White Flowering Bulbs – for a stunning Spring container

I love the whole process of planning and then planting Spring bulbs. It’s one of my favourite Autumn gardening jobs. While there are some things I do pretty regularly, such as adding old native bluebells into our grass, I also like to try something a bit different. This year, I’ve created a container display of white flowering bulbs.

The Containers for my White Flowering Bulbs

I had hoped to get one enormous metal planter – perhaps a disused old cattle trough or better still something very large and oval – and put all the bulbs in it. One huge display. But I couldn’t find such a container without spending a bomb. So instead I’ve used four largish, shallow, old, aluminium containers which I already had. I’m going to group them close together to create the ‘full on,’ impact which one big planter would have given me.

Whatever the size, when it comes to a metal pot you must take care that there’s good drainage in the base. Unlike terracotta, metal isn’t permeable. Whatever water goes into those metal pots will sit there, unless you provide drainage. And bulbs hate sitting in water!

My youngest son, Henry, has very kindly drilled holes in the base of my containers and I’m positioning them on raised feet to further ensure my bulbs don’t rot.

The Compost

To keep the drainage tip top I’ve also planted up my white flowering bulbs in a peat free compost, mixed with a lot of grit. I always add a good dose to containers when planting bulbs. But with metal containers, I’ve gone for a ratio of grit:peat of at least 50:50.

The White Flowering Bulbs

Ok, enough of the preparation, it’s boring! So what bulbs have I gone for? Well I’ve selected from Farmer Gracy seven different bulbs. These I’ve planted in a wonderful jumbly combination in each container. My criteria when choosing them were:

• They must be predominantly white
• Spring flowering but ideally some going on to Summer
• Fragrant
• Different flower shapes
• Different heights
• Long lasting – so I can plant them out in the garden once the containers have finished
• If possible, good for polinators

Narcissus Thalia

I’ve always fancied having the daffodil Thalia in my garden, so thought this was a golden opportunity to try this beauty out. (By the way a big thank you to Farmer Gracy who supplied me with the above picture and all of the other photos)

Thalia is a lovely vigorous, fragrant, pure white daffodil that grows 12-14 inchces (30-35cm) tall. It’s a triandrus daffodil. To you and me this means you get more than one flower per stem. In the case of Thalia you get 3 or 4. The other distinguishing feature of triandrus daffodils is their petals, which flare backward and bend down at the neck. This shows off the trumpet part of the flower much more dramatically, which is why I love it.

As white flowering bulbs go, Thalia is useful for a number of reasons. Yes, it’s beautiful, but it’s also long lasting and naturalises easily. So when my containers have finished doing their stuff I will put all the bulbs out into my garden en masse and hopefully be able to enjoy them for years to come.

Crocus Jeanne d’Arc

Like most daffodils sadly, Thalia isn’t very attractive for polinators. That’s because plant breeders have bred them for looks rather than anything else. But the bees will be thrilled with my second white flowering bulb (though technically it’s a corm) – Crocus Jeanne d-Arc.

I have yellow and purple crocuses planted in the grass in my garden. I love how they absolutely come alive with the sound of buzzing on sunny Spring days. That noise comes not only from fat queen bumble bees, honey and solitary bees, but also from hoverflies.

Crocus flowers close at night, only fully opening in sunshine. So apparently bumblebee queens may spend the night cosied up inside them, like a cocoon! Imagine rolling out of bed straight into your breakfast of nectar in the morning!

So, to please the polinators, I definitely wanted some crocuses in my containers. I have gone for Jeanne D’Arc. This is such an elegant large-flowered, icy-white crocus. The petals really contrast with the bright orange anthers, indeed the effect is dazzling.

I think it’s interesting when you get up close to a plant. You notice all the delecate details. In the case of this award-winning crocus, careful viewing reveals the lovely purple markings on its stem and flower base.

Muscari White Magic

I’ve avoided the traditional blue Grape Hyacinths (Muscari) in my beds and borders. I find their straggly leaves a bit too much of a mess and there are other purply-blue flowering plants I prefer, not least old British bluebells.

