p7

p29

p39

p52

Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017

p40 and to flower in the spring

Telephone 01460 242177 www.avonbulbs.co.uk

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs i Winners of… 30 Gold Medals at Chelsea in 31 years Avon bulbs contacts Welcome to the Email: Avon Bulbs autumn [email protected] Catalogue 2017 Web: www.avonbulbs.co.uk The past 30 years have seen our catalogues Tel: improve markedly although new enhancements get 01460 242177 progressively more subtle! It continues to be done 01460 249060 ‘in house’, written by us and with only a few images from plant image libraries, Fax: not written or produced by an agency or put together from scratch by someone 01460 249025 outside the business, but it is a time consuming process. Burnt House Farm Mid Lambrook This introduction is tackled last of all and South Petherton, Somerset this year it is being written in early June TA13 5HE shortly after our return from the RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2017 where we won our 30th Gold Medal. As watchers of the coverage on TV will know it was a hot week and some of the exhibits were looking a bit tired by the end of it, but for all that our plants fared much better than the cut Late flower exhibits! Availability We were particularly pleased to present a fine array of poppies which we had not succeeded in displaying so and Website well since 2011 (the third week in May is still a bit early for The website now contains a great them) as well as 26 different varieties of Tulip (which had deal more information about all to be carefully managed for colour) and hyalinum the bulbs we offer, their history and provenance and more about – a new allium to us (also new to the show) about which the planting situations that suit you can read on page 11. In a year when the weather them, as well as a repeat of the conditions resulted in the plants being generally much planting instructions supplied taller than usual the Maianthemum bifolium (page 32), with the bulbs. which we had not shown before either, was a useful addition in leafy, calming shades of green with white If there is not enough information plume like flowers, looking much the same at the end of here for your needs, do have the week as it had at the beginning. They probably fared a look there instead. We also better than we did! We may even give some thought to mark bulbs as ‘Sold Out’ on the taking a year out from Chelsea. Time will tell. Chris Ireland-Jones website when they become Sold Out, so if you are ordering later in the season and want to check Dormant Snowdrops: on availability you might like to Our list has previously come out in past years in August check the website. and we have despatched the bulbs shortly thereafter but we anticipate an earlier list this year (although delivery still Also if we have small numbers of remains in August). The long awaited and much asked about Galanthus Midas will be listed (not at the wildly extortionate ‘special’ bulbs to sell we do tend prices some New snowdrops command because we hope to offer them on the website – to have enough available to satisfy a reasonable demand). check the Special Offers pages. Still no-one can anticipate things so getting in early would be advisable. That list will come out as an email or by post to those that have registered with us as Galanthophiles and then goes online on the website. ii Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Plants and Bulbs that mostly Late Summer 2017 flower in the autumn, soon after planting, Plants and bulbs to flower in the Autumn or else items that just prefer early Delivery from this section will be made mid-August to early September. Orders planting. close from this section in mid-September.

Late Summer

Amaryllis x amarygia parkeri alba

Acis X Amarine tubergenii 56-11 autumnalis 106-10 Unusual hybrids between Amayllis Slender wiry green or russety and Nerines. Bright cerise pink coloured stems, carrying delicate flowered like Nerines but more like looking white papery bells. They Amaryllis in that they are winter Acis autumnalis were thought to be autumn growing so a little tender therefore flowering forms of the snowflake requiring some protection. family but are now in a distinct Sept/ Oct • 15” (38cm) group of their own, ideal for a £4.00 each trough or container that stays drier. Plant the bulbs (only the size of large peas) 3” (7.5cm) deep, nearly Colchicum touching. Easy to grow in good, deep Aug/Sept • 9” (22cm) moisture retentive soil, these £7.50 for 5 appear from their summer dormancy without their leaves to flower in the autumn – hence their Amaryllis common name of ‘naked ladies’. Amaryllis (and their hybrids) A pointer to the end of summer, are winter growing, hence with their bright flowers last incredibly exposed leaves in winter do well considering their apparent need to be planted in a sheltered fragility. The leaves appear in the Colchicum agrippinum Amaryllis x tubergenii site where they are likely not early spring. They need planting to be chilled below about -4°C. 3” (8cm) deep - perhaps a little A cool conservatory should more for ones with bigger bulbs be fine, with the pots moved – and 6” (15cm) apart. They will agrippinum 73-19 outside in the early spring. A naturalise effectively, but the summer baking in dry conditions mower will have to be restrained A naturally occurring hybrid that ‘ripens and primes’ the bulbs for until the leaves wither away in dates back to 1879 and very flowering. In favoured spots one June. Please order early – after unusual. Much smaller than the ® may be possible to grow them the end of September they goblet shaped forms below, the successfully outside. seem to flower regardless of the flowers on these open almost RHS Perfect for Pollinators. conditions. flat, with broad pointed petals in The RHS Perfect for Pollinators X Amarygia pinkish-lilac, heavily chequered mark is only given to plants that with darker markings. Narrow, parkeri alba 56-10 Plants we list which support pollinating insects in have received the RHS wavy-edged leaves appear after gardens. Bees, butterflies, moths, A hybrid between Amaryllis and Commendation ‘Award flowering. These increase in fertile hoverflies and many others visit Brunsvigia producing very large of Garden Merit’ are now soil, in an open sunny site. Being flowers to feed on nectar and bulbs. Flowering with apple-white tagged with the trophy symbol. Space pollen; while doing so they transfer does not allow us to add the hardiness more petite they are possibly better trumpets with a huge perfume rating – please be aware the award in a raised bed or trough. Tough for pollen and increase seed set and arranged all around a green stem. applies to the ease of cultivation, all of that and increasing in sunny fruit development. Find out more at Sept/Oct • 20” (50cm) excellence and constitution, but not conditions. rhs.org.uk/plants £8.00 necessarily hardiness. Sept • 4” (10cm) £5.00 each

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 1 Photo credit: GAP Images p Colchicum autumnale Photo credit: GAP Images p Colchicum autumnale Colchicum Waterlily album Photo credit: GAP Images p Colchicum SPECIOSum Colchicum speciosum album Cyclamen coum autumnale 73-05 speciosum Cyclamen coum roseum 51-117 Graded for flower colour in the Softly, satin-sheened in mauve. album 73-16 These are all hardy, tough and spring so these are larger tubered They naturalise most effectively Gorgeous shimmering goblets in perennial and once established either in sun or partial shade where pure white. A very special plant will seed about. If you can plant and all will show pale pink flowers they often produce several flowers which could be the highlight of a them early (as a consequence with the characteristically darker from each corm. An easy British carefully chosen planting scheme of ordering from this section) ‘nose’. native known as Meadow Saffron, in fertile soil, ideally where it is not these Cyclamen will arrive £13.00 for 3 Wychwood Forest has thousands too dark in the spring, but they ‘properly’ dormant and ready to flowering each autumn. could help brighten up a shady pop in and awake in their new coum album 51-118 Sept • 6” (15cm) corner in the autumn. At the end of circumstances. You may order White flowered, but even the white £11.25 for 3 the 19th Century the famous firm of them also from the Autumn ones have a dark pink ‘nose’. Backhouse in Yorkshire were selling section, but by then there will £13.50 for 3 autumnale them for 5 Guineas each! Worth probably be some growth visible on them. These are all seed raised every penny now! album 73-06 in the UK. coum dark pink 51-131 The white-flowered form of the Sept/Oct • 8” (20cm) Tubers that have been selected for £16.50 for 3 above, although some their dark pink flowers. are pinkish-white. They tolerate SPRING £13.50 for 3 full sun but are especially useful Water-Lily 73-23 in some shade in damper, but not A multi-petalled variety which opens FLOWERING coum waterlogged conditions. out widely in the sun with multiple Silver Leaf 51-119 Sept • 6” (15cm) flower stems, flowering somewhat FORMS The rounded leaves are largely £10.50 for 3 later than the others. Surprisingly silvery patterned so a few tubers resilient to the weather despite its coum 51-116 planted amongst others with more appearance. speciosum 73-15 In their first or second flowering green leaves increases the variety The best of the larger forms for Oct • 6” (15cm) £12.50 for 3 season these were not graded for of the green tapestry, their flowers most gardens, and it spreads and colour in the spring so may be white are mostly pink. naturalises effectively. Stronger or pink flowered but will be generally £15.00 for 3 stemmed (and later flowering) than smaller in size than the forms of C. C. autumnale with longer flower coum below. stems and more richly coloured £14.00 for 5 with thicker, rounded, rosy pink-lilac petals. RHS Perfect Sept/Oct • 8” (20cm) for Pollinators. £11.25 for 3 ®

2 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Crocus goulimyi

Cyclamen hederifolium Crocus imperati de Jager Photo credit: GAP Images p Cyclamen hederifolium album Crocus goulimyi Mani White Crocus pulchellus autumn crocus – goulimyi Mani white 77-33 flowering autumn The pure white form with only the forms flowering golden yellow, A sought after gem. Flowering in the late autumn Nov • 5” (12cm) hederifolium (except for one that flowers £12.50 for 3 in the very early spring) these 51-107 bulbs bloom as a reaction to the These tubers were not sorted last lowering of the soil temperatures imperati de autumn so may flower in pink or (and the dampening of the soil) white (the pink will dominate). The in the early autumn. The spring Jager 77-39 petals sweep up and away from flowering forms (listed in the Flowering in the very early spring the flower and in the spring (and for Autumn section of our catalogue) when the delicacy of these flowers Photo credit: GAP Images

flower as soil temperatures p much of the year after) the ground is more than welcome, the outer rise. Some of these are more will be carpeted in their ivy leaf petals are biscuit buff with purple Crocus sativus difficult to grow than others, but stripes, the inside lilac to purple. shaped leaves. what is probably the easiest - C. £13.00 for 5 From Western Italy and needing speciosus, should be a feature of some protection or else a well any garden providing a dreamy drained sunny rockery. sativus 77-20 hederifolium violet splash of colour in late September and October. Jan • 5” (12cm) The source of Saffron, gathered album 51-108 £7.50 for 3 from collecting the bright red Selected white flowering tubers goulimyi 77-36 stigmata from each flower, which are especially good for pulchellus 77-35 individually tiny (half a million per illuminating darker conditions. Too Grecian in origin for ‘ordinary’ Pale sky-blue with darker veining, kilo!) justifying the huge cost of £11.00 for 3 outdoor conditions in the UK, but and a central yellow throat. This is Saffron. They need deep planting in well drained compost in a pot a meadow plant of northern Greece in rich soil, in a sunny position and hederifolium silver to which you can provide some and Turkey, very pretty and delicate probably need lifting and dividing protection (with a dry summer leaf 51-132 -looking but they are quite possible with regularity to encourage rest) these are beautiful flowers in The completely ghostly-silver in light grass in sun or part shade. flowering. Their flower production is both their shape and their soft lilac foliage effect is outstanding, literally. triggered by suddenly colder nights, colouration. Stock limited. Oct • 4” (10cm) £11.00 for 3 £4.30 for 10 or £11.50 for 30 our maritime climate sometimes Nov • 5” (12cm) does not provide that, which makes £7.00 for 3 reliance on one’s own Saffron production a bit hazardous. Oct • 4” (10cm) £5.50 for 10 or £13.00 for 30

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 3 Crocus speciosus

Gladiolus tristis Crocus tournefortii

Crocus speciosus albus Cypripedium Gisella Hippeastrum x acramannii speciosus 77-26 tournefortii 77-38 Gladiolus Hippeastrum The best autumn crocus. Large flowered in pale lavender, Dramatically effective, deep lilac sometimes white. Strangely the tristis 88-15 x acramannii to purple hues, with bright yellow flowers do not close in dull light or Native to South Africa, but here 56-14 anthers. Good in light shade or at night. Cretan in origin so they this is a special winter growing The spelling of acramannii under deciduous shrubs, or in require some shelter. Gladiolus with a wonderful scent is in some doubt, could it be light grass, planted deeply. They Sept/Oct • 5” (12cm) in the evenings. It really needs a ackermannii? Having been shown will flower later than suggested £7.50 for 3 sheltered site, or protection from a private greenhouse full of these in their first year, consequent to temperatures lower than about -5°C bulbs in flower many years ago near them having been out of the soil Cypripedium as they are in leaf through January Taunton and admired them hugely and dried off in this summer. Do and February. The 5-20 apple white (only later to find that the owner get enough of them! Suggested Gisela 64-07 flowers open progressively up the had since passed away and his planting density 15 per sq ft. long rush-like stems, and produce a Perfect in spring light and summer greenhouse had been demolished Sept/Oct • 5” (12cm) generous seed set. shade in fertile soil as long as the shortly afterward) it was much later £3.50 for 15 or £11.00 for 50 April/May • 3’ (90cm) that I was offered a stock from slugs are not over hungry. Hardy £15.00 for 3 the Isle of Man and jumped at the speciosus albus orchids are now becoming more widely available and our stocks of second opportunity. These multiply 77-27 these are very good. Some of these well under unheated glass for us, All white flowered, great for a divisions will produce several flower but reading about them I find that contrast amongst the others or a spikes in their first spring. They do others suggest that they are hardier bright creamy white splash all on not need cossetting, they are hardy than one anticipates. They are early their own. and in fact they need a cold spell autumn flowering in red and green Sept/Oct • 5” (12cm) to form their flowers. Some of these and in leaf all winter, dormant in £8.50 for 15 may be a yellower flowered variant summer. of C. Gisela, but they are just as Sept • 18” (45cm) £12.00 good. More growing instructions on RHS Perfect the website. for Pollinators. April/May • 18” (45cm) ® £19.50 or £50.00 for 3

