Below is our small selection of our favourite bulbs which will be available in the autumn of this year. These span a variety of species and families but share a common trait – they are gorgeous and easy to grow.
Anemones
Anemones are impressively long lasting in arrangements, making them a florist favourite. Give them a semi-shaded location with moist, well-drained soil, and they’ll give you a spectacular show for weeks on end!
This award-winning Grecian Windflower creates lovely mounds of daisy-like flowers (2” across) over a finely cut fernlike foliage in mid spring and spreads to form a carpet of blooms. Extremely popular due to its early and massive flowering and ability to naturalize easily. Corms will multiply and continue to appear in spring for years and years to come. Plant in sun or part shade. 4-6”
20 / $7.50
The astonishing rainbow of ornate, double-flowering anemone blossoms featured in the St. Brigid mix will bring bright cheer to the spring garden. Deer resistant. Good cut flower. 10-12″.
10 / $6.50
This anemone boasts satiny, violet-blue, poppy-like flowers adorned with a dark button center. Blooming in mid to late spring, they usually last up to 4 weeks. Borne atop sturdy stems above clumps of finely divided, ferny leaves, they attract butterflies and make wonderful cut flowers. They thrive in the sunny garden where their broad, bright faces are highly appealing. Perfect for beds, rockeries or containers, and an absolute must for the cutting garden. 8-10”.
10/$5.00
Sylphide features velvety, bright, violet-pink, poppy-like blooms adorned with a powdery dome of black stamens at their center. Blooming mid-late spring, this Mona Lisa cultivar is quite prolific, with up to 18 blooms per plant! Borne atop sturdy stems above clumps of finely divided, ferny leaves, they attract butterflies and make wonderful cut flowers. They thrive in the sunny garden where their broad, bright faces are highly appealing. Perfect for beds, rockeries or containers, and an absolute must for the cutting garden. 18-24”.
10/$5.00
This may be the dreamiest Anemone variety we know! Luxurious, velvety, iridescent petals form a rich, dark plum cup adorned with a vibrant purple eye and powdery dome of black stamens. Excellent cut flower. Full sun- light shade. 8-12″
5 / $7.00
Beautiful large, ivory white flowers up to 4” across open in late spring- early summer to reveal their dark, purple hearts. ‘Carmel White’ is new to the market and is prized for its large, single white blooms with striking dark centres. Borne atop sturdy stems above clumps of finely divided, ferny leaves, they attract butterflies and make wonderful cut flowers. They thrive in the sunny garden where their bright faces are highly appealing. Perfect for beds, rockeries or containers, and an absolute must for the cutting garden. 16”.
5/$7.00
This anemone explodes in the early summer garden with the contrast between the almost black center bleeding into a ring of purple-blue and hugged by ivory white outer petals, held on strong stems up to 16”. Deer resistant. Good cut flower. 16″
5 / $7.50
This big-bloomer won’t disappoint- the long-lasting blooms are a favorite of florists with their multi-layered petals that are bright, cheerful and yet elegant. This varietal is a good pollinator attractor, and while they do best in full sun, they will tolerate some shade. 16”
5 / $5.50
Incredibly eye-catching, this Anemone coronaria features masses of purple-blue, multi-petalled flowers adorned with a dark button center. Blooming in mid to late spring, they usually last up to 4 weeks. Borne atop sturdy stems above clumps of finely divided, fernlike foliage, they attract butterflies and make wonderful cut flowers. Easy to grow, they thrive in sunny spots where their broad, bright faces are highly appealing. 12”
5 / $5.50
Camas
A member of the asparagus family, Camassia is a genus that is exclusively indigenous to North America. This was and remains a common food for many Indigenous peoples such as the Coast Salish, Kutenai, Blackfoot, Cree, and Nimíipuu, among many others. On Vancouver Island, blue camas was cultivated by controlled burns in the Garry Oak meadows. While white camas is commonly thought to be poisonous, it turns out that the infamous ‘Deathcamas’ is actually a name used for a number of species in entirely different families, mostly the family Melanthieae. Here, only the blue camas was traditionally harvested, and we recommend that you do your own research before sampling the white varietal of Camassia leichtlinii, as this remains an under-researched topic.
Known as Common, Meadow, or Small Camas. PNW Native. Naturalizes easily. Deer resistant. Pollinator friendly. 15″.
10 / $8.50
Also Indigenous to the PNW, but is taller than the common Camas. Naturalizes easily. Deer resistant. Pollinator friendly. 30″
3/$9.50
This is the rare form of Camas, and its edibility is unclear and under-researched, but it makes up for it with the gorgeous spires of white star-shaped blooms. Deer resistant. Pollinator friendly. 44″
3/$8.50
Muscari (Grape Hyacinth)
Muscari is the name of a genus of bulbous plants native to Europe and Asia, and like Camas, share a family with asparagus! ‘Grape Hyacinth’ is a common name for this genus, but it also tends to be used for a few other genera as well, so we use the more precise ‘Muscari’. The name derives from the Greek ‘muschos‘, referring to the flower’s scent, found within many (but not all) of the species within Muscari.
