Nigel Colborn - Plant Solutions

Soil preference:Any well-drained

Aspect:Sun

Season of interest:Summer

Height and spread:Up to 1.2m × 75cm (4ft × 2ft 6in)

Companion plants:Good in containers, or in mixed herbaceous plantings among such late summer flowers as phloxes and asters, or to contrast with hot-coloured daisies such as rudbeckias, heleniums or coreopsis.

Bulbs for autumn

Colchicum speciosum

Autumn Crocus, Naked Ladies, Naked Boys Hardy bulb

Crocus-shaped flowers emerge directly from the ground at the end of summer, disappearing completely after blooming. In spring, glossy foliage appears and forms a bold clump, with seed heads carried at the base of the leaf. Flower colours are typically lilac or mauve, with pale petal bases, but C. speciosum ‘Album’ has soft white flowers.

Soil preference:Any free-draining

Aspect:Sun or part shade

Season of interest:Late summer, early autumn

Height and spread:Flowers to 20cm (8in), foliage 45cm (1ft 6in)

Companion plants:One to site where the coarse spring leaves will not be troublesome. Lovely naturalized in grass or in a border with softly coloured late perennials including aster and Sedum spectabile and dainty flowered hardy fuchsias.

Amaryllis belladonna

Belladonna Lily, Jersey Lily Near hardy bulb

Thick stems emerge naked from the ground in early autumn rapidly extending until the plump buds at their ends have opened to reveal a cluster of large pink flowers with white centres. The strap-like leaves follow in spring and summer. Bulbs flower best when congested and when baked in summer sun.

Soil preference:Free-draining

Aspect:Sun, very hot and dry

Season of interest:Autumn

Height and spread:60cm × 15cm (2ft × 6in)

Companion plants:The flowers come as a delightful surprise, in autumn and are beautiful among Mediterranean shrubs such as French lavenders and silver, feathery artemisias.

Crocus speciosus

True Autumn Crocus Hardy corm-bearing perennial

Slender, wineglass-shaped flowers emerge, without foliage, in autumn, followed, in late winter, by the grassy leaves. The violet blue flowers are marked with darker pencil veining and have showy, orange stigmas. Slow to establish but superb in large numbers.

Soil preference:Any free-draining

Aspect:Sun

Season of interest:Autumn

Height and spread:12.5cm × 10cm (5in × 4in)

Companion plants:Not a showy plant, except when grown in bold drifts, preferably in short grass, or among autumn flowering cyclamen such as C. hederifolium or C. cilicium . See also Crocuses.

Cyclamen hederifolium

Sowbread Hardy tuberous perennial

Loaf-like tubers lie just beneath the surface of the ground. From them come masses of pink or white flowers, each with five petals swept right back to give the typical cyclamen shape. Some races are sweetly scented. From late autumn the flowers are joined by decoratively marbled leaves which persist through winter until the end of spring.

Soil preference:Any, but not wet

Aspect:Any

Season of interest:Autumn, winter, spring

Height and spread:15cm × 30cm (6in × 1ft)

Companion plants:An essential part of any wild or woodland garden, going well both with autumn colchicums and with spring primroses and other bulbs. The leaves are lovely with Anemone blanda popping up among them.

Leucojum autumnale

Autumn Snowflake Hardy bulb

Thin, dusky green foliage emerges in winter, looking like dusty grass. In early autumn, the tiny, fragrant, pinktinged-white, nodding flowers are hard to see as individuals but are beautiful when grown in drifts. A native of Spain and North West Africa.

Soil preference:Dry

Aspect:Sun

Season of interest:Autumn

Height and spread:15cm × 10cm (6in × 4in)

Companion plants:Not spectacular, but charming if colonies are allowed to bulk up among such rock garden plants as alpine pinks, auriculas and Lithodora.

Nerine bowdenii

Guernsey Lily, Spider Lily Hardy bulb

A South African native which produces stems carrying umbels of brilliant pink flowers, whose petals are curled outwards and crisped or crinkled at their edges. The leaves follow in late winter and spring. Bulbs flower best when congested and when warmed by hot summer sun.

Soil preference:Any well-drained

Aspect:Sun

Season of interest:Autumn

Height and spread:60cm × 15cm (2ft × 6in), spreading

Companion plants:An outstanding cut bloom. The candy pink contrasts sweetly with the soft violet blues of perennial asters or with the reds and rusts of spray chrysanthemums and autumn foliage.

Focus on…

Lilies

A group of hardy bulbs of diverse habit, lilies are superb for producing elegant, showy flowers throughout summer and and sometimes into early autumn. Many also have fragrant blooms for added appeal.

1. Lilium lancifolium

The tiger lily, whose tiger-orange petals are strongly spotted, rather than striped. The stems produce axilliary buds which develop into bulbils, tiny bulbs from which the plant is easily propagated. Lime tolerant.

2. Lilium regale ‘Album’

A pure white form of the regal lily, whose richly fragrant, elongated flowers are more usually flushed pink on the outsides of their petals, but with creamy white interiors.

3. Lilium henryi

Probably the most lime-tolerant of all the lilies, with tall, flexible stems, dark in hue, and narrow, glossy leaves. The flowers, which open late in summer, are bright orange, with raised, dark spots on the petal surfaces. The petals curl back as the flowers mature.

4. Lilium martagon

The Turk’s Cap lily, a European native with tall stems whose leaves are attached in whorls on a tall, self-supporting stem which carries generous numbers of purplish pink or white flowers. The petals turn back on themselves to resemble turbans. Lime tolerant.

5. Lilium longiflorum

A vigorous, fast growing lily with the stem-rooting habit. The flower stems carry up to six intensely fragrant, pure white flowers. This variety, ‘American White’, has green tips to its petals and there is a blush pink variety, ‘Casa Rosa’.

6. Lilium ‘Golden Splendor Group’

A vigorous strain of lilies suitable for outdoors with sprays of large, elongated, bright yellow blooms, whose petal backs are pinkish, in mid to late summer. Lime tolerant.