4 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Hyacinth Pink Pearl

Hyacinth White Pearl Lilium candidum

Hyacinth Delft Blue Iris tuberosa Narcissus cyclamineus prepared White Pearl 86-34 lilium cyclamineus 113-179 Strong-growing, broad, gleaming An iconic small species, one that hyacinths white flowers. candidum 107-114 is much loved and sought after For December/January blooming £3.60 for 3 or £7.50 for 7 Like the Hermodactylus above, a by many, but they rarely do well in when potted. These are suitable plant that is better started off early, warm, dry, limey soils. Neutral to for forcing for Christmas and inevitably the first orders get acid soils suit them better, moist flowering. For this they need to be the pick of the crop, so ordering in spring and more shaded in potted by the end of September Iris tuberosa from this section has its benefits. summer. Grow them where they will (hence they are sold in this late (Hermodactylus) See page 31 of the Autumn be happy and seed about. summer section), and grown Catalogue for more details. March • 5” (12cm) in a cool, dark place initially to 103-110 June • 36” (90cm) £5.50 allow rooting. They can then be The ’Widow Iris’ does better from £5.40 or £15.50 for 3 brought into more light once early planting, and if you have tried they have emerged through the Paperwhite before with limited success, we do compost. Temperature control narcissus Ziva 113-152 is critical as too much heat will suggest that you add some of these Also see the main Autumn Early to flower from being forced; make them flop. The process of to a Late Summer order and try Catalogue pages 33-39 for the we reckon on about eight to ten preparation means that these again. Alternatively see page 31 of main listing. These either need weeks to bloom from potting, so are not available until early the Autumn Catalogue. Translucent early planting (N. cyclamineus) or work it out from when you want September. black and jade-green flowers are them in flower. White flowered and preceded by long rush-like leaves. could provide a very early display multi-headed, with a huge room They require time to establish and from bulbs potted early (Ziva). Delft Blue 86-05 filling perfume. Grow them in good flower better in the spring following A compact, pale blue spike set off light and at cool temperatures a hot summer. They love growing by the emerging dark green leaves. without freezing so they don’t get around heat absorbing sun- £3.60 for 3 or £7.50 for 7 too tall, only bringing them in to drenched paving, or at the base of admire at room temperatures for a warm wall in the sun. Pink Pearl 86-35 April • 6” (15cm) their final flourish. Not reliably hardy. Delicately pink, and like the others £5.00 for 10 Dec/Jan • 15” (38cm) deliciously fragrant. £6.50 for 5 or £11.50 for 10 £3.60 for 3 or £7.50 for 7

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 5 Scilla lilio-hyacinthus Nerine flexuosa alba Tecophilaea c. leichtlinii

Narcissus paperwhite Ziva nerine flexuosa alba 33-23 A winter growing species (all the

others we grow are summer growing) Photo credit: GAP Images so these require a bit more shelter. p The frilly white petals however last Scilla autumnalis Scilla greilhuberi ages in flower and in sheltered gardens are a treat in the autumn. Sept/Oct • 14” (35cm) £7.50 for 3 lilio-hyacinthus tecophilaea 125-28 Chilean bulbs from a high scilla Broad and tidy leaved, with pretty, altitude, so one would expect delicate racemes of soft pale blue. them to be cold tolerant, but autumnalis 125-18 Neat looking mounds of foliage where they come from is relatively Hardy, but uncommon small bulbed and a joy when in flower. The bulbs dry, and our winters are really natives of the south-west, these are formed of loose lily-like scales too wet for them. If you can grow are incredibly long-lasting in flower. which dislike being dried out. them under some protection (particularly from rain) and you’ll Bright blue flowers up a fine wiry Clump forming and best in some be amazed by the depth of colour stem, lasting ages. They need a shade. A great addition to the early in the flowers. Their blue is like spring tapestry. sunny, well-drained soil. the dazzling displays produced Mar/Apr • 8” (20 cm) Aug/Oct • 5” (12cm) by some exotic butterflies. £8.50 for 3 £12.00 for 3 greilhuberi 125-30 lilio–hyacinthus cyanocrocus A lilac blue flowered form from alba 125-29 leichtlinii 128-04 around the the Caspian Sea. It This pretty form has all the White centred with gentian blue flowers early in the year having attributes of the blue but the petals. started to produce its leaves late flowers are white and the leaves are March • 5” (12.5cm) £6.00 or £17.00 for 3 in the autumn, Safe enough in slightly paler than those of the blue sheltered gardens in good light, flowered form above. Best grown in Scilla lilio hyacinthus albus quite leafy by the time it does flower. some shade. Feb/Mar • 8” (20cm) Mar/Apr • 8” (20 cm) £5.00 for 3 £12.00 for 3

6 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Order for Late Summer Despatch 2017 Bulbs that need Early Planting this Autumn Please specify plants and costs here, and complete the other side of the form

Stock Price & No of £ ref. no. Plant name Pack Sz Packs

113-152 N. Paperwhite Ziva (EXAMPLE ONLY) 6.50/5 1 6.50

Tecophilaea c. leichtlinii Tecophilaea cyanocrocus violacea

Tropaeolum tricolor

cyanocrocus violacea 128-06 Amazingly brilliant dark blue petalled. March • 5” (12.5cm) £6.00 or £17.00 for 3 subtotal

carriage tropaeolum Postage on a Late Summer order A winter-growing form of these climbing £4.95 (mainland UK only) total plants, they start to grow in late September and flower in late spring. They are not hardy if they experience temperatures below about The example at the top shows the information we need – in particular, the reference number -5°C, but grown in pots with something given beside the plant name in the catalogue to climb up and are protected during the coldest weather they are actually happier If possible, specify acceptable alternatives in case some of your choices are not available grown somewhere cool rather than too warm. If you want your order to be sent as a gift to someone else (invoice to you), tick the box and put the recipient’s name and address and postcode in the space provided in Other Delivery Instructions.. tricolor 47-06 Is this an order for collection? Exhibiting shoals of stunning red, black and Is it a gift? yellow flowers that last ages in flower. A climber that starts into growth very early In the autumn so early ordering Is a must. One of the most Safeplace - if you are likely to be out during the day, please suggest where the parcel should be left spectacular plants that we sell, and a favourite or who else might accept delivery. of mine. Spring • climbing up to 4’ (120cm) £5.50 Please record personal and payment details overleaf

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 7 Order for Late Summer Despatch 2017 Bulbs that need Early Planting this Autumn

Office use only: Date received: Order No:

Avon Bulbs Ltd • Burnt House Farm • Mid Lambrook South Petherton • Somerset • TA13 5HE

Title: Mr Mrs Miss Other ______

Name: ______

House Name/No: ______

Street: ______

Town: ______

County: ______

Country: ______Postcode ______Contact Number:

Tel:______Mob:______

Email address: ______

Velthemia bracteata

Other Delivery Instructions: ______

______Velthemia ______bracteata 170-01

______Winter growing plants from South Africa, slightly red hot poker-like in flower, but closer ______in their form to Lachenalia as the flowers are all tubular and the leaves quite succulent. These ______are some that we have been growing for some ______years with lovely large rounded bulbs. Suitable for a frost free conservatory with a dry summer rest, stock very limited. March/April • 18” (45cm) £5.00

Payment: Orders are not accepted without payment except by prior agreement. Collection Please include payment or please charge my Visa/Mastercard account. Times Cheque enclosed Yes, value £ ______, or We are primarily a business that . . . Card No. operates by Mail Order. But if you live nearby, or are passing by when Valid from date / Card expiry date / we are likely to be getting your order Security code (last three digits on reverse of card) ready, you might like to collect your order and save on the postage?

Signature ______We are open for such circumstances by arrangement from 18 September to the end of October 2017.

8 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Autumn 2017 Plants and Bulbs to plant in the Autumn, mostly to flower in the following spring. Despatch of these items begins in early to mid September with the intention of sending everything on your order in one parcel. For further information see the ‘Ordering from Avon Bulbs’ section at the back. allium are always welcome to gardeners in the early summer as the flowers offer height and distinction when most gardens are not quite so colourful. Their exclamation mark shape differentiates them from the plants around them, and those companion plants in turn ‘hide’ what is sometimes distracting foliage, which (in most of these Alliums) is beginning to yellow at flowering time. They are generally plants of sunny and well-drained soils, and can be used either in dramatic eye-catching sweeps, or else, in a more cottagey style, in Allium isolated small groups to equally good effect.

Everyone seems to love Alliums Photo credit: Bolton Image Library

and, knowing that the beneficial p insects and bees are struggling Allium hollandicum nowadays, it is worth a reminder that Alliums provide a fantastic food supply for those insects, especially the late flowering forms. Our beds of A. angulosum, A.glaucum and A. tuberosum shimmer with activity on sunny summer days. Try out a number of different forms to see which do best in your circumstances? Ambassador 53-60 Beginning to flower in late May these flowers should see one allium cæruleum through all of June on tall stems topped by their mid purple heads about 5” (10cm) across. Very big

bulbed plants benefitting from deep Photo credit: GAP Images

planting to ensure that the stems p remain firmly upright. Good seed Allium ambassador allium angulosum heads follow the main flower show. June • 40” (100 cm) £8.00 for 3 cæruleum 53-14 cristophii 53-11 angulosum Unusual blue flowered drumstick If you only ever buy two or three (pyrenaicum) 53-28 flowers originating from the steppes Alliums, this must be one of them. of Russia and China. They will do Sculptural flower heads, initially Wonderfully easy to grow plants. Bright glossy green leaved with lots best in a well drained sunny spot or greenish purple, are gradually of pale lilac flowers in the height rockery where the small bulbs can transformed as they are pollenated of summer when butterflies and be planted quite closely, only 1-2” into metallic silvery-violet coloured hoverflies jostle to feed on them. (2.5-5cm) apart. spheres, all borne on quite stocky We supply small clumps to be June • 18” (45cm) stems. The round melon sized £4.30 for 15 planted 9” (22cm) apart, in the sun heads naturally complement the where it is not too dry. Divide them purples of rampant geraniums or again when they are thick. cernuum 53-04 the spikier silvery blues of Lavender. July/August • 12” (30cm) Dainty chandeliers formed of Buff coloured seed heads follow. £7.50 for 3 - (divisions not true bulbs) dozens of small claret pink flowers Plant them 8+” (20cm) apart in hanging off the nodding stem sunny well drained soils in borders so the bees have to hang on or even rough grass, they will also RHS Perfect upside down to get at the flowers, tolerate a degree of shade. for Pollinators. sometimes several heads form in June • 10-16” (25-40cm) £3.50 for 3, £10.50 for 10 ® a succession. Easy to grow and or £20.00 for 20 seeding themselves in lighter soils The RHS Perfect for Pollinators mark in the sun. Delivered as fresh dug is only given to plants that support plants rather than bulbs. pollinating insects in gardens. Find Summer • 18” (45cm) out more at rhs.org.uk/plants £5.50 for 5 allium cristophii

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 9 Photo credit: GAP Images Photo credit: Bolton Image Library p p Allium Early Emperor Allium giganteum Allium GLOBEmaster Photo credit: GAP Images p Allium Purple Sensation Allium hollandicum Allium His Excellency

Early Gladiator 53-55 His Excellency 53-69 Emperor 53-68 With fully rounded flowers this is a Violet purple heads about 5” across The parentage of this hybrid means solid garden worthy hybrid between (12cm) on clean long tall stems that while it is still a big flower at A. aflatunense and A. elatum. The June 48” (120cm) about 6” (15cm) across it flowers flowers are a pinkish purple shade £8.50 for 3 rather earlier than the other large on strong stems. Easy, increasing headed Alliums when it is not quite and supplied as big bulbs these hollandicum 53-08 so tall. The flowers are rosy lilac always flower and last well. Best for bigger gardens, or with silvery white stamens providing June • 36” (90cm) whereever you might want a more £8.50 for 3 a halo like sheen. subtle and textured display. They May/June • 24” (60cm) provide that irregularity in colour, £8.50 for 3 Globemaster 53-46 height, size and maturity which Probably the best of the large adds subtlety and charm to any Allium Gladiator giganteum 53-20 headed Allium hybrid with planting, especially one on a bigger Densely filled heads in pale purple exceptionally long lasting flowers. scale. Deep lilac to pale purple the size of a grapefruit top each The first array is replaced by flowers about the size of an orange. tall bare stem. A central Asian another second flush of their deep Easy in any free draining soil in the hollandicum Purple species requiring well-drained violet-purple flowers. The insects sun, planted about 6” (15cm) apart. Sensation 53-09 still love to feed on them, although soils and a sunny site, by the time May/ June • 24-36” (60-90cm). An intensely deep purple coloured despite their attentions you’ll not that they flower the leaves have £3.50 for 5, £6.20 for 10 strain, with heads the size of small get a remnant seed head as they or £11.40 for 20 mostly withered away. Its name is oranges. Another of that select are sterile. Tidier leaved than most, a reference to its impressive height group of those ‘must have’ Alliums. even at flowering time. Plant them rather than to an enormous flower. They provide purple polka dots about 12” (45cm) apart in well RHS Perfect Late June/July • 48” (120cm) to your planting scheme, adding drained soils in good light. Great for Pollinators. £4.50 or £12.50 for 3 colour, texture and geometric planted with Astrantia ‘Roma’. ® shapes to your borders. Derived May/June • 36” (90cm) £5.00 or £13.50 for 3 from a clone these should all be the same hue. May/ June • 30” (75cm) £4.30 for 5, £8.00 for 10 or £15.00 for 20

10 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 allium hyalinum

Allium ivory queen

Allium Nigrum Pink Jewel Photo credit: GAP Images p Photo credit: GAP Images p Allium Mount Everest Allium karataviense Allium obliquum

karataviense 53-22 mount everest nigrum Characterised by more succulent 53-43 pink jewel 53-65 looking, low, tough, broad grey- Probably the best tall white flowered A pale pink form of the plant above, green foliage with red margins and Allium. Grapefruit sized heads top one which was much admired in the covered in a dusty bloom, these a tall glossy green stem. The leaves Allium trials at RHS Wisley in 2014. look as though they come from a persist, so are not too obtrusive Large domed pale pink heads with modern design school with such at flowering time. Lovely when dark centres. metallic looking leaves, ideal for combined with other strong coloured May/June • 36” (90cm) gravel gardens or silvery planters. flowers such as Gladiolus byzantinus, £7.00 for 3 A pale pinkish white flower is held and ideally planted against a dark on a short stem. Best grown in tight backdrop, though some planted in obliquum 53-26 clumps, planted 4” (10cm) apart in the dappled shade of a Laburnum These are Siberian in origin so are sunny sites. are great, we suggest about 12” incredibly tough despite being in May/June • 10” (25cm) (30cm) apart when planted. £4.30 for 5 or £11.90 for 15 leaf all winter. They never really May/June • 36” (90cm) seem to be fully dormant. Their £8.00 for 3 or £12.50 for 5 flowers are the size of large hens’ karataviense eggs in June when they eventually Ivory Queen 53-23 nigrum stand erect, greenish-yellow in This form, selected from those (multibulbosum)53-24 colour and increasingly ‘fluffy’. They hyalinum 53-70 above, is similarly grey-green Greeny-black ovaries in the centre set lots of seed as well as forming leaved but with a pale margin and of each floret provide the reason for clumps in time. A species from where it an apple-white flower. The two go the name, though the suggestion of June • 24” (60cm) grows on shady canyon slopes in together perfectly and the two forms blackness somehow does not sit so £8.00 for 3 the around 1200m. could be intermingled. well on an otherwise creamy white Star shaped flowers in pale pink May/June • 10” (25cm) flower! The flower head shape is less with grey, rather limp leaves, but £4.50 for 5 or £12.50 for 15 rounded, just a bit more flattened and very floriferous. They need good they are easily grown in sunny well- drainage and drier summer rest. drained soils with a dry summer rest. May • 12” (30cm) June • 24” (60cm) £5.00 for 5 £5.60 for 5 or £10.00 for 10 (Small bulbs)

