Nigel Colborn - Plant Solutions

Hardy corm-bearing perennial

Grassy leaves, with central white stripe, and bold, gobletshaped flowers, which are held well clear of the leaves. Colours can be purple, mauve or white – often with bold, contrasting stripes or veins on outer petals – as well as yellow. Out of scale with other species of crocus and being very showy best kept apart.

Soil preference:Any, not wet

Aspect:Sun or part shade

Season of interest:Early spring

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

Companion plants:Fine in grass, with daffodils, or in border fronts among primulas or winter and spring pansies.

Scilla bifolia

Alpine Squill Hardy bulb

Twin leaves, grooved and suffused with bronze when young, appear from each bulb on either side of the short stems, which carry a small spray of azure flowers. A free self-seeder, quick to naturalize in a part-shaded or sunny wild garden. Modest, but beautiful.

Soil preference:Fertile but free-draining

Aspect:Sun or shade

Season of interest:Spring

Height and spread:10cm × 5cm (4in × 2in)

Companion plants:Often found in the wild, growing with Crocus sieberi and wild fritillaries – a worthy combination to imitate at home.

Narcissus pseudonarcissus

Wild Daffodil, Lenten Lily Hardy bulb

The species that inspired the poet Wordsworth. Strap-shaped leaves in glaucous green among which short stems bear blooms with forward-sweeping lemon petals and a darker, flared, yellow trumpet. This species naturalizes best in high rainfall areas where summers are cool, but is not difficult to establish in moisture-retentive, humus-rich soil elsewhere.

Soil preference:Rich, leafy and not too dry

Aspect:Part shade, shade

Season of interest:Spring

Height and spread:20cm × 10cm (8in × 4in)

Companion plants:A plant of hedgerows, stream sides and woodland borders, beautiful beneath large trees, between shrubs such as camellias or early rhododendrons and lovely in the grass of an established fruit orchard.

Cyclamen repandum

Hardy tuber-bearing perennial

Broad, bluntly pointed leaves, sometimes faintly marbled, unfurl in spring accompanied by small cyclamen blooms whose petals are swept right back. Typical colour is vivid carmine pink, but the subspecies from the island of Rhodes, C. repandum var. rhodense , has pink-flushed white blooms with darker centres. More difficult to establish than most hardy cyclamen.

Soil preference:Humus-rich, well-drained

Aspect:Part shade or shade

Season of interest:Spring

Height and spread:15cm × 20cm (6in × 8in)

Companion plants:A woodland species, best among humus-loving plants such as Anemone nemorosa , oxlips and violets, perhaps in shaded, sparse grass along the edge of a shrubbery.

Tulipa kaufmanniana ‘Guiseppi Verdi’

Hardy bulb

Broad, faintly striped foliage arranged along the stems which bear a single, elongated tulip flower. The outer petals are fiercely flushed with carmine, edged with yellow; the flower interior is bright yellow with a dark centre. A ‘botanical’ tulip, robust enough to survive in grass.

Soil preference:Fertile but free-draining

Aspect:Sun or part shade

Season of interest:Spring

Height and spread:25cm × 15cm (10in × 6in)

Companion plants:A good companion, in grassland, to shorter daffodil varieties such as ‘Jack Snipe’, ‘Rip van Winkle’ or to Narcissus pseudonarcissus . Also striking with cowslips and fritillaries in the grass.

Focus on…

Crocus

Crocuses offer far more than their small stature would suggest. Many of them bloom when colour is most needed, at winter’s end; their flower shapes are charming and their nectar is of great value to early stirring bees. When their season is done, they leave minimal aftermath, dying down quickly and gracefully, to rest underground and build up strength for next year’s show.

1. Crocus tommasinianus ‘Whitewell Purple’

One of the easiest winter-flowering species whose pale blue-grey outer petals belie the brighter mauve interior. The form ‘Whitewell Purple’ develops a deeper colour than seen in the wild species, but retains its simple charm.

2. Crocus speciosus

A strong-growing species whose naked violet-mauve blooms appear soon after the Autumn Equinox. The petals are feathered with darker purple, making a handsome contrast with the orange stigmata. Leaves follow the flowers, in late winter.

3. Crocus sieberi ‘Tricolor’

Wild forms of Crocus sieberi vary considerably, even when found in the same location, but the vivid mauve and ochre flowers of this garden selection make a startling display.

4. Crocus imperati

A striking crocus for late winter whose outer petals are biscuit-beige with bold pencilled feathering in deep purple-black. When the flowers open, to reveal bright lilac-mauve interiors, their appearance is transformed.

5. Crocus hybrid ‘Jeanne d’Arc’

Dutch hybrid crocus are much larger and coarser than their wild forebears, but still retain that essential early spring charm. Colours range through purple and mauve shades, often with striped petals, but one of the most outstanding varieties, ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ is pure white.

6. Crocus sieberi ‘Bowles White’

A more delicate, dainty plant altogether, than the hybrid Dutch crocus, this selected white form of the wild Crocus sieberi has been popular in cultivation for almost a century.

7. Crocus chrysanthus ‘Cream Beauty’

Another variable wild species has given rise to a broad range of subtly coloured, gem-like beauties. Their flowers are more goblet-shaped than larger, cultivated crocuses.

8. Crocus ancyrensis

The ‘golden bunch’ crocus, one of the earliest of the yellows to bloom. The small flowers are produced in tight clusters from each corm, and are a vivid egg yolk hue.

Bulbs for rock or gravel

Galanthus reginae-olgae

Hardy bulb

A remarkable snowdrop species, from Greece, which, instead of flowering in midwinter, produces autumnal blooms without leaves. The flowers are similar to those of the common snowdrop, with three outer tepals and green-tipped inner parts. Leaves develop in late winter.