Dear Helen: I’ve been planting a few containers of winter pansies for our deck. Do you recommend adding any spring flowering bulbs to the pansy plantings?
C.B.
I often push a few small bulbs into the planting mix around pansies and violas that have been potted. Stick to the small plants like crocuses, glory of the snow (Chionodoxa), dwarf irises and miniature daffodils.
Dear Helen: My family is planting spring-flowering bulbs in our new garden and in pots for the patio. We are hoping for a long, uninterrupted display of flowers and would appreciate a basic list from the earliest to the last as a guide for filling in any gaps in the spring season of bulb bloom.
L.S.
Packaged spring flower bulbs are usually marked as early, mid-spring, or late to bloom. I can give you a roster of early to late bulbs that you can expect to find locally, with their approximate time of bloom. Keep in mind, however, that the exact timing will vary with location, though the sequence of flowering will remain the same. Also, in their first spring in a garden the plants will bloom later than they will in the years to follow. I pot bulbs for outdoor display at about the half-way mark of the pot’s depth and winter them against a house wall or in some other space sheltered from winter rain. The pots need occasional checking to make sure the planting mix is kept at least slightly moist.
Any squirrels in the neighbourhood will go after tulips in pots. Provide some protection. Single Early and Triumph tulips are good for pots.
Bloom sequence:
Late winter (February and March): snowdrops (Galanthus), winter aconites (Eranthis), and snow crocus followed by large flowering Dutch crocuses and dwarf irises (Iris reticulata).
March: Chionodoxa (glory of the snow), Trumpet daffodils including slightly compact versions of the classic King Alfred. Dutch Master is an example. Some miniature daffodils bloom early. Tete a Tete is a popular favourite for garden beds and containers.
March and April: Hyacinths begin flowering in late March, as do early tulips including the majestic Emperor tulips in the Fosteriana class along with Single Early and Double Early tulips. Cupped, Double, and many dwarf daffodils bloom in this period, as do grape hyacinths (Muscari).
April: Triumph tulips begin flowering in April. These are strong, multi-purpose tulips, beautiful in form and vividly variable in colour.
Late April and May: Darwin Hybrid and Darwin tulips, along with Double Late, Lily flowered, Parrot and Fringed tulips. Green-flamed (Viridiflora) tulips usually wind up the tulip season.
May and early June. Viridiflora tulips sometimes flower into June. This is the time slot for slender, graceful Dutch irises.
Dear Helen: In assessing the state of my garden this autumn, I am noting several plants that never seem to do well no matter how I pamper them. Some look sickly or never bloom. Others manage to outpace my constant pruning to become territory-swallowing monsters. How do you arrive at decisions on dealing with such plants?
P.G.
I view my garden as a sanity-saving realm of calming peace. Having an “awkward squad” of troublesome plants does nothing to maintain that soothing ambience. And as much as I love my garden, I am not at all “squishy” over perpetually disappointing or troublesome plants and do not hesitate to remove them from the landscape.
Judicious removals can be deemed exercises in a corrective “editing” that creates space for more well-behaved, undemanding, gardener-friendly specimens.
GARDEN EVENTS
Orchid show and sale. The Victoria Orchid Society is hosting their first show since 2020 on Saturday, Oct. 19, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 20, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Our Lady of Fatima Church Hall, 4635 Elk Lake Drive. The theme of the show is Escape to the Tropics. Admission is by donation. Extra parking is available at Saanich Commonwealth Place. .
Hardy plants. The Hardy Plant group, a section of the Victoria Horticultural Society, will meet on Sunday, Oct. 20, at 1:30 p.m. in the Couvelier Pavilion of the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. Nadyne Berns, a collector and propagator of succulent plants for over 25 years, will present Growing Succulents: Tips for Success. Nadyne will have plants for sale. Cash only. The afternoon will include a plant auction and question time. All are welcome. Drop-in visitor fee $5.