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 11 Photo credit: GAP Images p Allium Pinball Wizard Allium schubertii

Allium Powder Puff Allium Purple Rain

Pinball Wizard 53-61 Purple Rain 53-67 sphærocephalon Fully 6” (15 cm) across, these A product of the cross between 53-33 heads are not as densely packed A. Purple Sensation (from which Butterflies love these egg shaped with flowers as those of A. it gains its height and deeper heads (and at their peak they Globemaster, so the effect is rather colouration) and A. cristophii are about the same size). They more ‘fluffy’ but they are slightly (which gives it the open structure) emerge as tight deep green buds taller with thick weather resisting with heads about 5-6” (15cm) in June, turning purple from their stems. The flowers are a mid purple across. With such popular and tips through July and swaying in and a bit earlier flowering than eminent parentage these should the summer breezes on long wiry most, at their best in mid May be superior and will become stems. Woven through a summer border, often as rivers of colour, May • 40” (100 cm) increasingly popular themselves. £8.10 for 3 They performed well in the Allium they visually ‘tie things together’. Easy and inexpensive for the effect trials at Wisley. that they provide. We always supply Powder Puff 53-66 June (later than Purple Sensation) bigger bulbs than are generally A broad leaved allium with violet 38” (100cm) available, ensuring that the £6.50 for 5 or £12.00 for 10 purple flowers about the size of a flowering will be better as a result. tennis ball held on much shorter Plant them 3” apart or 10-15 per stems than would normally be schubertii 53-31 square foot. expected for an Allium with this size Spectacular and eccentric. Summer • 24” (60cm) of head. It is a hybrid between A. Emerging early in the late winter £4.10 for 15, £6.00 for 25 or nevskianus and A. servaschanicum, these are at some risk in extreme £11.00 for 50 both from Central Asia. Great for winters but when planted in a warm windy sites. sunny garden and given a dry tuberosum 53-38 May/June • 15” (35cm) warm summer rest following their As much a herb as a (as are £8.50 for 3 flowering they can be fabulous. Like ) but with a long flowering a tumbleweed the long spokes are period through the summer, the unifolium 53-40 what they might roll away on when white flowers over lush foliage on Shell pink heads of quite papery dry, the seeds held on the shorter very wiry stems which persist as and long lasting flowers, about 15 extensions. A vegetable explosion dry straw-like markers through the contained within each head. Easy to RHS Perfect or firework caught mid burst ! winter. They are multifaceted plants, grow in any sunny and well drained for Pollinators. June • 18” (45cm) and brilliant insect feeding stations spot, especially the rockery. The ® £11.00 for 3 too. small bulbs are planted quite close Aug/Oct • 24” (60cm) together where their massed effect £6.00 for 3 (small clumps) is very attractive. May • 10” (25cm) £6.00 for 20

12 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Nectaroscordum siculum Anemone

Anemone blanda pink star Anemone apennina

Nectaroscordum tripedale nectaroscordum Much like the Alliums, with the same ‘oniony’ scent when the leaves are crushed, and with very Anemone White Splendour similar looking bulbs armed with a small spike. Because of their strong similarities we list them Anemone blanda blue Anemone apennina after the Alliums but out of strict apennina 57-11 alphabetic order. An excellent and very pretty plant, I anemone wish it were more easily produced blanda siculum 53-32 as I think It probably superior to A. Tall stemmed (with a pronounced The spring flowering anemones blanda In British conditions. White Pink Star 57-08 keel – think of the seam in a pair of should follow the crocuses in or pale blue flowered with many Pale pink flowered plants of the tights) leading upwards to dozens late March for their turn in the deeply cut petals on flowers held same stature. of hanging green and burgundy limelight. They mark that moment well above soft mounds of leaves. March • 4” (10cm) £4.10 for 10 marked bells pendulously arranged when the weather is on the turn Ideal under big deciduous trees in a loose head. They enjoy more for the better and the stronger following snowdrops and flowering light of spring is accentuated by shade than most true Alliums with the early daffodils. Both colours blanda White and seed about in conditions that the shiny wet foliage resulting from scudding showers and are equally lovely and they combine Splendour 57-12 they like and have strongly windy conditions. This is just what very naturally. Plant in small groups Gleaming white petals surround scented foliage when crushed. Anemones love. And they open 6” (15cm) apart where they will a hub of golden stamens, which The bees love them. The dry seed wide in the sunshine though if the thereafter seed about. Home grown when ruffled by the wind show off heads look like models of multi- light is only dappled by dint of still and dug-to-order the damp packed their pink tinged backs. Opening turreted fairy castles. bare branches on the trees they rhizomes are inevitably rather widely in direct sunshine, their Early summer • 30” (75cm) won’t mind. variable in size. flowering is a sure sign that spring £3.50 for 5 or £6.50 for 10 They are not all alike even when March/April • 8” (20cm) has arrived. Compared to the blue ‘resting’: the bulbous (A. blanda) £5.50 for 3 forms warmer soils and more direct tripedale 53-25 forms come as hard, wizened light suit them better, in too much Like N. siculum above, but with more corms, which need an overnight blanda blue 57-07 shade they get rather leggy. They soak before planting and will numerous flowers in a gorgeous soft Low growing in shades of blue, grow from larger irregular corms, take a long hot summer in their pink which emerge like hatchlings that variation adding to their which you will receive whole - many stride. The rhizomatous forms (A. from their translucent sheath. Happy apennina and A. nemorosa) need attractiveness, with flowers which providers sell these cut into smaller in sun or part shade and not as a cooler, shady (but also dry) rest shimmer close to the ground, pieces. difficult to grow as the price suggests, after they have flowered, so they unaffected by the March winds and March • 5” (13cm) but uncommon and very select. How prefer more shaded, woodland- shaking off the rain. Easy in any £3.80 for 10, £9.00 for 25 or £17.00 for 50 should one say the name? I am not like conditions and hating summer shaded spot wherever the sure, but hope that it should be ‘tripi- exposure to air will be damp more angled light (and moisture) of dali‘ rather than ‘tripe-dale’. packed in coir when despatched spring penetrate through. June • 36” (100cm) by us. March • 4” (10cm) £7.00 or £18.00 for 3 £2.20 for 10, £5.00 for 25 or £9.00 for 50

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 13 Anemone ran. flora plena Bomaria salsilla

Anemone virescens

Anemone nemorosa nemorosa 57-20 Bongardia chrysogonum The wild wood anemone. The simplest looking low white flowers which derive from their stick- like rhizomes, for woodland like bomarea situations, in shade with leafmold rich soils. As with many ‘wild’ plants salsilla 10-04 they often take a while to settle in Mexican and South American and take off. climbers that one would imagine April • 4” (10cm) ought to need protection, but £4.50 for 5 recent winters here have left them Anthericum liliago major Asphodelus albus untouched by cold, buried as they nemorosa are deep in the ground. Long lasting pink flowers mass on the ends virescens 57-17 of thick tangled stems with quite For us the most productive of all anthericum asphodelus succulent foliage, sometimes the the Anemone nemorosa forms, heads look down, or up, but never many of which sulk after being liliago major albus 34-05 the same way! They will need full moved and take ages to get going 58-05 This Asphodel plant makes a strong sun or part shade and you will need again. These do not have flowers in Pretty white flowered perennials structural statement for much of to provide support for them to grow the conventional sense, but frothy the year with its broadly branching over. green heads full of bracts that last from southern Europe. They grow from a crown of thick fleshy roots habit. The stems carry starry white Summer flowering • 30” (70cm) much longer than flowers might. £5.00 when dormant in the autumn, flowers which look finely henna April • 4” (10cm) lined. Best grown in a sunny border £5.00 for 5 providing for splendid, informal looking plants that thrive in moisture or gravel garden and because they come into early growth in the winter bongardia ranunculoides retentive soil in good light. When settled, each plant will carry ten are more suitable for early autumn chrysogonum 67-04 planting. Architectural and structural flore plena 57-27 or more flower stems piercing A rare bulb with coppery yellow plants for full sun, probably planted A European native with bright upward each carrying a dozen or flowers and attractive grey-green no closer than 2’ (60cm) apart. yellow double petalled flowers, the more flowers looking like little flared leaves marked with red, best suited Expect big roots! Stocks not as tubers underground are thicker trumpets with yellow stamens, open to somewhere sun-baked and dry in large as hoped so numbers limited and less stick-like than those of the sequentially up the stems. Border the summer, As well as being fully in 2017 Anemone nemorosa. Easy in light plants for good fertile soils in the hardy they are also hugely drought spring shade conditions amongst sun. Plant 2’, 60cm apart. Summer • 3-5’ (90-150cm) £12.00 resistant and love a hot dry soil. Very the other March and April flowering May • 24” (60cm) special members of the Berberis woodlanders. £6.50 family with pretty, hard, nut-like April • 4” (10cm) tubers. £5.50 for 3 April/May • 9” (22cm) £4.70 or £12.50 for 3

14 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Camassia leichtlinii alba

Camassia Maybelle

camassia

Camassia leichtlinii Camassia avon’s stellar hybrids camassia leichtlinii Very hardy bulbs of North (ssp. suksdorfii) American origin that love that caerulea 70-06 heavy, often rather poorly drained Especially good in heavier soils and Camassia Electra soil that many bulbs find is too a feature plant for the border in late tough to cope with. If your soil spring where they make magnificent is too heavy and the summers too wet to get repeat flowering shows with many erect stems of Blue Heaven 70-17 from your Tulips some of these deep lavender blue flowers, curving might be a suitable (and more skyward from thick clumps when Paler blue than all the other sustainable) alternative, albeit established. They set no seed, Camassia that we sell and of from a narrower palette? Suitable only increasing as the bulbs split middling height. This is the result for borders or in grassland up. Longer lasting flowers result of a crossing of C. cusickii and where one can achieve a full six from planting in some shade and C. leichtlinii, and a considerable weeks of interest using just a few they love heavy soils that hold improvement on the standard pale different varieties. the moisture. Ideal partners might blue C. cusickii which gives the Camassia Blue Heaven be Polygonatum x hybridum, other Camassia a bad name as it leichtlinii ssp. Maianthemum racemosum or does not flower well after the first leichtlinii alba Tellima grandiflora. Big bulbs that year (but being sold cheaply is 70-07 ought to have 5” of soil over them often people’s first introduction to leichtlinii Avon’s when planted 9” (22cm) apart. the family). Stellar hybrids 70-11 Ivory-cream in flower, standing out April/May • 32” (80cm) April/May • 18” (45cm) brilliantly against any dark backdrop £5.70 for 5 or £10.40 for 10 £8.20 for 3 A seed raised ‘swarm’ these are and a good contrast plant for the the result of hybridisation and Alliums in May. They spread their leichtlinii selection work done here. The leichtlinii caerulea resulting plants exhibit widely seed around freely, and in time sow Maybelle 70-16 Electra 70-10 themselves through the herbaceous varying colours, combinations One of the very best Camassias, border in good cottage garden Flowering two or three weeks later of purple blue, mauve, greyish, although it seems never to be in style. They do not naturally make as than the one above, this form is purplish, green and pale pink. We flower long enough. Large headed big a bulb as the blue C. caerulea more compact and the flower cannot guarantee what you might with large pale lilac-purple flowers. and sometimes flower from quite colour less purple and slightly more receive, but many are individualy They set no seed so increase only small bulbs, these planted about 9” blue than those of the plant above. eye-catching and from the seed slowly to magnificent clumps as (22cm) apart. They generally flower Late May can be a time when one that they in turn produce, who the big bulbs develop. The original about 10-14 days later than the blue is short of colour in the garden so knows what you might raise stock (going back all those 30 C. ‘caerulea’ form. these should really fill a gap and yourself! The bulbs also vary years) came from Beth Chatto, and May/June • 36” (90cm) extend the season, and being somewhat in size. After being £6.00 for 3 or £17.00 for 9 somewhat shorter may suit more still a welcome sight every spring. featured at Chelsea 2017 there are exposed sites?. Apr/May • 36” (100 cm) fewer to spare this year. May 24” (60cm) £7.50 May • 36” (90cm) - colours will vary £7.50 for 5 £6.50 for 3

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 15 Camassia Sacajawea Camassia semi plena Chionodoxa Pink Giant

Chionodoxa Blue Giant Chionodoxa luciliae

leichtlinii chionodoxa forbesii Semi-plena 70-08 The main spring bulbs exhibit Pink Giant 72-10 A tall tower of full petalled, almost a huge range of bold shapes With a spike of very pretty pale fluffy looking, cream coloured and strong colours. If one does pink flowers, this is a taller and flowers. A sterile form of the species not follow a theme or stick to a slightly earlier flowering alternative plant C. leichtlinii alba, but the limited pallet the whole effect can to the more common blue shades. benefit of sterility is for gardeners a look a bit haphazard. A way to Being taller it needs to receive long flowering season. Better where moderate this is to use a range of more light to avoid it getting too they get more sun than shade and the ’little blue bulbs’ to create a leggy and flopping over. Plant also best where the soils are damp more unifying backdrop. This ties about 1”- 2” (2.5-5cm) apart, or 15 through spring and early summer. the louder colours together and per square foot. provides a steadying consistency. June • 36” (90cm) February/March • 5” (13cm) £3.50 or £9.00 for 3 Any of the Chionodoxa, Muscari, £3.00 for 10 or £6.70 for 25 Scilla and Anemone provide this function but it can come from quamash (esculenta) quamash other plants too such as Brunnera forbesii (esculenta) 70-05 or Mysotis (Forget-me-not). Blue Giant 72-11 The shortest of all the Camassia, Larger flowered than the C. luciliae suitable for naturalizing in rough luciliæ 72-04 above with a more noticeable leichtlinii very late mown grass or to dot in Multifunctional small bulbs, they can central white throat. The photo Sacajawea 70-15 groups informally in the borders. go into your beds of perennials or was taken of them in a pot of A variegated form with a bold cream Smaller bulbs, which give rise to be allowed to seed about in rock tulips that were yet to flower and coloured edge to the leaf and rich, dark purple-blue flowers with gardens in sun or part shade, where the C. Blue Giant were flowering cream coloured flowers, this nicely startling yellow stamens. A meadow they combine well with the daffodils, their socks off and providing a accentuates what is (in Camassia plant. The bulbs are often pitted and grape hyacinths, crocuses and very good early show. generally) not very interesting marked when dormant, though this other small spring bulbs. They can March/April • 6” (15cm) foliage. The name honours a native seems to make no difference to their also be naturalized in grass (though £4.30 for 10 or £9.70 for 25 American Indian woman who saved growth, plant them 3-4” (10cm) apart. mowing too early or too low needs to the starving explorers on the Lewis May/June • 12” (30cm) be avoided). Brilliant blue with white and Clark expedition of 1805 as they £4.20 for 10 or £9.50 for 25 centres. Buy lots, planting densities crossed America east to west (and need to be generous, though they back again, for the first time) feeding will seed about in time. You’ll initially them the native ‘quamash’ bulbs. need about 30-40 per square ft. May/June • 36” (90cm) February/March • 4” (10cm) £9.00 for 3 £4.30 for 20 or £9.70 for 50

