It’s the first of March today and therefore officially autumn in New Zealand. The mornings are crisper, the days lovely and warm and daylight hours are shorter. The sun rises later than in summer and has started setting earlier. Before we know it, daylight saving will be here and we will have to put the clocks an hour back. The season for ordering spring bulbs has started and I’m so excited about the new bulbs I will be planting this autumn for flowering in winter and spring. We already have lots of jonquils, daffodils, dutch iris, gladioli nanus and freesias in our garden. We also have lachenalias and miniature daffodils growing in pots. I usually plant fresh anemones, ranunculus and tulips every year as they tend not to reflower that well. Although tulips especially are essentially an expensive annual, for me it’s worth it because nothing beats picking fresh flowers daily and making arrangements, many of which we share with close friends. I also love taking photographs of our arrangements so I have something nice to look back on when they are out of season or at times of the year when we don’t have flowers in bloom in our garden. I have ordered the following spring bulbs for planting in autumn. I have tried to order a large enough amount of each variety so hopefully some of them flower at the same time and I can make arrangements, which look nice. In saying that, bouquets of mixed tulips can also look nice. This is a bunch of mixed tulips which I gave to the gym I used to go to. I have indicated the supplier of the bulbs I purchased this year in brackets incase other gardeners in New Zealand are interested in sourcing them for their own garden or to give as a gift. I have done that myself a couple of years ago when I sent some tulip and daffodils to my cousin to plant in her garden. She was very happy. If you live overseas, you may be able to find these varieties through foreign bulb suppliers. You may also have lots of other lovely varieties which are not available in New Zealand so don’t worry. I’m sure there is a good selection overseas, too. Don’t forget to check whether your climate is suitable for growing tulips. I am not sure if they will do well in very hot climates. It pays to keep an eye on suppliers’ websites because sometimes they add more varieties over the selling period, which is usually autumn. On the same token, popular varieties can sell out quickly so it pays not to delay too much. You may find that you end up placing several orders which is what I did but suppliers are usually very understanding about this. Sometimes it’s possible to merge orders or the supplier might add the additional bulbs to an existing order and you can pay for them by transferring the funds into the suppliers’ bank account. For the first time, I ordered the following Italian anemones: Azzurro, Bianco Centro Nero and Rarity. I am very excited about growing them as they look so beautiful and very different to the ordinary varieties I have grown in the past. I have left it a bit late to sow anemones and ranunculus from seed but it gives me something to look forward to next year. Egmont Seeds have a great range in the cut flower section on their website. I haven’t seen Italian ranunculus corms available for sale anywhere but I would like to buy some plants from Emerden when they sell them in June or July. They also look very beautiful and different to regular ranunculus varieties. Suppliers Here are links to the New Zealand mail order bulb suppliers that I have sourced the bulbs set out below from. Anemones
Mixtures
I have already shared some pictures of tulips I ordered this year which I have grown in the past in my previous blog post. Here are a couple more photos. Usually I plant my tulip bulbs towards the end of May when it’s cooler as we live in Auckland, where the winters can be quite mild. If you plant the bulbs too early, they may not flower well. The bulbs are also going to be pre-chilled for me (or I am doing so myself if the supplier can’t do this. Some can, others can’t) which helps achieve longer stems in warmer regions.
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