Have you decided which bulbs you are going to plant this autumn? The bright flowers of bulbs attract even non-gardeners. However many bulbs there are in my garden, I am always tempted to add more each season.

There is still time to buy bulbs to flower this autumn and winter. Autumn-flowering bulbs are sent out in late August. They should be planted immediately they are received.

Bulbs to flower next spring will be sent out in September, so there is a little more time before the planting date for them. But this is a good time to decide what you are going to grow - the sooner you send your order off the better.

Which autumn-flowering bulbs?

The following are bulbs I am growing – and varieties I have grown and liked in previous years. I intend to order more of the most attractive forms this year.

Bulbs I choose for indoors are the gorgeous, white L’innocence hyacinths and the heavily scented, Delft Blue ones. Generally, I prefer hyacinths indoors to out - either as cut flowers or as pot-plants. I buy new bulbs each year for the house and plant the old ones in the garden - for use as cut flowers in future years. The deep burgundy ‘Woodstock’, which I approved last year, is bound to be in demand this year as a bedding hyacinth.

The goblet shaped flowers of Crocus speciosus gave immense pleasure last autumn. I planted the corms late but they still performed remarkably well, flowering as usual before Christmas. I made up my mind not only to increase my stock of this delightful species, but also to order the dark blue-purple ‘Oxonian’ and the form with pure white flowers.

Cyclamen hederifolium are coming into flower now from dormant tubers. This species can be grown fairly easily from seed, but there is something to be said for planting freshly lifted tubers of Cyclamen hederifolium for flowers in the garden from August to October – especially for those in a hurry to get started in a new garden. This is the easiest hardy cyclamen to grow. Plants produce their flowers slightly before the leaves and, with luck, should become established and form patches of colour under shrubs and trees every autumn. The silver or variegated foliage serves as ground cover for many months of the year.

Good for winter

Hardy, winter-flowering Cyclamen coum produces its crimson flowers from December to March, and over time will form a carpet of ruby or carmine pink in the shade of a shrub – even under an evergreen rhododendron. White-flowering varieties can also be obtained. Unwins sell topsize cyclamen tubers which have been raised in a specialist nursery in England. They are available from this website.

Which spring-flowering bulbs?

This year I shall order more of the dainty smaller narcissus to grow in clay pots and pans for close-up viewing. They are also suitable for rock gardens and tidy garden borders. There are lots to choose from. Here are some of my favourites:

‘Sundial’ – a miniature jonquil with dark lemon flowers in late March. Height 6 inches.

‘Minnow’ – a tazetta hybrid giving several cream flowers to a stem, each with a yellow cup. Height 6 inches. Flowers March-April.

‘Tresamble’ – a vigorous triandrus type, white flowers appear in late March. Height 16 inches.

‘Geranium’ – a scented poetaz type that carries four to six flowers per stem – each with a white corolla and bright orange-red cup. Flowers late March. Height 16 inches.

‘Jenny’ – a cyclamineus hybrid, white petals and lemon to white trumpet. Flowers in early April and can be naturalised in grass. Height 15 inches.

‘Polar Ice’ – a fragrant variety of N. poeticus – white flowers, with small cups, open in late April and grow to a height of 14-16 inches.

Daffodils to grow in grass also include Narcissus ‘February Silver’, ‘February Gold’ ‘Beryl’ (a cross between cyclamineus and poeticus) and also the wild daffodil. I am not especially fond of the latter but appreciate the associations with Wordsworth’s Daffodils poem. Narcissus poeticus flowers along the river-banks in Oxford are unforgettably memorable, as are the semi-wild narcissus, here and there among long grasses, in a garden of rose species leading down towards an informal pool.

A short diversion

Talking of pools, I went to see a very inspiring new pond this last weekend on the borders of Wales. For anyone looking for a ready-made dream water garden, this was it.

I diverge, but I must just tell you that the pond had been cut out of a former farm field with a digger. Wild flowers – dotted with daisies and poppies still in bloom - were on both sides of a gate, which fenced off a grazing field and a dry gallop from the pond area.

Two ducks were paddling peacefully with their ducklings - a short swim from an unobtrusive board, which led to an island. Well-supported saplings (silver birch, willow and oak) planted a short distance from the water, will probably need thinning in a few years time. Meanwhile, quickly maturing grasses and shrubs on the island provide a sense of seclusion. A dragonfly, already feeling at home, zoomed about over the surface of the water, its wings glinting in the sunlight.

Bulb garden

Large flowering varieties of bulbs, and bulbs for naturalising in grass, should also be ordered now. Specialist nurseries sell uncommon and rare forms. More varieties of bulbs, large and small, coming soon…

Bulbs for the home and garden are available directly from GoneGardening.