Bulbs have a magical quality. Like sowing seeds, planting bulbs is an act of faith, except for one reassuring difference; feeling the weight of a big, fat lily bulb in your hand, with its thick, fleshy scales, affirms the life and potential contained within. Anyone who has seen a colchicum pushing up its huge globes of violet or white flowers must appreciate the power of bulbs. Corms, tubers, rhizomes and bulbs are storage organs, a resting place for next year’s shoots, leaves and flowers. Known collectively as bulbous plants, they have developed over evolutionary aeons to deal with baking summers and freezing winters. To cope with such extremes, they have effected a host of devices to ensure prolonged life.
Whatever your garden, or even without a garden, planting in just…