16 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Convallaria majalis Blush Convallaria majalis Fortins giant Convallaria majalis Hardwick Hall

Convallaria majalis Hofheim Convallaria majalis rosea Convallaria majalis Fernwood’s Golden Slippers convallaria majalis Blush 75-10 majalis Hardwick majalis Fernwood’s In paint terms these are probably Hall 75-09 Golden Slippers 75-11 Lilies of the Valley. Spring rose white, so they are the palest Wide leaved with a fine creamy A startlingly golden leaved form, flowering plants of woodland of pinks but they increase well. coloured margin to the leaf, particularly in the early spring origins with stringy rhizomes Do plant these in light shade so providing a feature of interest even before the flowers appear. They under the soil. They like humus avoiding direct warm May sun before they flower. The flowers are appear perfectly stable as there rich soil and part shade but which bleaches the pink from the everyone’s experience of growing large, white and scented. has been no reversion to green. flower. £4.00 each There is an ongoing argument these is different and (as is £6.00 for 3 reported to us) they will grow in regarding the name, should it be the most unlikely places. But the majalis Verwood, Fernwood or what? From critical commonality is that they majalis Fortins Hofheim 75-12 the late Stephen Taffler (inveterate do need patience to begin with variegated plant addict) who used Giant 75-05 A creamy yellow edge to the and tales of them taking 2 or 3 Larger flowered and taller than the to live nearby. otherwise plain green leaf marks £7.00 for 3 years to settle abound. They are ‘common’ white Lily of the Valley all about 6” (15cm) tall when in these out, the edge is considered but equally scented. For sun or flower in May. rather stronger in this form than it shade but in the former they need a is in C. Hardwick Hall, the flower is majalis rosea 75-07 more moisture retentive soil. Good, creamy white and scented. Like small and very expensive pink strong, fresh-dug rhizomes (stringy £4.00 each pearls, a vigorous form which we roots) to plant horizontally about 2” know to be tough and productive deep (5 cm) and double that apart. with lovely pale pink fragrant £3.50 for 5 or £6.80 for 10 flowers, Best in dappled light or part shade, direct bright sunshine tends to burn out the pink. As with any Convallaria you’ll need a dose of patience before they thicken up. £7.00 for 5

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 17 Corydalis Blue DRAGON Corydalis George Baker

corydalis chrysanthus Blue Pearl chrysanthus Cream Beauty A family with snapdragon-like flowers – but those we sell fall into two distinct groups, the blue flowered flexuosa forms which do not form a distinct bulb so these we supply already growing in pots, and the solida types with corky tubers. The latter will cope anywhere in sun or part shade and will seed about, the former need encouragement to grow away from the compost in which they will be established before they settle in with you. Corydalis solida flexuosa China Blue 76-22 Exhibiting beautiful pink-fringed juvenile foliage when planted in some sunshine and startling pale blue flowers, this still remains a ‘buy on sight’ plant. Sold by the potful. Spring/Summer • 6” (15cm) crocus £3.00 flexuosa Blue Dragon 76-12 chrysanthus Gipsy Girl Bronze purple foliage, its colour heightened when planted in some direct sunshine, particularly in the crocus chrysanthus early spring, with deep purple-blue Blue Pearl 78-12 flowers. Sold by the potful. Corydalis China Blue (spring Spring/Summer • 6” (15cm) A lovely goblet shaped flower with £3.00 flowering) a soft lavender-blue exterior, pale silvery blue inside, with bronzing at The C. tommasinianus forms the base. solida 76-15 are perfect for planting in light £3.90 for 20, £8.90 for 50 Small wizened pebble-like tubers, grass or borders, self-sowing the size of small marbles which and increasing where happy and chrysanthus Cream produce froths of grey-green foliage potentially getting everywhere. and attractive spikes of spurred The bees love them and their Beauty 78-14 flowers in lilac, pink and purple opening is always a certain sign Elegant, the pale-cream petals hues. Easy in any well drained soil, of winter ending. The garden brushed with charcoal on the even in our heavy loam they happily hybrids, forms of C. chrysanthus, reverse, with bright orange stigmas seed about planted in summer C. biflorus and C. sieberi have when open wide in the sun. shade. been raised for garden use in £4.30 for 20 or £9.70 for 50 March/April • 4” (10cm) suitable (but possibly in more £4.50 for 10 restricted) situations. They are chrysanthus palatable to mice and squirrels Gipsy Girl 78-20 solida George as are some other small carbohydrate rich bulbs. Mesh Golden yellow throughout the flower Corydalis Beth Evans Baker 76-04 baskets sold by garden centres with darker brushing on the reverse A vibrant red coloured clone, and DIY stores for aquatic plants of the petals. Bigger flowered. originally discovered in Romania are a great help (with the addition £5.20 for 20 or £12.00 for 50 in the 1930s and further selected Beth Evans 76-16 of a home-made wire lid) these in Holland, being named after a buried containers mostly thwart Pinker than George Baker with paler those opportunistic raiders. The famous mountaineer. These do green leaves, the appearance is bigger and later flowering C. set seed, though the resulting somewhat softer and more feminine vernus or ’Dutch’ forms of Crocus RHS Perfect seedlings may themselves produce than George’s. are much bigger bulbed and for Pollinators. varied colours. March/April • 4” (10cm) seem to both persist better and ® March/April • 4” (10cm) £3.00 or £8.50 for 3 are less affected by rodents. £3.80 or £10.50 for 3

18 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Photo credit: GAP Images p chrysanthus Herald sieberi tricolor Photo credit: Linda de Goede Photo credit: GAP Images p p chrysanthus Snow Bunting tommasinianus Ruby Giant minimus Bavella Photo credit: GAP Images p tommasinianus Whitewell tommasinianus korolkowii Yalta Purple January Gold chrysanthus korolkowii tommasinianus tommasinianus Herald 78-21 January Gold 78-67 78-42 Whitewell Yolk yellow within the flower with Flowering so early this requires a Silvery lilac-lavender pink coloured Purple 78-45 plum coloured backs to the petals, sheltered sunny spot, or probably flowers. These seed about and, Free-flowering with silvery mauve- more highly coloured than most, to be grown in a pot where you can being small in size, are not so pink flowers and bright yellow though no more difficult. admire it up close. The species appealing to (or found so readily) anthers, this form is a little finer and £4.30 for 10 or £10.50 for 25 is Afghan in origin and has some by mice and squirrels. These are paler in hue. They are ideal to plant subtle differences from its more the best to naturalise, in the true with the intention of allowing them chrysanthus Snow western cousins such as more sense of the word. These will be to seed about and naturalise. They Bunting 78-18 leaves and a subterranean seed less uniform than the hybrids listed don’t last long in blazing March capsule. Shiny and golden within below. Flowering as soon as it Ivory-white with a yellow throat sunshine so try them in dappled the flower, more dusted on the starts to feel a bit warmer in early inside and on the outside some shade. Don’t mow till the leaves reverse. March. purple brushing over the white have gone if planted in grass and, £2.70 for 3 or £5.80 for 7 £3.90 for 10 or £8.90 for 25 or £16.40 if you remember, look out for the background. for 50 £3.90 for 20, £8.90 for 50 seed-heads at soil level in June. sieberi £3.90 for 20, £8.90 for 50 or £16.40 tricolor 78-58 tommasinianus for 100 minimus Ruby Giant 78-44 Bavella 78-66 Early flowering where it needs a sunny site, a small but bright flower, Deep pinkish-silvery purple Yalta 78-64 Gorgeously marked with dark banded dark purple, yellow and lilac flowered with contrasting yellow Bigger and bolder than the feathering up the backs of the lilac with short leaves at flowering time. anthers. Excellent for naturalising chrysanthus hybrids above but not purple petals, these are derived One of the most intensely coloured and an ideal accompaniment to the as big as the Dutch types below, from a Corsican species but being of the crocuses, and persisting. early dwarf daffodils and to follow some left over bulbs have survived late flowering they miss most of the £4.00 for 20 or £9.75 for 50 the pink Cyclamen coum. Don’t be in some rough grass under a birch worst winter weather, also setting a deceived by the deceptive naming, and done quite well here so come lot of seed. A raised bed or similar they are neither Ruby nor Giant, recommended, our heavier soil in the sun would be ideal. just ‘chubbier’ and darker than generally does not suit the smaller £2.70 for 3 or £5.80 for 7 Whitewell Purple below. crocus, though the ‘tommies’ do £3.90 for 20, £8.90 for 50 brilliantly. Alternating deep purple and or £16.40 for 100 silvery backed petals contrast nicely. £3.30 for 10 or £7.30 for 25

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 19 Crocus Queen of the Blues Crocus Jeanne D’Arc Crocus Grand Maitre

Crocus vernus

mixed dutch Crocus Mixed with golden yellow Crocus pickwick crocus vernus Grand Maitre 78-62 Golden Yellow Jeanne D’Arc 78-51 Lavender-violet with a silvery hue 78-52 A superb goblet shaped white ‘dutch’ hybrids and a paler edge. Very pretty, either Bright golden yellow flowers. Either crocus (occasionally with purple Selected over the centuries, alone or as one part of a group of use them alone or in combination flecking) with strong stems. Great originally from C. vernus these mixed colours. with the purple forms although it planted alone or else supporting a are useful for planting in grassed £4.30 for 15, £8.00 for 30 flowers fractionally earlier. It has mix of other colours. But also nice or £15.00 for 60 areas to provide an early spring been found not to be a true C. with late snowdrops or as a foil to show (though in February and vernus form at all but a triploid any of the Greigii tulips which flower March the grass will hardly Pickwick 78-53 hybrid between C. vernus and C. at the same time. One could try a be growing) and being bigger Strongly striped and feathered in angustifolius. combination of your own of any of bulbed they can be planted more violet over a white background. £4.30 for 15, £8.00 for 30 the ‘Dutch’ crocus and any Greigii deeply and would cope with A larger flowered and vigorous or £15.00 for 60 tulip in pots? rougher grass cover than lawn crocus, generally with several £4.30 for 15, £8.00 for 30 grasses. Flowering into the early flowers per corm. or £15.00 for 60 Daffodil season they can be an £4.30 for 15, £8.00 for 30 effective contrast to the sea of or £15.00 for 60 Queen of the yellow in the March garden. Plant them 4-6” (12-15cm) apart, or Blues 78-68 roughly 7- 12 per square foot. The deepest blue, with a whiff of They do not quite all flower purple in some lights but with an together (which is a benefit) so incredible depth of colour and choose a few varieties to provide RHS Perfect slightly shorter stemmed. a slightly greater spread of for Pollinators. £4.30 for 15, £8.00 for 30 flowering. Late February and early ® or £15.00 for 60 March flowering 5” (12.5 cm) tall.

20 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 cyclamen Cyclamen tubers tend to do best in drier sites in lighter soils that have benefitted from the addition of some humus or leaf-mould. Here they seed through and pop up in our heavy soils even in grass. Though not cheap to begin with (these are often 4 years old already) they can be expected to live many years and the autumn flowering forms can reach dinner plate size and a cyclamen great age. These are all in leaf throughout the winter and spring months so do take their attractive foliage into account and aim for that varied green tapestry that Cyclamen coum album Cyclamen coum a mix of the spring and autumn flowering forms provides. They are all completely hardy except C. repandum which will need more careful placement, although Mary Keen in the Telegraph wrote that they too had survived recent winters deeply planted in the Cotswolds. We would suggest you plant them all about 5” (12cm) apart.

Cyclamen coum flowers in the early spring with slightly chunky flowers with foliage that is smooth edged and rounded, Cyclamen hederifolium flowers in the early autumn with more elegant flowers Cyclamen coum dark pink Cyclamen repandum and distinctively heart or arrow shaped foliage. The two foliage types complement each other well, though the flowering is about 5 months apart. They can be successfully planted together.

