Bulbs: flowers for every season

Spring-Announcing Bulbs

In spring, the weather is often unpredictable, with its showers and gusts, but gradually, the weather improves and the first flowers begin to show their petals. With each visit to the garden, new bulbs in bloom are discovered, previously invisible the day before. For bulbous plants, interesting all year round, spring is their time to shine.

To flower the garden in spring, focus on Hyacinths, tulips, Muscaris, Chionodoxas, and Imperial Fritillaries

• The Narcissi launch their lanceolate leaves, then tilt their flowers as the air warms. With so many wild species and hybrids in bright yellow, orange, salmon, or bicolour, you will surely find those suited to your borders, pots, or to naturalise in the lawn. Essential companions, the Snowdrops, crocuses, tulips, and hyacinths are also among the great classics to plant without moderation.
• Less known are the Scillas in peacock blue, which accompany the irises and Anemones in vivid or pastel shades.
• Very early and also known as Glory of the Snow, the Chionodoxas bloom mainly in blue. The Chionodoxa forbesii, light blue, also exists in a lavender form (Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Violet Beauty’) and soft pink (Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’).
• A hardy bulb, Muscari grows spontaneously in arid Mediterranean regions, with rather humid springs and hot, dry summers. Muscari armeniacum ‘Big Smile’ is a very pleasant variety, offering long clusters of small, pendulous bright blue flowers edged in white, and ‘Pink Sunrise’ is an unusual and particularly decorative variety, with its clusters of exceptional pale pink.
• The small Fritillaries in brown, purple, and green create an impression of mystery, and the large imperial crowns (F. imperialis) with their pendulous clusters, brick red, are elegantly topped with a tuft of lanceolate leaves. For lovers of rare varieties, the variety ‘Argentea variegata’ features magnificent foliage edged in cream white and bright orange bell-shaped flowers, arranged in a crown and topped with a tuft of small leaves.
• The Florist’s Buttercups thrive outdoors in warm regions, but it is best to keep them sheltered in a greenhouse throughout the winter wherever frost is a concern; they can then be grown in pots to be brought out on fine days.

Bulbs for Summer Flowers

To accompany perennials, bulbous plants are an obvious choice for the garden.

For sumptuous summer scenes, plant Cannas, Gladioli, Dahlias, and Asian Lilies.

• Valued for both their lush foliage and unique flowering, Arums, also known as Callas or Zantedeschias, as well as Cannas are somewhat demanding in terms of growing conditions, but they will reward you with their beauty and exotic presence in your pots or borders.
• Stunning in the ground, Begonias are also often grown in pots or window boxes that can easily be brought indoors in winter. These semi-shade flowers are also popular for edging borders.
• Crocosmias or Montbretias are bulbous plants resembling small, highly floriferous gladioli in bright colours, used in summer borders or as cut flowers. Easy to grow, they thrive in very sunny and warm conditions. The most well-known is Crocosmia x crocosmiiflora with the variety “Lucifer“, reaching 1 m in height, with fiery red flowers.
• Freesias are beautiful bulbous flowers that are very decorative in borders and ideal for creating fragrant bouquets. Highly floriferous, Freesias are also popular for pot displays on balconies.
• Featuring large, colourful flower spikes up to a metre tall on a base of slender leaves, gladioli with large flowers structure the back of borders. Their colours are often vibrant and striking, but can also be soft. Their wild cousins, Gladiolus callianthus and Byzantine Gladiolus, are smaller and have a more natural appearance.
• Alliums, familiar in contemporary gardens, are stunning in borders. Their flowering is long-lasting and varies according to the varieties from April to July.
• Finally, it is impossible not to mention Lilies: botanical, hybrid, or martagon, they include splendid varieties with colours ranging from yellow to red, including orange and pink, and reliably bloom again once established.

Autumn-hued bulbs

Begonias, Dahlias, and Nerines extend the colours until late autumn

• Abundantly planted in the flowerbeds of our towns, compact Begonias make excellent bedding plants; and for good reason! They are very easy to grow, accessible to all gardeners, even beginners. Many of their varieties, such as ‘Bijou de Gand’, ‘Pink Balcony’, or ‘Bouton de Rose’ flower tirelessly from July to October, adding colour to gardens until autumn.
• Some varieties of Cannas, with their vibrant colours, bloom until October-November, such as ‘Cleopatra’ or ‘Confetti’, as well as many Dahlias, which will allow you to extend the beautiful days until November.
• Commonly known as “Guernsey Lilies” or “Jersey Lilies”, Nerines are spectacular South African bulbous plants that bloom out of season in autumn (from September to November depending on the variety) in shades of pink, red, or white. These plants form a rigid flower stem 40 to 60 cm tall, which bears an umbel of about ten flowers with narrow, curled petals shaped like undulating ribbons. Their elongated foliage appears after flowering and persists throughout winter, then dries up in spring.

Decorative bulbs in the heart of winter

Frost-sensitive, Amaryllis allow you to bring flowers into your home in the heart of winter. Crocus and Iris reticulata are among the earliest bulbs to awaken under the winter chill alongside Snowdrops.

• Frost-sensitive and tender, Amaryllis are primarily grown indoors, although they can be cultivated in gardens in mild climates, in light, well-drained soil, in sunny positions, and sheltered from cold winds. For this, choose Amaryllis Belladonna, which are slightly hardier (-3.9°C to -1.1°C).
• The Snowdrop or Galanthus are delicate little bulbous plants well-known for being the first to bloom in winter, even under the snow.
• The botanical crocus of winter naturalise easily in gardens and bloom very early in sheltered situations, from January to February. The crocus ‘Mammoth’, characterised by its vigour and large size with flowers reaching 15-20 cm, is also early, blooming from February until March or April depending on the region.
• The Iris reticulata are also delightful bulbous plants, hardy and early, offering fine, elegant, and fragrant flowers from the end of winter. They thrive effortlessly in sunny borders or in containers, in well-drained soil, even dry in summer.

The main bulbs and their flowering season

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For further reading...

→ Discover our collections of spring bulbs and summer flowering bulbs

→ Watch our video tutorial on how to Plant daffodil bulbs

→ And how to plant your flower bulbs online