it would appear that the Forth Road Bridge will be open as normal – no contra-flow. For people who travel from Fife, Perthshire, Aberdeenshire and all points north, that will surely make a significant difference. For the show organisers and Gardening Scotland board, it is a blessed relief.

While we have lost one or two exhibitors, some simply because of retirement, the Floral Hall will be packed full of goodies. This year, we have brought together bonsai, flower-arranging and botanical art in a combination which I hope will be to your liking.

There is no Royal Botanic Garden bumper display this year, although it will be playing its part in various other guises. But this year, the Scottish Rock Garden Club celebrates its 75th anniversary and we can expect something a bit special from it.

The Living Garden will be louping; the beekeepers are back with their “walk-through” hive, and the theatre, in a slightly different position, will be alive with a great variety of activities, kicking off with The Fred Macaulay Show going out live on Friday morning.

Frieda and the Potting Shed team will be there on Saturday and Sunday, and breaking new ground, we have a fashion show with a difference each day at 1.30pm presented by the students of Heriot-Watt University and hosted by Beechgrove’s Carolyn Spray. Get yourself down there – I look forward to seeing you.

Rock Garden Club Show

The Aberdeenshire branch of the Scottish Rock Garden Club will hold its spring show this Saturday in the Ruthrieston Church Halls, Broomhill Rd, Aberdeen, from 11.30am until 4pm. If you are not a member, you will be asked to pay £2 – worth every groat!

You don’t need a lot of room to accommodate a rock-garden feature – you can even make a start with no more than a trough. With experts on hand to advise and plants available to purchase, if ever you fancied having a miniature mountain landscape in your back garden now is your chance.