These are all nursery grown in the UK from seed and may be ordered for either Late Summer or Autumn despatch. In the autumn the tubers start back into growth and so where orders are despatched after mid-September the leaves and roots may be showing, though this causes no harm. spring flowering Cyclamen coum silver leaf Cyclamen coum roseum forms coum roseum 51-17 coum dark Pink 51-31 repandum 51-29 Pale pink flowered, the easiest These exciting forms have more Better in more sheltered conditions coum 51-16 colour to combine with those other strongly coloured carmine pink and certainly needing more Plump tubers throwing what are early spring gems. A year older than flowers. The leaf markings will vary shade and leaf mould in the soil mosty pink flowers with hugely those above as they were graded enormously from all matt green to where they need to be planted varied leaf markings around the by colour when they flowered last largely silver etched forms. more deeply. Only properly hardy silvery ‘Christmas tree’ outline within year, they will have bigger tubers Jan/March in the south, though special the rounded leaf. I think they are and so will produce more flowers in £13.50 for 3 circumstances may affect that the perfect companions to the early their first year. generalisation, small bulbs which spring display of winter aconites, Jan/March coum need careful handling - I feel that dwarf crocus and snowdrops under £13.00 for 3 Silver Leaf 51-19 I am using too many caveats! The trees or shrubs, perhaps with one of positives are many - they provide Demonstrate a silvery sheened leaf, the deliciously fragrant Sarcocca? coum album 51-18 spicily fragrant, deep carmine These will be about 3 year old still outlined within a deep green Always showing a pink ‘nose’ but coloured flowers in late spring and tubers from seed, but even at that edge. When planted with the other the flower is otherwise white, the like the others do set seed and age, a year younger than the colour forms one builds up a low ‘tapestry’ petals twisted and swept back. spread where happy. selected forms below. of interest created from the leaves Ideal to provide a bit of contrast April/May Jan/March alone, the flowers could be any £5.40 each or £15.00 for 3 £14.00 for 5 amongst other pink ones, or colour. planted with your snowdrops, to Jan/March maintain an all-white theme. £15.00 for 3 Jan/March £13.50 for 3

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Cyclamen Hederifolium Dichelostemma congestum album autumn dichelostemma flowering Allium-like bulbs of North West America with nice stories to go forms with them. They are unusual plants for UK gardens but they Erythronium are hardy and tough enough to grow in lighter and free draining hederifolium 51-07 soils. They grow much as any The toughest and most enduring Allium but flower later. The sap of all cyclamen, with long petalled from cut stems can be caustic to Erythronium Old Aberdeen (and mostly) pale pink flowers in the skin. the autumn (when flowering without their foliage) followed by glossy congestum 82-04 dark green heart-shaped foliage erythronium dens canis Old From the far west of America, through winter, often beautifully Aberdeen 84-09 producing a compact, hens egg The Dog’s Tooth Violet is the marked. These will be three or more Noted for their exceptionally dark sized flower head much like an only European form (the name years old and will get better and leaf markings these are more Allium, formed of very long-lasting referring to the shape of the better over the years, their tubers bulb) The others are all American deeply coloured than the standard lilac-purple flowers, on a slender eventually becoming very large and species or hybrids where the E. dens canis. First named (I but very wiry stem. They will grow corky. common name for them is Trout believe) by Carol Scott whom I where one would expect Alliums to Aug/Oct Lily (due to the markings on the met and stayed with 30 plus years thrive. £13.00 for 5 leaves). They grow best where ago near Glasgow. They should June • 24” (60cm) they have cool humus rich soil £5.00 for 5 or £9.00 for 10 increase quite rapidly but E. dens hederifolium conditions in the spring, usually canis is never in flower for long, so grown in dappled shade, with the great foliage is a strong reason album 51-08 a drier resting phase in deeper ida-maia 82-05 to grow these. White flowered tubers of the form shade in the summer. They all Spectacular red, yellow and green March • 4” (10cm) above, these were selected by coloured flowers, shaped like cigars, have interesting leaves and £5.00 colour when they flowered last opening at the tip of a wiry stem. combine well with Dicentra, autumn. Use just a few to provide Named after the daughter of a Trilliums, Epimedium and the many wood Anemones. an interesting contrast, or alone as Californian stage coach-driver and Knightshayes Court, or The a beacon in October to lighten up a pollinated (in the wild) by humming- dark corner. Garden House at Buckland birds! Grown much as any Allium. Monachorum, both have good Aug/Oct June • 18” (45cm) displays. £11.00 for 3 £3.30 for 5 or £9.00 for 15

22 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017

Erythronium Knightshayes Pink Erythronium DENS CANIS SNOWFLAKE Erythronium White Beauty

Erythronium Pagoda

dens canis revolutum 84-21 Snowflake 84-11 The ‘wild’ pink flowered A white flowered selection, worth a Erythronium, originally from closer look when in flower (though the western seaboard of North this can be awkward as they are America, right through from very close to the ground) in order California to Vancouver but now to admire the extraordinary mauve- fairly widespread and a welcome purple stamens. highlight in woodland gardens here. They seed around quite vigorously March • 4” (10cm) Erythronium revolutum £4.50 and mix in very naturally with wood anemones, Anemone apennina, Pagoda 84-17 and all those low gems of April. Never in flower for long, and the A more vigorous hybrid first revolutum White Beauty 84-15 leaves sometimes marked with discovered in the late 19th Century, Probably the best Erythronium brown flecks. But they seed about Knightshayes it is a bigger plant altogether, with in Britain for a small garden and so keep a watch out for increasing Pink 84-13 creamy yellow flowers. They are possibly my favourite, if you have numbers. easier to grow than any of the Named after the garden in which visited Knightshayes in Devon in April 8” (20cm) these abound in Devon, this strain others and one starts with a big £5.50 or £15.00 for 3 early April you’ll know why. A very finger sized tuber. Ideally planted has even more heavily marked neat and compact hybrid with in some shelter from spring leaves with pale pink flowers, but do mottled leaves and creamy white storms(the large leaves tend to handle the tubers carefully, they are flowers, often multi-stemmed on crack in strong winds) and in long and brittle. established plants. The whole plant humus rich soils where they will April • 8” (20cm) is nicely proportioned so pamper £5.00 or £14.00 for 3 clump up. Plant 7” to 9” (16-20cm) them with deep leaf mould rich soils apart. in the summer shade of trees or April • 12” (30cm) shrubs. Plant 5” (12cm) apart. £4.30 for 3 or £12.00 for 9 April • 8” (20cm) £5.00 or £14.00 for 3

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imperialis William Rex 85-20 Deeply coloured orange-red flowers which surround a strong dark stem. A selected and named form of the Crown Imperial Lily. A top knot of green leaves above the flower makes them look quite exotic. For rich sunny soils, well-watered in spring but well drained in summer, sheltered from wind and planted 6-8” (15-20cm) deep. April • 30” (75cm) £5.00 or £13.50 for 3 imperialis rascal Chopin 85-23 The Rascal series is the result of years of interbreeding F imperialis and F.raddeana to produce bulbs that flower younger, aiming (eventually) to bringing the cost down, but they are still relatively new! I like their daintier stature, their less regimental stance and Fritillaria the earlier flowering which ought to allow more time for them to ‘put on weight’ before going dormant, a requirement if they are to flower well Fritillaria William Rex Fritillaria elwesii in future years. March/April • 30” (75cm) £5.00 or £13.50 for 3 fritillaria acmopetala 85-04 elwesii 85-07 imperialis A native of the Eastern Dark stemmed with narrow, more lutea 85-21 The plants listed below are Mediterranean with one or more tubular, slate and green flowers illustrative of the amazing hanging jade green bell shaped covered in a fine bloom held atop a Bright yellow flowered on a pale diversity of the family, from small flowers, reflexed at the opening, fine stem. They hail from southern green stem, no more difficult to bulbs of moist riverine meadows with chocolate brown markings. Turkey and will happily survive our grow than the red flowered form. to giants of near desert like Both grow very rapidly in the early locations. Sadly few of the many To grow either in the sun or part cold winters, but would do better for shade in drier conditions out of the a dry summer rest, so that calls for spring and needing to quickly species of Fritillaria are suited to replenish that effort, we suggest ‘ordinary’ UK garden conditions strongest wind. well drained soils. that they benefit from liquid feeding but, particularly if you can invest April/May • 12” (30cm) April • 15” (35cm) some effort into their planting £5.20 for 3 or £8.50 for 5 £2.50 or £7.00 for 3 whilst in growth to encourage and exercise judgment in where flowering in subsequent years. to plant them, the following April • 36” (90cm) are suitable. Our website does £5.00 or £13.50 for 3 provide more detail on all of them.

24 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Fritillaria meleagris Fritillaria Pontica Fritillaria uva-vulpis

Fritillaria pallidiflora Fritillaria michailovskyi Fritillaria raddeana meleagris 85-27 michailovskyi 85-31 pontica 85-39 uva vulpis 85-42 The ever popular Snakeshead A striking small plant with a yellow Bell shaped flowers (hardly showing The name is latinised for the Turkish Fritillary. Serpent like, darkly band around the rim of the chunky, any of the flared lip that you see ‘fox-grape’, its common name in chequered nodding bells, a reddish brown, bell shaped flower. in F. acmopetala) with green and the Levant. There they are plants smattering of which are paler or These need a well drained soil to brown markings. Shorter too and of cornfields and meadows but in even white. In Elizabethan times it persist in the ground, otherwise more suited to a bit of shade, our higher latitudes they need to was widespread – typically in damp, growing them in a pot in the seeding freely where happy. be grown in the full sun, they are grassy, late-cut meadows and in protection of something such as April/May • 9” (25cm) tall enough anyway without being moist alluvial soils. So aim for these a bulb frame to keep them drier, £5.20 for 3 or £8.00 for 5 made taller by dint of them growing conditions to have them increasing particularly in summer is advisable. in shade. So another sunny well and self-seeding yourself. They are March / April • 8” (20cm) raddeana 85-41 drained spot out of the wind is best ordered early to allow for timely £2.70 for 3 Related to the Crown Imperials but called for. planting. Plant 4” (10cm) deep in rather shorter and less bright with a drifts, 4” (10cm) apart (10-15 per pallidiflora less formal arrangement of flowers March/Apri • 10” (26cm) sq ft.) 85- 36 in yellowish green. They root early £2.30 for 10 March/April • 12” (30cm) Pale straw green bells, speckled in the autumn and then emerge £3.60 for 15, £11.00 for 50 early and race up to flower quickly. or £21.00 for 100 within the bell with darker flecking. Usually the broad leaves and They will need a bit of shelter from relatively large flowers act as a the wind and good light, though are sail and the stems becomes more very cold tolerant. S shaped. This actually makes Mar/ April • 18” (45cm) £5.40 it easier to see inside the flower! None too difficult and charming in a raised bed or in well drained soils. April • 12” (30cm) £3.80

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Gladiolus Atom Gladiolus byzantinus

Gladiolus

Gladiolus Nathalie Gladiolus Nymph Gladiolus Mirella gladiolus The ‘named’ dwarf gladioli Atom 88-18 Nymph 88-11 flower in the early summer. Short Dusty orange-red flowers, each White flowered, but clearly marked byzantinus 88-04 enough not to need staking, they petal margin enriched by white with luscious pink and purple Rich magenta coloured flowers do not tower over the garden as piping, which highlights their lipstick kisses on the lower petals. with white flashes. These are free do the larger forms. These make individual shape. This is particularly Much less formally upright, the particularly good cut flowers flowering plants with large strongly effective where the petals overlap bigger flowers bending the stems too. They also grow away early, coloured flowers, and generally one another. Best in well drained this way and that, so they weave and this may result in the foliage infertile as the plant is tetraploid. being susceptible to severe late soils and in the sun. through surrounding plants with an They are lovely, persisting colourful frost, so mulching is a possible July • 30” (75cm) appealing informality. £5.00 for 10 or £11.50 for 25 cottage garden plants for the early requirement in very cold gardens. May/June • 24” (60cm) summer, but the leaves do emerge Plant them in a sheltered site in £5.00 for 10 or £11.50 for 25 early in the year and in very cold well-drained soil, 6” (15cm) deep, Mirella 88-17 gardens (or in the north) they may 4” (10cm) apart on a bed of sharp Flowers in pillar box red (though X colvillii need a mulch over winter. There sand. The winter dormant hybrid around here the post boxes badly The Bride 88-06 is skulduggery about regarding forms are also sold in the spring, need a new coat) with good upright Starry, tapered, gleaming white what is sold under this name. A if yours is a cold garden buy them stems. Clean and bright. flowers tinged with green at the poor relation to what we sell is G. then instead. July • 30” (75cm) throat, a strong-growing favourite byzantinus ssp. communis which is £5.00 for 10 or £11.50 for 25 of ours and our customers. Do often passed off as the same plant ensure that the soil is well drained and is a good deal cheaper. The Nathalie 88-19 and if you have failed before, try two are like chalk and cheese. For Predominantly pink flowered with them again planted in deep pots sun or slight shade. Plant 4” (10cm) the bottom petals on each marked protected from the worst of the cold apart. with a darker rose and cream till spring and then plant these out June • 24” (60cm) coloured flash, pretty and easy to fit £6.30 for 5 or £11.70 for 10 into your sunny border. into the summer colour theme. June • 18” (45cm) July • 30” (75cm) £5.00 for 10 or £11.50 for 25 £5.00 for 10 or £11.50 for 25

26 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Hyacinthoides Hyacinthus

Hyacinthoides non scripta Hyacinthus Gipsy queen Hyacinthus Anastasia

Hyacinthus Carnegie Hyacinthus Miss Saigon Hyacinthoides non scripta Hyacinthus Delft Blue alba hyacinthoides hyacinthus Miss Saigon 86-21 Richly violet purple, and as shown The family name that covers all The ‘prepared’ bulbs in the Late in the photo, really good in a sea of the varied ‘Bluebells’. Summer section (Page 5) are more suited to forcing for very white anemones. £3.30 for 3 or £6.80 for 7 non scripta 125-10 early indoor display or if planted out will flower in early March. The The English Bluebell. Violet-blue ones below can be potted for Woodstock 86-17 nodding bells which glisten in damp use in the house, where they will Deep beetroot purple, one of the shady glades. Always in demand flower in March and look equally most dramatic. It makes a smashing and providing that perfect moment magnificent in pots, or can be twosome planted with Carnegie. in April when the woods turn violet. planted directly into the garden £3.30 for 3 or £6.80 for 7 Self-seeding, so increasing steadily to flower in March and April. once established. Plant 4” (10cm) All are tremendously fragrant. multiflora deep and 4” (10cm) apart, working They prefer very well drained on up to 15 per sq. ft. and sunny situations, reaching a Anastasia 86-20 Apr/May • 12” (30cm) height of 12” (30cm). The forms above are looked on as Hyacinthus Woodstock £4.60 for 10 or £10.70 for 25 being a bit ‘chunky’ and soldierly by Carnegie 86-12 some, the multiflora forms below are non scripta Dense glossy white flowered spikes more slender, less dense and more alba 125-12 with a hint of yellow in the buds informal in appearance and maybe less dominating of the little flowers with Wild populations of English before they open. which they bloom so early, this is the Bluebells are nearly all violet-blue, £3.30 for 3 or £6.80 for 7 prettiest deep blue with dark stems. but rarely white flowered plants £7.00 for 3 or £15.00 for 7 occur and it is from those that these Delft Blue 86-11 derive. They will stand out in a sea Compact spikes of purple- blue with of blue. These will always stay white a darker stem. multiflora and will increase below ground, £3.30 for 3 or £6.80 for 7 white 86-09 though their seedlings will almost Simply white when fully open certainly be blue. Gipsy Queen 86-36 but quite yellow in bud. Slighter Apr/May • 12” (30cm) Neither yellow nor salmon, but not and somehow simpler than the £7.00 for 3 pink either. Quite a refreshing colour ‘standard’ orientalis forms. £7.00 for 3 or £15.00 for 7 in the spring when there is likely to be so much yellow about. £3.30 for 3 or £6.80 for 7 Hyacinthus multiflora

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Hyacinthus Roman white Ipheion Alberto Castillio Ipheion Charlotte BishoP Ipheion Rolf Fiedler

