How to grow bulbs

Bulbs, corms, rhizomes and tubers are nature's ready-made food stores, packed with everything a plant needs to burst into growth at exactly the right moment. Spring-flowering bulbs — tulips, daffodils, alliums, hyacinths — are planted in autumn and reward you with colour before any other garden plant wakes up. Summer-flowering bulbs like dahlias, gladioli and crocosmia follow on through the warmer months. Many bulbs naturalise readily in grass or woodland, spreading into generous clumps over time. Most require very little maintenance: plant at the right depth and spacing, feed after flowering to rebuild the bulb, and lift frost-tender varieties before the first hard frost. Few garden investments deliver such reliable, repeat colour for so little effort.