But when planning my white containers, I decided to have another look at Muscari. I found there’s a beautiful variety called White Magic. It’s a stunner and apparently isn’t fussy. So will again naturalise easily when I come to plant out the contents of my containers into the garden later next year. Furthermore, like crocuses, grape hyacinths are popular with solitary bees so another tick in the box as far as I’m concerned.

Hyacinth Carnegie

I associate Hyacinths with my childhood. We forced them in Winter by planting them in pots which were kept in a dark cupboard under the stairs. The bulbs bloomed, creating a wonderful Christmas display. As a child I would be given a bulb and wouldn’t know what colour it was going to be…all very exciting!

Feeling very nostalgic, I definitely wanted to add a hyacinth or two to each of my containers, but of course only wanted white. So I’ve gone for Carnegie. It’s a cracker. It bears pure white flowers with an intense fragrance, on stout stems. This is really good news as I find the big draw back with hyacinths is that their weighty flowerheads can make the stems flop.

Carnegie will grow about 30cm (12 inches) tall so I think it should sit very handsomely just above the smaller crocuses and grape hyacinths.

Puschkinia Libanotica

I know, I know. The next of my white flowering bulbs is a slight cheat. Puschkinia Libanotica is not pure white as it has a lovely frosty bright blue line running the length of each petal. But for me this just adds to the iciness of the look, especially as the lines slightly bleed into the rest of the petal. The ‘blue-white’ effect is simply stunning.

Loved by bees, these gorgeous plants (also known as Russian Snowdrops) grow about 10-15cm (4-6 inches) tall and are long lasting.

Puschkinia Libanotica originates in the eastern Mediterranean. This means it thrives in moist conditions in Spring while growing, but needs things to be warm and dry in Summer, if its bulbs are to ripen. So when I plant the Puschkinia (and all the other bulbs out) after my pot display has finished, I’ll put them in my sunny bed.

White Flowering Bulbs – Time for Some Tulips!

I’m an absolute tulip nut. So it’s not surprising that the final two white flowering bulbs to go in my metal containers are tulips. The first is Swan Wings. Of gosh it’s beautiful!

Tulip Swan Wings

Tulip ‘Swan Wings’ is absolutely pristine white and each petal has these gorgeous fringes. It reminds me of a line-up of ballerinas performing Swan Lake. Swan Wings grows 45-55cm tall (18-22 inches). So it will make a phenomenal statement, dancing above the hyacinths, grape hyacinths, daffodils, puschkinia, crocuses etc.. And wait for it, it’s fragrant and good for insects. The bees and I can’t wait to see it!

Tulip White Lizard

The final of my white flowering bulbs may not sound that attractive but in the looks department it’s a stunner. White Lizard is a parrot tulip and when the light shines through its petals it creates an almost luminous, sculptural effect. It provides a lovely long lasting display from Spring into early Summer. So my containers will be worth looking at for a good few months.

Unlike Swan Wings, White Lizard isn’t pure white. Each large flower has ruffled glistening petals, a bit like a parrot’s feathers but is marked with a mauve-blue flame. I think the colour is a bit similar to the African gray parrot. As a result I can’t really see where the ‘lizard’ bit of the name comes in. I guess the green streaks on the blooms look a little reptilian, but I’m not convinced. What I am sure of though, is that this plant is really interesting and handsome. And marginally taller than Swan Wings, I think it will look really statuesque in my metal container displays.

Planting Up My White Flowering Bulbs

So that’s my seven. In terms of the planting, I’ve put a selection of each type of bulb into each metal planter. That was trickier than it sounds, as they each require different planting depths. (I typically plant 3 x the depth of the bulb).

I’ve also tried to avoid being too regimented in my planting. I don’t want everything to look like a line of soldiers. Instead I want a wonderful, voluptuous jumble of different, fragrant, white blooms and refreshing green foliage.

Only time will tell if I’ve got it right. I’ll add a picture of the end result to this blog next Spring. Fingers crossed!

6 Months Later – The Result

It worked!

I’m so pleased with how the planting turned out.

If you want more ideas for metal containers, I planted some up last May to create displays for the Summer. You can read what combinations I used in those metal containers here