Iris

Hyacinthus Roman blue Ipheion Froyle Mill Iris Apollo

‘roman’ ipheion uniflorum iris x Charlotte hyacinths These little bulbs often start hollandica pushing up one or two stems Bishop 97-10 We have been asked repeatedly These are hybrid forms of Iris very early with pretty star shaped A pretty pink flowered form, dark over the years to try and list these xiphium that the florists use flowers, but their main display pink on opening, fading gracefully sought after plants. The ‘wild’ is reserved for late March and lavishly in the late spring and in the sun. In well drained soils they forms originating in southern early April. They are easy in any summer, but the bulbs are France went out of fashion as reasonably well drained soils are vigorous and will increase. reasonably inexpensive and you breeders produced more and and a moderately sunny site March/April • 6” (15cm) could easily grow your own? In £3.50 for 5 more sophisticated colours and and although the leaves are the garden they are likely to last forms, there was a time when burnt off in a heavy frost (with far longer than cut flowers too! there were many hundreds of the associated garlic smell) they uniflorum Froyle These would be planted 4-6” (10- varieties of Hyacinth grown, seem to recover in weeks. The Mill 97-08 15cm) apart in sunny conditions but not now. We have a limited and in lighter soils. named forms are better and more First selected in Hampshire which number of white or blue flowered interesting than the species forms explains the name, with starry, bulbs – with well-spaced, narrow, which are widely available but velvety-violet flowers, similarly Apollo 99-04 flared flowers on multistemmed tend to be more invasive (and we On sturdy plants the broad yellow plants. Natural, unregimented do not stock). The biggest bulbs vigorous in sunny conditions. and simple, as well as fragrant. of the first one are the size of a March/April • 6” (15cm) falls (the three lower part of the £3.50 for 5 They do flower very early in small clementine segment, but iris flower looking like a tongue) their first season, we think that the others are much smaller. the colour of free range egg yolks they will ‘settle down’ to a more Rolf Fiedler 97-06 contrast with the creamy white, expected March/ April flowering Alberto An intense powder blue coloured even blue tinted, standards (the in subsequent years. flower, much more disc shaped three upright parts). Castillo 97-09 flowers on firmer, more upright May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) White Roman Vigorous, with very white flowers stems, opening wide in the sun. It £3.00 for 5 or £8.20 for 15 over grey green foliage. Longer increases freely for us, but in very hyacinths 86-32 stemmed, which raises the flowers £5.40 for 3 cold gardens any of the varieties well above the foliage and they pick above will be a better bet as they well for small posies (the foliage Blue Roman are tougher. smelling of ) but to prevent March/April • 6” (15cm) hyacinths 86-33 those longer stems from flopping £4.00 for 5 £5.40 for 3 you must plant them in good light. March/April • 9” (22cm) £3.00 for 5

28 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Iris Autumn Princess Iris Gypsy Beauty Iris Mont Blanc Iris Red Ember

Iris Silvery beauty Iris Prof Blaauw Iris King of the Blues Iris George

Autumn Red Ember 99-10 iris latifolia dwarf iris The colour of rust, which is an Princess 99-09 The ‘English’ Iris, although more These are derived from plants unusual plant colour, though in Bronze coloured throughout, accurately the plants are native native to the Middle East and do they still perform in early summer some lights these also have a to the Pyrenees. These were best in well drained conditions despite the suggestion of a much deeper tinge of purple on the more popular plants in times past with a warm and dry summer later flowering. standards. In the trial of these before the Dutch Iris (above) rest. They are not so easy to keep May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) bulbs at Wisley these did well and became widely available. They going from year to year unless £3.00 for 5 or £8.20 for 15 suggested this to be a candidate are still very useful though now you can provide this but it helps for dusky stardom. rather less well known. Hardier to plant them deeply 5” (12cm). Gypsy Beauty 99-06 May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) and later flowering than the The best situation would be a £3.00 for 5 or £8.20 for 15 Dutch Iris, and interestingly very raised bed in the sun with well Tongues of yellow at the mouths late to emerge, the foliage is drained soil conditions, there of the broad falls which are veined Silvery rarely showing till mid-March. you’ll be able to admire them with lilac lead one’s eye up to the These forms are happy in heavy, up close, and smell the scented violet purple colours in the rest of Beauty 99-11 moisture retentive soils in sun ones. 15 bulbs will nicely fill a the flower. Simply fresh and and somehow or part shade and are strong 9” (20cm) planter or pot filled May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) a bit ‘lighter’ this is probably my enough to be planted in light with sharply draining compost for £3.00 for 5 or £8.20 for 15 favourite form with white and pale grass. an early spring treat. violet flowers above leaves that show the silvery sheen implied in King of the histrioides Professor the name. May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) Blues 100-04 George 101-06 Blaauw 99-08 £3.00 for 5 or £8.20 for 15 Midnight blue throughout with a Broad, ripe plum-purple petals with The deepest of rich blues with white ‘beard’ finely tinged with a yellow and white blotch on the a yellow flash. You should really yellow. falls, at flowering time the leaves expect two flowers per stem, and June/July • 14-20” (35-50cm) are undeveloped so it is easier to will observe the pregnant swelling £6.00 for 5 get your nose close for that glorious of the buds within the stems before scent which is unmissable in warm they burst open. Mont Blanc 100-05 sunshine. May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) White flowered with fine yellow lining Early February/March • 6” (15cm) £3.00 for 5 or £8.20 for 15 £4.00 for 15 or £6.00 for 25 on the falls. They should be planted

no less than 4” (10cm) apart. June/July • 14-20” (35-50cm) £6.00 for 5

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 29 Iris Gordon Photo credit: GAP Images Iris Katharine Hodgkin Iris Pauline p Iris harmony

Iris JS Dijt

Iris Lady Beatrix Stanley Iris Pixie histrioides Iris u. Mary Barnard Lady Beatrix Stanley 101-22 Katharine iris A velvety rich blue flowered form Hodgkin 101-07 unguicularis with pale flecking on the lips and An utterly distinct hybrid raised with a yellow stripe down the length by EB Anderson in the 1960s. (stylosa) of the falls, scented of violets. Predominantly yellow with blue and Flowering before the leaves extend sea-green veining and markings. A firm favourite for the winter garden. They need a sunny site so these are not too evident at Probably the most persistent and and are often found growing flowering time. perennial form when planted in a on very poor soils but they February/March • 6” (15cm) rich, gritty soil in a sunny site. £3.80 for 5 will perform even better if the February/March • 6” (15cm) growing conditions are not too £3.20 for 5 or £6.00 for 10 harsh. Avoid the inclination to Gordon 101-20 shear off the untidy foliage in the Pale dove-grey blue on the raised Pauline 101-13 summer, instead rake out some standards, the lower falls are darker, Narrower petalled with dark velvety of the dead leaves in the early and marked with orange and white. purple flowers with bright white autumn and give the plant some Earlier flowering. highlights on the falls. Mid-season water and a liquid feed at the February/March • 6” (15cm) flowering. same time. It is then that they £4.00 for 15 or £6.00 for 25 February/March • 6” (15cm) make their new roots and are £4.00 for 15 or £6.00 for 25 initiating their flower buds so that should result In more flowers in Harmony 101-11 the winter. New divisions need Iris unguicularis Flowering with amazingly intense Pixie 101-23 careful planting and firming in, Walter Butt gentian blue flowers, only marked Wide petalled and, in that respect, regular watering till established with a small yellow and white crest similar to George, but these have and possibly some protection in on the falls. The most popular of all flowers of the deepest of blue and their first winter. the forms. are equally scented. Walter Butt 102-06 February/March • 6” (15cm) February/March • 6” (15cm) Mary Palest of pale ice blues with some fine £4.00 for 15 or £6.00 for 25 £4.00 for 15 or £6.00 for 25 Barnard 102-05 purple veining drawing ones attention to the fact that they are not white. The darkest of them all and a glossy J S Dijt 101-12 Longer and paler leaved and with marvel in the spring. Velvety purple Rich and velvety, a reddish more upright foliage. The first form to blue flowers with white and golden plum-purple colour with a strong flower and the most scented too. markings on the falls, the foliage fragrance in warm sunlight. Nov/Feb • 18” (45cm) shorter and darker. Discovered by Flowering later than most of the £6.50 E.B. Anderson near Algiers in 1962. other forms. Feb/March • 15” (32cm) February/March • 6” (15cm) £6.50 £4.00 for 15 or £6.00 for 25

30 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 lilium

Leucojum Gravetye Giant Iris bucharica Lilium candidum

Iris unguicularis alba

Iris tuberosa (Hermodactylus) Lilium Claude Shride

Lilium martagon slate’s tuberosa lilium morning (Hermodactylus) Lilies would have to come 103-10 near the top of any list of most candidum 107-14 Iris unguicularis Translucent black and jade-green gardeners favourite bulbs. For The ‘Madonna Lily’ often seen as flowers on long rush-like leaves stature, grace and perfume they a religious icon in early Christian known as the Widow Iris, more are unbeatable, but to ensure paintings. Large, loose scaled and longevity it helps to get a couple kindly it is also known in the slightly shaggy bulbs of this plant, unguicularis 102-04 of things right. Unless it says though they grow away early and Mediterranean as Hermes’ finger otherwise in the text below do The species plant with pale mauve bulbs may already have begun to after the shape of the tubers. incorporate plenty of organic flowers, the standards slightly paler Requiring time to establish, plant matter in the area to be planted, leaf up before they are sent out. and more silvery. A tough survivor them in full sun in limier soil where having chosen a site that is of Satin white flowered with a delicious even in poor soil conditions. they love growing near heat good, probably rich soil, not fragrance. They only need shallow Feb/March • 15” (32cm) absorbing sun-drenched paving out too dry in summer, and possibly planting in a warmer sunny spot in £5.50 of too much wind. Do try and order shaded – many lily flowers will poor soil (also available from the early for early autumn planting or last longer in cooler shade. Late Summer Section, on page 5). unguicularis you could include some on a Late Plant at least 5” deep (except June • 36” (90cm) alba 102-11 Summer order (see page 5). L. candidum). If planting in the £5.40 or £15.50 for 3 confinement of a container, even All white flowered except for the April • 6” (15cm) £5.00 for 10 more care is needed, particularly martagon Claude yellow markings at the throat. with regular watering. Lily beetle Reportedly slightly less tough than are a problem in warmer parts. Shride 107-41 its sisters but they have bloomed leucojum Readily seen as red and black Dark mahogany red selection of the prodigiously this year. beetles they eat any foliage of martagon lily with yellow fleckling Feb/Mar • 15” (32cm) æstivum Gravetye the (which includes the at the throat (the species plants £7.00 Giant 106-07 Fritillaria) These beetles drop off from which these derive and which and hide on the ground if you are more variable is now not grown The Loddon Lily, also known as alarm them, but sneakily picking commercially and we have had to Summer Snowflakes, with white, iris off the adults and cleaning the withdraw them from sale). These hanging, bell-shaped flowers messy black ‘eggs’ off the foliage are grown by micro propagation and hence often confused with (other types) is moderately effective (and initially so will be identical plant to snowdrops (despite flowering later, squashing them satisfies a lust plant. bucharica 103-09 but not really in summer). Clusters for retribution) although Provado June/July • 36” (90cm) Easy to grow in a sunny border, of large white bells, emerald-tipped, used systematically seems to £7.50 despite the fact that it originates hang from bare upright stems reduce future generations more from Central Asia with bright glossy above the glossy green daffodil-like effectively. leaves, creamy white and yellow foliage. Particularly happy in damp, Please Note: The martagon lilies martagon slate’s flowers. even winter-flooded, partly shaded are usually not ready for despatch morning 107-43 March/Apr • 12” (30cm) areas, but adaptable elsewhere. till mid-October so if you include A paler form which makes the pink £3.30 for 3 Daffodil-like bulbs, planted 5” them on your order it may affect and purple spots more prominent, (12cm) deep and 6” (15cm) apart. the delivery time of your whole and the paler colours stand out April/May • 18” (45cm) order (we do try to save costs better in shade. £4.30 for 3 or £9.30 for 7 and have your order all come at June/July • 36” (90cm) once)… £7.50

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Lilium regale Muscari azureum Muscari Ocean Magic

Maianthemum bifolium kamtschaticum regale 107-04 Familiar and much loved favourites with ivory-white trumpets, flushed with pink on their backs, providing great wafts of beautiful scent. Accommodating in most gardens, either in the borders or large deep Mathiasella Green Dream Muscari Blue Magic Muscari White Magic pots. Autumn planted L. regale bulbs always seem to do better than spring planted ones. With longer to root over the winter before mathiasella muscari aucheri they flower that would be logical? A Mexican umbellifer which was The ‘Grape Hyacinths’, and as the Blue Magic 111-20 July • 36” (90cm) £7.50 for 3 or £16.00 for 7 first described only in 1954. name implies some are heavily Bright blue with white rims to the These are architectural plants scented. All do well in the drier, mature flowers. These colour forms and seem to do well in full sun or sunny conditions provided under are derived from the species which maianthemum part shade with green foliage in deciduous shrubs in the early is native to alpine turf in Turkey, they spring, and in autumn pink and spring, with summer shade later will not be invasive here. bifolium 110-04 purple tints. They are sterile and in the year. Part of the mass of April • 5” (12cm) consequently last for months, ‘Little Blue Jobs’, that create the An unusual native of northern £3.20 for 10 or £7.30 for 25 verdant green when they first mood and provide the ‘chorus’ England. Plants with leaves that open but coloured with purple to the spring display. Two may look a bit like small Hostas. These later in the year. be better in warmer and more aucheri are plants of shade with ground protected situations (see the Ocean Magic 111-21 covering possibilities in nice, leafy, bupleuroides individual entries below). The Dark blue at the base of the flower, damp, dappled shade where they common and weedy ‘ordinary’ but those spiralling up above these can then form a dense mat. The Green Dream 69-04 Grape Hyacinth (M. armenaicum) are sea blue with pale tips like white leaves open in the spring with a An unfamiliar plant which looks to is undoubtedly best avoided - it bubbles on the surf line, I suspect welcome fresh greenness growing have some of the characteristics gives the well behaved Muscari a the source of the inspiration for the bad name. Plant them 4” (10cm) from the small wiry roots. The of some other garden favourites - name? deep and 2” (5cm) apart. flowers are like small white plumes. Hellebores, Angelica and maybe April • 5” (12cm) May • 4” (10cm) even Euphorbia, so one can see £4.30 for 10 or £9.60 for 25 £4.50 for 5 how these have become popular. azureum Plants from 9cm pots that ought (pseudomuscari) aucheri bifolium var. to settle in this winter and flower in 111-15 White Magic 111-14 kamtschaticum 2018. May • 24” (60cm) Probably the easiest to grow and The aucheri forms are less 110-05 £6.30 not at all invasive. Tightly packed vigorous, (and by implication Much larger than the European form, powder-blue flowers, flared open at not invasive) so suited to smaller these are native to the Pacific rim. In their tips, emerging cone shaped gardens. This selection has leaf very much earlier than the form but becoming more rounded as attractive pale green flower buds above and a bigger plant with bright more flowers open. For a well- opening white, initially quite pointed green foliage and shiny sculptured drained sink or rockery or in light but rounded when in full flower. leaves with tassle-like white flowers. soils at the front of a spring border. April • 5” (12cm) May • 12” (30cm) March • 5” (12cm) £5.00 for 10 or £11.50 for 25 £4.50 for 5 £4.30 for 10 or £9.60 for 25

