If you want to get a head start on next year its time to start sowing seeds again. Spring flowering bulbs provide great colour, scent and shape but often need something to tie them all together. Something frothy, that can be planted in drifts. That is where early flowering biennials come in – honesty, wallflowers and Iceland poppies all fit the bill.
Unlike bulbs, these biennials have a long flowering season and will be flowering alongside your hyacinths and still looking good for late tulips. The packets will tell you to sow direct but, if like my borders, yours are too full, try sowing in large trays or pots. They don’t need to be in a greenhouse, just kept outside somewhere cool and light. Once they’re about an inch high pinch them out and sow them in an empty corner – maybe a patch in the veg garden? Or pot on into 2 litre pots to keep them growing.
Good varieties to try are Wallflower 'Sunset Primrose', Lunaria annua 'Chedglow' and Papaver nudicaule 'Champagne Bubbles'.
Image by Etienne GONTIER from Pixabay
Comments