A fresh twist on a classic favourite, reminiscent of a purple popsicle topped with whipped cream. Muscari are reliably perennial, blooming and adding to their numbers every year. Deer resistant. Fragrant. 6”.
5 / $5.50
This is a particularly beautiful, distinctive grape hyacinth with clusters of pale, icy blue flowers that open from lime-green buds. Vigorous and delightfully scented, it is perfect for borders, containers or at home in a vase. Blooming for several weeks in mid-late spring, this beauty looks amazing when mixed with any other flowering bulbs. This Grape Hyacinth naturalizes well and will come back year after year. 6-8”.
10/$4.00
The fragrant flowers of this dark coloured grape hyacinth are stunning, reaching 8-12” tall. The blossoms burst in mid spring, with yellow-rimmed opaque blue-black skirts tapering to a perfect conical shape, which is set off by glaucous deep green foliage. Grape hyacinths are hardy, easy to grow, have long-lasting blooms and are perfect for naturalizing–no garden should be without them.
10/$4.50
Introduced in 2008, Muscari aucheri ‘White Magic’ is a vigorous and eye-catching little bulb with its pale green flower buds softly maturing to large, dense and long-lasting pure white blossoms. Like most Muscaris, it exudes a lovely fragrance. The more you plant, the more fragrance you get! Blooming for several weeks in mid-late spring, this beauty looks amazing when mixed with any other flowering bulbs. This Grape Hyacinth naturalizes well, without taking over like some Muscaris. 6-8”. 10/$5.50
‘Mount Hood’ features cool pale blue bells tipped with white. These stand out as an unusual varietal compared to the traditional deep purple muscari. Muscari are reliably perennial, blooming and adding to their numbers every year. Deer resistant. Fragrant. 6”.
10 / $4.50
Other Garden Accents
These beauties are often unique and under-represented in the home garden, despite their beauty and interest.
This award-winning, demure woodlander features deep pink tubular blooms with flashes of white on its spurs. As they mature, they shift to a paler shade of pink. Commonly known as Fumewort or Bird in a Bush, C. solida is a bee-loved tuberous root native from the Balkans to Scandinavia. Its name translates from Latin as Crested Lark, for its floral spurs. Blooming profusely in mid-late spring, flowers sit proudly above the handsome, fern-like foliage of blue-green divided leaves. Commonly grown in sun-dappled woodlands, this deer-proof charmer is tolerant of a bit more moisture than most bulbs, and requires rich, well-draining soil in filtered sunlight to partial shade. It is ridiculously easy to grow, and is perfect for borders, rockeries or woodland areas. Summer dormant. 6-10” tall and wide. Spring ephemeral.
5 / $5.50
Also known as “Summer Snowflake”, these beauties actually appear in mid-spring, looking like a cross between a bluebell and a snowdrop with a delicate spot of green at the ends of their petals. Deer resistant. 24″.
5 / $7.50.
Spectacular in full bloom, Foxtail Lilies are a breathtaking perennial with huge flower spikes bearing up to 800 tiny flowers, the petals a pale peachy-pink, eventually bleaching to white. Soaring from a rosette of bluish-green strap-shaped leaves from early-mid summer, each graceful flower spike gradually opens from the bottom upwards for a long -lasting display (3 weeks or more). Rising high on imposing stalks, this Foxtail Lily adds drama and stunning vertical lines in the garden. Grows 5-10’ tall with a spread of 2-3’. Naturalizing well, and coming back year after year, they thrive in full sun, and rich, well-drained soil. Virtually pest and disease resistant, they attract butterflies and hummers, but are deer and critter resistant.
$8.50 ea.
Dramatic and unusual, this Foxtail Lily’s stately spires are bejeweled with tangerine blooms. They require rich soil with excellent drainage, and sun that reaches the foliage while in growth and bakes the roots when plants go dormant after flowering. But you will be rewarded with stunning spires of blooms, especially impressive when planted against tall evergreens or at the back of a perennial border. They make excellent, long lasting, cut flowers for those special summer arrangements. The roots are octopus-shaped and fragile and do not like to be disturbed after planting. 48”.
$8.50 ea.
Double Snowdrops. Robust and incredibly attractive, this double snowdrop produces dainty, nodding white flowers, delicately marked with a green spot at the apex of each petal. The slightly fragrant, fluffy blooms arise atop foliage of narrow, greenish-gray leaves. Deer resistant. Fragrant. Rabbit Resistant. RHS AGM Winner. 6-8”.
5 / $6.50
These are the monsters of the snowdrop world, reaching up to 7″ in height. Naturalizes slowly. Deer resistant. Rabbit resistant. 7″.
5 / $4.50
Similar to more common scillas, these boast larger clusters of pale blue-white flowers with a deeper stripe of blue on the outside of the bell. Fragrant. Deer resistant. 6″.
20 / $5.50