32 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Muscari Photo credit: Linda de Goede p Muscari Baby’s Breath Muscari Golden Fragrance Muscari Valerie Finnis

Baby’s Breath 111-23 This form of M. neglectum was found by the then holder of the National Collection of Muscari in Cyprus. Opening from lime green buds the flowers are in the palest of blues with a wonderful scent. April • 6” (15cm) £4.50 for 10 or £10.50 for 25 botryoides album 111-06 Narcissus A smaller form with pale leaves, certainly no thug, with neat strings of little pearls strung on pale stems. Scented. narcissus Paperwhite Ziva April • 6” (15cm) £3.40 for 10 or £7.60 for 25 Muscari botryoides album macrocarpum Divisions: The number in narcissus brackets after the name Golden Fragrance represents the type of flower 111-10 (daffodils) expressed by the divisions A selected form of M. macrocarpum, The highlight of the April garden within the Narcissus family: 1= trumpet, 2= large cupped, which is evidently more cold tolerant. in a ‘normal’ year, though some earlier ones are often welcome 3= small cupped, 4= double Grow this where you can enjoy its flowered, 5= triandrus forms, heavenly banana-like perfume, and the last will flower in May. Do plant them really quite 6= cyclamineus types, 7= growing in a sunny sheltered spot jonquilla forms, 8= tazetta where it gets dry in the summer deeply with 4-6” (10-15cm) of soil over the biggest bulbs, forms, 9 = poeticus types, whilst they have a rest. These have where they will remain cool and 10= bulbocodium types, 12 = thick and fleshy roots to anchor moist in the spring and safe miscellaneous, 13= species them into difficult niches. Violet from gardening activity above and wild variants (more suitable flowers, turning yellow as they age. them in the summer. Do not be for naturalising). April • 7” (18cm) tempted to cut back or tidy the £4.60 for 3 foliage after flowering – this The suggested flowering month period of replenishment of the should be used as a guide only muscarimi bulb’s starchy food reserves – annual variation can be great, ambrosiacum 111-11 is critical to future flowering. A as this spring has shown. liquid feed whilst the leaves are Outstandingly sweetly musk Muscari ambrosiacum still green will benefit clumps scented, a strong and lovely in poorer soil, but generally narcissus – perfume from a creamy yellow feeding is unnecessary. I would flower that fades to a gunmetal protected Valerie Finnis 111-18 suggest that you plant in groups blue-grey colour. A sunny scree bed (and particularly any that you Tightly packed ropes of scented For indoor or very protected or a sheltered rockery may do. They ‘naturalise’) resulting in swathes situations. These are best suited powder blue flowers, best grown will need a warm sunny dry spot to of the same variety and not a to forcing in pots for indoor thrive, but do it just for the perfume. in open sunny conditions. It jumbled crowd – the effect is display with a huge scent. They April/May • 6” (15cm) arose in Valerie Finnis’ garden in generally better. Most should do need lots of light and only £4.30 for 3 Northamptonshire (by then she was clump up from being planted protection from actual frost, so Lady Scott). Quite a leafy plant but about 4-6” (10-15cm) apart, nothing too warm. Some are RHS Perfect persistent. further apart for more ‘relaxed’ also available for even earlier for Pollinators. March • 7” (18cm) planting. planting if you order from the ® £5.00 for 10 or £13.50 for 25 Late Summer section.

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Narcissus Bath’s Flame Narcissus cordubensis

Paperwhite Ziva (8) narcissus – Bath’s Flame (3) Butter and Eggs (4) 113-52 113-07 113-18 These flower very early, and garden Pre 1913. A stalwart of the Cornish For purists this may be beyond grown under protection from frost varieties cut flower trade up to WW2, raised comprehension, but the fact that inevitably seem to race up to flower. by Rev. Engleheart. Long stemmed this variety has been in cultivation We work on about eight to ten Angel’s Breath (5) with petals that are wide and thin so for more than 200 years says that weeks to first bloom from potting, it 113-99 that they dance in the breeze, more it has been admired for many can be quicker if warm. White and A named form of jonquil with modern ones are far more ‘rigid’, generations at least. There is a multi-headed with a huge perfume. several pale yellow hanging bells excellent for picking. Primrose certain dishevelled charm from the Plant them shallowly in the compost with fractionally darker cups on yellow with an orange cup. The bulb pale yellow jumble that is this flower. and in good light so they don’t get sizes will vary somewhat from dug April • 20” (50cm) clean stems supported by narrow £6.00 for 3 too tall. Not reliably hardy outside. foliage. Best in well drained soils stocks under our trees. April • 20” (50cm) Big bulbs. in sheltered conditions, perhaps December/January • 15” (38cm) £6.00 for 3 cordubensis (13) £6.50 for 5 or £11.50 for 10 use them as part of a melange of treasures in a sunny trough? 113-103 April •10” (25cm) A bright yellow jonquil with what £3.75 for 5 I think of as a jaunty attitude. Generally with several small gleaming fragrant flowers on each stem and narrow grass like foliage. A raised bed in the sun is a likely requirement for it to increase happily. Small bulbs. April • 10” (25cm) £3.75 for 5

34 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Narcissus Derringer Narcissus Elka Narcissus February Gold

Narcissus Hawera Narcissus Julia Jane

Derringer (7) 113-76 February Gold (6) Julia Jane (10) 113-101 A fragrant late season daffodil 113-09 Pale soft yellow with billowing skirts, with a short deep orange-yellow Dating back to 1923. Early flowering a named form of N. bulbocodium cup surrounded by creamy yellow but, despite the name, only opening romieuxii which derive from high on petals, fading to white at their tips. in late February in very mild years. A the Atlas mountains. Charmingly Sturdy and upright. long lasting, upright, golden yellow petite and early flowering they April • 14” (35cm) garden favourite with slightly swept look better and flower for longer £3.75 for 5 or £10.50 for 15 back petals and a good stature, if protected from too much the also good for pots or tubs. wind and rain, but are totally hardy Elka (1) 113-61 February/March • 12” (30cm) with regard to the cold. But in the A perfectly proportioned pale £4.20 for 10, £9.50 for 25 summer they must be kept dry. bicoloured miniature with a relatively or £17.50 for 50 Small bulbs as you would expect. long cream trumpet and milk February • 6” (15cm) white petals. It was raise by Alec Hawera (5) 113-38 £3.00 for 5 A collection Gray, a Cornish flower grower and Small clear lemon-yellow flowers distinguished daffodil hybridiser of with prominent cups and narrow Little Sentry (7) of four Easter the 1940s and 50s. deep green foliage typify this 113-102 March/April • 6” (15cm) plant. It is much happier in a drier A great little jonquil producing £3.75 for 5 flowering and sunnier site than many of its golden yellow flowers that fade to cousins. Shorter and more wind cream. Like most jonquils these daffodils tolerant. Pack them in quite tightly would need a drier and warmer soil. for a mass of colour on a rockery. April • 9” (22cm) is available on First bred in New Zealand. £6.00 for 3 April • 10” (25cm) page 61 £5.75 for 10, £13.25 for 25 or £26.00 for 50

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Narcissus martinette Narcissus minnow Narcissus moschatus

Martinette (8) 113-84 Mite (6) 113-34 More and More (7) moschatus (13) Brilliant yellow with several flowers This is one of the most charming 113-104 113-94 on each stem, the centres darker, of the small daffodils with a Although I can’t say that I like the Palest creamy-white with a head with a more orange coloured, long narrow trumpet and dainty name very much I can see how it that always seems downcast – small cup with an enormous scent. proportions. The flowers are all occurred to someone. Each bulb some describe it as swanlike? They Narrower leaved and taller, certainly deep yellow and it flaunts its produces 4 or 5 stems with several seem to prefer damper soil in more one for the sunnier garden. cyclamineus parentage with sharply flowers on each short stem. Low shade than most daffodils, but they March • 14” (35cm) swept back petals flying back from growing and late flowering ideal for show themselves off in shadier £3.00 for 5 or £8.30 for 15 the relatively long trumpet. a rockery or in a planter. conditions perfectly. March • 9” (25cm) April • 9” (25cm) April • 12” (30cm) Minnow (8) 113-51 £3.75 or £10.75 for 3 £4.50 for 5 or £13.00 for 15 £5.50 for 3 Multi-headed, with many small primrose yellow flowers flatly held Niveth (5) 113-85 only just above the top of the Glistening white with broad petals foliage, the small cup rather darker behind a flared trumpet. Pleasantly when they first open. One for more scented and nicely proportioned, sunny conditions and in better an old variety dating back to 1931, drained soils, but one I wouldn’t be another winner from the Backhouse without. stable. March/April • 12” (30cm) April • 12” (30cm) £3.25 for 10 or £7.50 for 25 £3.50 for 5 or £6.00 for 10

36 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Narcissus oxford gold Narcissus Rijnveld’s Early Sensation Narcissus Sailboat

Narcissus Pipit Narcissus Silver Chimes Narcissus Segovia

Oxford Gold (10) Rijnveld’s Early Sailboat (7) 113-89 Silver Chimes (8) 113-92 Sensation (1) 113-44 Pale and interesting with a pleasant 113-41 A selected form of N. bulbocodium Bright yellow throughout with a perfume, the white petals fly back A lovely multi-headed tazetta form (the hoop petticoat forms) with short flared trumpet. So far not from the slightly flared pale yellow which would prefer to be planted masses of large butter yellow so unusual for a daffodil, but this trumpet on flowers which seem to in slightly warmer conditions where blooms which flower quite early with variety’s real star quality is that it hold their chins up ! Keep calm and it is not too wet. Broad leaved with a great scent. The foliage is narrow really does flower in the garden carry on flowering? pure white petals around a pale and needle-like, indicating that they around New Year, sometimes March/April • 14” (35cm) primrose cup with a huge scent. Big will prefer a sunnier situation. £3.20 for 3 earlier. It is going over when the bulbs. April • 6” (15cm) main season begins. They provide April • 12” (30cm) £4.50 for 5 a blast of spring in the middle of Segovia (3) 113-87 £4.25 for 5 or £12.00 for 15 winter. Plant them where they might These have a flattened pale lemon Pipit (7) 113-32 be a bit protected from wintery trumpet that sits squarely against A multiheaded form called a gales. the bright white petals which flare ‘reverse’ bicolor (most bicolors December/February • 10” (25cm) back slightly. The whole effect is have paler tips to the petals). These £5.00 for 5 or £14.00 for 15 fresh and bright with narrow leaves, open at first with quite sharp pale so it would like a brighter spot in lemon coloured flowers. These fade which to grow. to a paler, creamier colour from the April • 6” (15cm) centre of the flower as it evolves £3.50 for 5 or £7.00 for 9 to a two tone maturity – very pretty indeed. Tough enough to plant in rough grass. April • 12” (30cm) £3.25 for 5 or £9.00 for 15

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Narcissus Sweetness Narcissus Thalia Narcissus Toto Narcissus Topolino

Sir Winston Topolino (1) 113-54 Toto (12) 113-90 Churchill (4) A bicolour, immediately Gorgeously pale and simple 113-97 recognizable from its small sturdy flowered, the trumpet just a habit and grey-green foliage, this is shade darker than the petals and Frilly white petals mix with splashes a variety that predates the records early enough to overlap with that of sulphur yellow to produce a of 1923 so is another that has stood blue phase in the garden when frothy and exuberant flower with the test of time. It has a lemon the Anemones, Muscari and a huge scent. They are quite tall yellow trumpet circled by creamy Chionodoxa are at their best, the and late flowering. Reliable, with pale petals on a short upright stem. combination is wonderful. several stems per bulb and each It has poise, and looking quite like March/ April • 12” (30cm) multiheaded. N. pseudonarcissus, it could be £4.00 for 3 April • 18” (45cm) £2.75 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 used in the same way. March/April • 8” (20cm) W. P. Milner (1) 113-47 £2.60 for 5 or £7.30 for 15 Attributed to Henry Backhouse’ Sweetness (7) 113-24 breeding in Yorkshire pre 1869 Thalia (5) 113-42 and evidently named after William Sturdy, simple, bright yellow and Raised in 1916. A national treasure, Pashley Milner his brother in law. deliciously scented with narrow Photo credit: GAP Images

refined and elegant and an Pale yellow throughout with swept- p foliage that does not get in the way, opportunity to get relief from all forward petals, beyond which everything a daffodil ought to be! Narcissus w p milner those March yellows with a greeny- peeps the shy trumpet. Long lasting March • 14” (35cm) £3.50 for 5 or £9.00 for 15 white, multi-headed, scented flower. and good for naturalising being A well-known classy favourite. smaller in stature. March/April • 14” (35cm) March/April • 9” (22cm) Tete-a-tete (12) 113-16 £2.70 for 5, £7.25 for 15, £4.00 for 5 or £11.00 for 15 Widely grown since it was raised or £13.00 for 30 soon after WW2 and many people’s White Lady (3) 113-65 favourite small daffodil. Very short Another form raised by Rev. when first in flower, extending in Engleheart pre 1897 and famous as stem length as it matures and long a major cut flower variety pre WW2, lasting in cool conditions. Deep now sadly rather more rare. Taller golden yellow and multi-headed stemmed with soft, more tissue-like when the bulbs are big enough. white petals around a small yellow February/March • 6” (15cm) £3.60 for 10, £8.10 for 25, cup, sweetly scented. or £15.50 for 50 April • 18” (45cm) £7.00 for 5

38 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Narcissus Naturalising forms

Narcissus lobularis (pseudonarcissus)

