Choosing varieties of seed potatoes and summer-flowering bulbs

Are you wondering which potatoes to plant this year? It’s time also to plan the summer-flowering bulb display? Read on for more about the interesting bulbs that can be planted to flower in a few months time. But first here is an update about potatoes for gardeners:

Proof of slug resistance

When selecting suitable potatoes, you might like to be reminded of the following: Marshalls Seeds carried out tests on the resistance of different potatoes to slug damage. The varieties that gained top points in the tests were ‘Foremost’, ‘Kestrel’, ‘Nadine’, and ‘Sante’.

Which potato where?

In Marshalls Kitchen Gardener’s Catalogue, potato variety ‘Juliette’ is claimed to be high yielding. Apparently it has good resistance to disease and a suberb taste. Marshalls, a well-established supplier of seed potatoes, reports that ‘despite a generally difficult year, the company’s supplies appear secure. The 2001 Marshalls catalogue lists more than 25 varieties of potatoes - Marshalls products are available from the GoneGardening.com shop.

Unwins Seeds have extended the popular ‘Try These’ range of seed potatoes, offering trial size packs of 10 seed potatoes at £1.99. According to this firm, ‘Charlotte’ is best variety for salads, ‘Marfon’ for roasting, and ‘Carlingford’ for growing in patio pots. The Unwins gardening catalogue also lists other modern varieties of seed potatoes - Also available from the GoneGardening.com shop.

Recently 525 varieties of potatoes were exhibited at an RHS London show, sponsored by Thompson & Morgan. Three Counties Potatoes staged the display, which featured approximately 5,000 potatoes including a black potato ‘Maori Chief’. Two new varieties from Thompson and Morgan are ‘White Lady’ and ‘Mimi’.

There is still time to order potatoes. Remember first earlies are planted from end of February; second earlies from mid March; early maincrop from late march, and late maincrop also from late March. Remember also that, according to T&M, the world’s most popular red skin, early maincrop potato is variety ‘Desiree’. And early maincrop variety ‘Nicola’, a waxy potato, is fairly eelworm resistant.

In the Organic Gardening Catalogue you will find ‘organic collections’ of potatoes called Earlybird, Waxy Salads, Cook’s Choice and Blight Resisters. Each collection contains 10-12 tubers of five varieties.

Summer-flowering bulbs, tubers and corms

Now is the time to plan your summer flowering bulb display. If bulbs have been stored over winter in a dry state, plant them at the end of the dormant period, before they start growing again. They should be planted in early to mid-spring.

An easy way of gardening is to plant bulbs

For a focal point in your garden, consider some of the less common bulbs: Nerine bowdenii, a native of South Africa, is one to choose for a patch of pink flowers on tall stems. Plant the bulbs near the soil surface in a sunny position, such as in front of a house wall.

A plant that fills the flower gap before the roses bloom and behaves itself, quietly disappearing without trace until the following year, is Gladiolus communis subsp. byzantinus.

And the large white flowers of Acidanthera murieliae - each with a crimson centre - have a remarkably strong scent. They are often grown as an annual, because in many areas the bulbs rot if left in the ground over winter.

Last year I planted autumn-flowering Crocus speciosus, and was thrilled every time I caught sight of the bright mauve petals with the sun shining though them. Topped with scarlet stamens, they seemed truly marvellous. Better still, this species performs well when naturalised in the garden – really something to look forward to every year, once established. Plant autumn-flowering crocus and Colchicum species in mid summer.

A lily for shade

The usefully tolerant Lilium martagon will continue to flourish in fairly dry shade of the kind found under deciduous trees.

Spectacular displays from oriental lilies

Oriental lilies are welcome in the summer garden for their colourful flowers and delightful scent. Choosing favourite colours and shapes is a pleasant pastime for enthusiasts. Unwins will be delivering lilies this month, including ‘Black Tie’, a new red variety for 2001. They also list special patio lilies for summer pots. Walkers Bulbs at Taylors offer an attractive Lily Collection leaflet. Fragrant cultivars include ‘African Queen’ (apricot trumpets), ‘Pink perfection’, ‘Speciosum Rubrum’ - an explosion of colour, and highly scented ‘Stargazer’ (white, pink and red).

Don’t forget dahlias

Back in favour after a period of neglect by gardeners, dahlias have come to the fore again, mainly due to the bold displays of colour in the gardens of famous personalities. The one to go for is ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ – red flowers above dark foliage, the focal point in any garden. But my memo-to-self of outstanding plants at Sissinghurst, also includes petunia-coloured Dahlia ‘Rutland Water’ and Dahlia ‘East Court’- hot orange on really dark foliage.

Bulbs from seed

Some bulbs, tubers and corms can also be raised from seed if you are patient. Most, but not all, will take several years to build up to flowering size. Growing hardy cyclamen from seed is highly recommended. It is a better way of gaining confidence with these, for some people, tricky tubers. When you are able to happily transplant a trowel-full of established seedlings from one part of the garden to another, you are well on the way to becoming an expert!

More about cyclamen

The scented island forms of C. hederifolium give much pleasure - especially one plant that has a dark margin but otherwise very light leaf. This plant from a chance seedling, possibly a cross, has the strongest fragrance of all my hardy cyclamen

It is worth collecting forms of Cyclamen graecum just for the vividly contrasting leaf patterns, which can be silvery, or dark velvety green. But the flowers - which vary in size, shape and colour - are always an extra delight when they appear in very early autumn.

Last spring, I was surprised to discover that a fine specimen of C. rohlfsianum, a native of Libya, had survived winter with only just frost-proof heating. That plant flowered exceptionally well in autumn, continuing until the end of the year. My best form with really long, spirally twisted, petals is kept indoors; but I might risk putting some of its offspring in the glasshouse. Does anyone grow this species anywhere in the garden, without artificial heat, in Britain? Perhaps not – after all the snow this year!