Narcissus obvallaris Narcissus poeticus recurvus narcissus – obvallaris (13) 113-30 naturalising The daffodil that grows wild in South Wales is the Tenby daffodil, forms this looks just like it with a neat and These would be the first choice tidy all yellow flower (though some of varieties to naturalise in the doubt as whether it is exactly the true meaning of the name - to same plant). Perfect for planting use to create a wild effect, where into rough grass to provide ‘bomb- they might increase and multiply proof’ simple yellow daffodils. gently on their own. But they March • 9” (22cm) could equally well go into your £2.60 for 5, £7.00 for 15, ORNITHOGALum borders, where they would do the or £13.00 for 30 same with little need for attention. poeticus lobularis recurvus (13) 113-28 Ornithogalum nutans (pseudonarcissus) (13) Wild in high alpine meadows in 113-31 Europe and found in old gardens A dwarf form entirely suitable for and orchards here. White with ornithogalum nutans 117-09 naturalising, they only make small slightly swept back petals, Very pretty, soft silvery grey-green The ‘Star of Bethlehem’ bulbs compared to many of the highlighted by a stubby, burgundy flowers, bluebell-like in stature and others, and need time to settle in. rimmed cup. The ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ family. Silvery white and green flowered and generally tough long lasting when picked. They They do not always flower well in daffodil, one of the last to flower probably should be grown in light their first year, but in our experience and deliciously fragrant too. Better and accommodating, many are perfect for naturalising. shade. If dry or stressed in May will fill in the gaps between bulbs planted in dappled shade in grass, the foliage tends to naturally begin with flowering seedlings within or in a cool border amongst other to yellow at flowering time. Plant about 8 years. Best in cooler, plants. irregularly, about 3” (8 cm) apart, moisture retentive soils, north May • 15” (35cm) 10-15 per square foot. facing banks or in part shade. White £4.00 for 5, £11.00 for 15, or £21.00 for 30 May • 9” (22cm) petalled with a darker trumpet. £2.60 for 10, £5.75 for 25, March • 8” (20cm) or £11.00 for 50 £5.50 for 10 or £10.00 for 20

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Paeonia Late Windflower pyrenaicum 117-11 paeonia Tall, slim, waving wands tipped emodi ‘Late Wind with starry pale green flowers. A Paradisea lusitanica naturalised native in the area of Flower’ 38-11 Bath, and hence called the ‘Bath Rarely offered, and if you order Asparagus’. Easy to grow in free you’ll realise why when you receive draining limey soil, planted 12” a big unpromising looking piece paradisea sanguinaria (30cm) apart. of root. Divisions of established June • 18” (45cm) field grown plants in heavy soil lusitanica 140-04 canadensis 124-04 £9.50 for 3 are ‘untidy’, but full of amazing This species comes from Northern Bone hardy plants from North potential. The leaves are olive, Portugal and Spain where it grows America which love the same umbellatum 117-13 especially early in the year with in damp meadows. Dormant conditions as Erythroniums, A sun lover and excellent in thin gorgeous 5” (12 cm) wide white their thickened fleshy roots look Trilliums and Uvularia in humus grass from what are unpromising flowers in May. Plant into well a bit like those of a dormant rich shade where the rhizomes looking bulbs. Clumps of them in prepared soil in part shade to Agapanthus crown. In flower they will increase slowly. The emerging sunny conditions really hug the best preserve the ephemeral floral provide elegant spires of bright stems come up clasped in a single ground and they are especially beauty, anticipating many years white flowers providing impressive leaf with red flower stems, from useful for carpeting a sunny bank of enjoyment. Only posted to UK uprights in the herbaceous border, which they get their ‘common’ with white in April with their grey- mainland addresses due to size and a great accompaniment to name, the ‘Bloodroot’. Simple white green leaves and white flowers. and weight limits. the Alliums. Supplied as fresh dug flowers in April. Plant about 4” (10cm) apart, 10 per May • 24-36” (60-90cm) divisions, to be planted 4” (10cm) April 6” • (15cm) square foot. £15.00 deep in moisture retentive soil in £6.00 April/May • 4” (10cm) sun or part shade. £4.50 for 10, or £10.50 for 25 May/June • 36-48” (90-120cm) £8.00

40 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Scilla

Scilla mischtschenkoana (tubergeniana) Photo credit: Linda de Goede p Scilla hyacinthioides blue arrow

Scilla bifolia Scilla siberica spring beauty Scilla peruviana scilla bifolia 125-05 mischtschenkoana siberica Spring An easy dwarf species with starry The blue Scillas are part of that (tubergeniana) Beauty 125-14 purple-blue flowers and waxy group of blue flowered plants 125-17 Bone hardy, these hail from the leaves. Naturalises under shrubs such as Anemones, Muscari The earliest pale-blue gem. They Black Sea area. The Prussian-blue or in light grass in summer shade and Chionodoxa that enhance seem to ignore the winter cold and flowers piercing through the cold where the massed heads really and embellish the spring display emerge especially early to flower ground in advance of their leaves, create an early purple haze, created by the bigger bulbs. The at the same time as the Cyclamen especially happy on sandy soils in flowering with the anemones and smaller ones, often sold in larger coum and the winter aconites - far summer shade. multiples, are often not used early daffodils. Small bulbs that you earlier than other similar plants. Very Mar/Apr • 6” (15cm) as star performers, but they are need to be generous with, plant £2.75 for 10 or £6.00 for 25 hardy and well suited to the rockery the unmissable and necessary them 2-3” (5-8 cm) apart, 15 per or a border. chorus, supporting the prima square foot. donnas so you shouldn’t be Feb • 4” (10cm) Feb/Mar • 6” (15cm) £4.60 for 10 without them. Their preferred £4.30 for 10, £9.75 for 25, situations do vary widely. or £18.00 for 50 peruviana 125-11 hyacinthoides Suffering from an unfortunate Blue Arrow 125-33 confusion when they first arrived which led to their unlikely name A large bulb from the (they are of Mediterranean Mediterranean, one for the sunny origin) the low broad, fleshy, near border where it warms up in the evergreen leaved plants produce summer, for whilst these are hardy a big architectural flower head they do need that additional warmth of bright blue flowers, especially to flower well. But then they do it dramatic in bud. Easy in good soil is style with a tall, erect raceme but they must be in full light and bearing blue starry flowers held planted deeply, they do also flower some way off the stem. better in the spring following a July • 36” (100cm) £4.50 for 10 warm summer. May /June • 10” (25cm) £4.50 or £11.50 for 3

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Tulipa bakeri Lilac Wonder

Triteleia

Triteleia Silver Queen Triteleia Rudy Tulipa batalinii Bronze Charm triteleia Rudy 68-07 species tulips bakeri Lilac The same shape and stance as T. Early summer flowering bulbs, The species types tend to have Wonder 131-53 Corrina but white flowered with a also known in the past as small bulbs, typically about the Silvery pink with a yellow bull’s eye Brodiæa but now more accurately broad violet blue stripe down the size of an almond. They are in the centre of each flower, most Triteleia. They come from north- centre of each petal. Very eye- particularly grown for their bright of which are multi headed and held west America. So often we are catching and ‘different’ with a long bold colours in late April and above broad, deep green, glossy told that they look like miniature vase life for when you feel that you early May (in most years, but leaves. A dependable sun loving Agapanthus, to which they are have enough to pick. not 2017!) and due to the fact plant closely related to T. saxatalis. unconnected. Their papery June • 18” (45cm) that in the right conditions some Late April/early May • 6” (15cm) flowers are a lasting pleasure, £4.30 for 5 or £11.00 for 15 persist from year to year and £3.00 for 10 or £6.80 for 25 with up to 25 flowers per stem. even increase better than do the Plant in well-drained soil – in Silver Queen 68-13 bigger hybrid forms. In villages batalinii Bronze good light, 4” (10cm) deep and Tinged purple in bud the flowers nearby there are various forms 2” (5cm) apart. that I see growing and spreading. Charm 131-08 open white with a slight creaminess. They are sun lovers and don’t Apricot yellow with increased Easy in sunny, bright conditions, with want it too wet, particularly in bronzing on the petals in sunnier Corrina 68-06 their strong, wiry stems we find these the summer when the bulbs are conditions. Grey-green leaved. A A dark flowered form, creating a invaluable on our summer displays. resting. They are attractive to really endearing small tulip with haze of deep blue when viewed June • 18” (45cm) mice and squirrels looking for the from a distance. Wiry stemmed and £2.70 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 poise and character. Gravelly soils high levels of the carbohydrates or planted into a well-drained a deep blue that anticipates the that they contain in the autumn, rockery would be perfect. Agapanthus season to come. White Cloud 68-14 if that might be a problem there Late April/early May • 10” (25cm) June • 18” (45cm) Pure white, and perfect for the is mention (under the Crocus £3.25 for 5 or £8.75 for 15 £2.80 for 15 or £4.30 for 25 garden, or to use as cut flower? Just heading) of a way of keeping the thing to plant in a sunny border them protected and the same ahead of a summer wedding, given applies here. They should be planted quite close together. The a bit of advance warning? quantity in the first pack size for June • 18” (45cm) £4.00 for 5 or £10.00 for 15 each item would be suitable for a 5-6” (12cm) pot or an equivalent area of garden.

42 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Tulipa humilis Persian Pearl Tulipa Little Beauty Tulipa Little Princess Photo credit: Linda de Goede p batalinii Salmon Gem Tulipa batalinii Honky Tonk Tulipa clusiana Peppermintstick

batalinii Salmon clusiana linifolia 131-26 Gem 131-146 Peppermintstick A crimson- red flowered, low Pinkish red within the flower with a 131-02 growing small tulip with red margins to the wavy edged leaves suitable contrasting paler, dusty pink reverse The furled petals look like a little for any sunny well drained garden to the petal. Grey- green leaved. A stick of edible rock which, when site. relatively new hybrid for well drained open, are ivory white inside with a conditions in good light. May • 6” (15cm) violet eye, the backs of the petals £3.25 for 10, £7.25 for 25, Late April/early May • 10” (25cm) are blushed cerise pink. The whole £13.50 for 50 £4.00 for 5 or £11.50 for 15 effect is lovely but remember that all the clusiana forms have reasonably Little Beauty 131-27 batalinii large flowers on quite slender stems Growing wild in much the same so plant them where they are a bit Honky Tonk 131-03 area as T humilis these have sheltered from the wind. Tulipa linifolia Pale yellow flowered above grey- shockingly bright crimson-pink green foliage. The Tulipa batalinii April • 10” (25cm) £2.85 for 5 or £5.40 for 10 flowers which open wide in the sun group are closely related to the red to reveal white and blue centres flowered T. linifolia types, and may humilis Persian which is slightly startling . For a Little be botanically indistinguishable. sunny well drained site again. Princess 131-05 Late April/early May • 10” (25cm) Pearl 131-12 April • 5” (12cm) £2.75 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 The species T. humilis of which £3.25 for 10 or £7.50 for 25 Of complex parentage but similar this is a selected form comes from to the humilis forms above these Turkey and eastwards, all the family exhibit fiery coppery-orange has low leaves nearly flat to the coloured flowers, goblet shaped ground and colourful flowers. They before opening fully in the sun, the need full sunlight to stay compact. flowers are on short stems so are Deep magenta rose coloured pretty resilient, a really cracking flowers with silvery backed petals good dwarf tulip for a sunny spot. April • 5” (12cm) April • 4” (10cm) £3.35 for 10 or £7.80 for 25 £4.60 for 10 or £10.80 for 25

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 43 Tulipa sprengeri Tulipa sylvestris Tulipa tarda Photo credit: GAP Images p Tulipa turkestanica Tulipa whittallii Tulipa urumiensis sprengeri 131-35 sylvestris 131-37 tarda 131-38 A scarlet flowered species originally Easy to grow, and possibly the only A perennial performer with larger, urumiensis 131-40 found in NE Turkey though now one that will persist in some shade, very rounded bulbs which produce Bright yellow low growing plants presumed lost to where it arose. but naturally a bit shy to flower. We multiple flowers from each bulb, all (not unlike T. tarda but without the Easy to grow from seed though the have some that have increased crammed together, honey scented white edge to the petal), these are seedlings resent disturbance till happily under an Amelanchier for 10 In a deep golden yellow, edged tinged in bronze . full grown, consequently the Dutch years or so, flowering intermittently in white. Pretty bulbs to plant in a April • 7” (20 cm) £3.75 for 10, £8.65 for 25 bulb trade does not grow them, as seems to be their nature, I am sunny site. Easy and persisting. and this limits their availability. We not sure why they do not flower April • 5” (12cm) shall probably sell out of them. more profusely. The flowers are £3.00 for 10, £6.75 for 25, whittallii 131-42 Despite this they are one of the few sulphur yellow and fragrant. or £11.25 for 50 Named after Edward Whittall, a tulips that do persist long term and April • 12” (30cm) plant collector extraordinaire who naturalise in our gardens, generally £3.25 for 5 or £9.00 for 15 turkestanica collected many such treasures, in light shade. Small bulbs that will 131-134 there is still a famous garden in his flower next spring. Ivory and cream coloured within the name in Izmir, Turkey. These are May-June • 15” (38cm) flower with dark anthers contrasting a gorgeous bronzy orange with a £5.00 each with the petals, greenish tinged dark centre, they should persist in on their backs. It is widespread in the sunny conditions of a raised its natural range from SE Europe bed or rockery. through to Iran and Russia. Growing April • 12” (30 cm) £2.70 for 3, £7.85 for 10 away early and quite tall they need bright conditions out of too much wind. April • 7” (20 cm) £2.70 for 10, £5.90 for 25

44 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 EARLY Tulips Photo credit: GAP Images p TULIPA Corona Tulipa Cape Cod

Tulipa Exotic Emperor Tulipa Flaming Purissima kaufmanniana greigii tulips tulips (Group 14) Late March and Early April flowering with wonderfully Tulipa Johann Strauss (Group 12) Early flowering, marked leaves. These are equally typically February or March with great for planters as those above, large flowers on reasonably short or could be used in the borders to stems. Very suitable planted give them an early ‘lift’. They need a on the rockery or in containers sunny and well drained site ideally by the front door to greet your planted about 4-5” (10-12cm) apart. friends and the warm early sunshine. Plant them about 5” (12cm) apart as the flowers open Cape Cod 131-113 widely in the sun. Planted with a Bright yellow with broad red bands suitably coloured Crocus vernus through the petals both without and (Dutch crocus) they make a great within. flowering partnership. Mar/Apr • 9” (22cm) £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 Corona 131-141 or £25.00 for 50 Warm yellow over most of the petal Red Riding with a red blotch in the throat, the stems are short and the flowers Hood 131-18 open widely in bright sunlight so do Glossy bright red flowers, the colour of newly painted pillar boxes, with not plant them too close together. Tulipa Red Riding Hood Use them with one of the purple attractively mottled leaves. Very Dutch crocus ? suitable for containers. Lovely in Mar/Apr • 9” (22cm) April for that spring zing! £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25 April • 8” (20cm) or £27.00 for 50 £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 Exotic Flaming or £25.00 for 50 Emperor 131-100 Purissima 131-71 Johann Strauss 131-111 Double petalled in white and when Creamy-white when they first open With some red stripes in the leaf fosteriana about to flower somewhat rose- with just a hint of pink at the petal’s this provides leaf interest as well like with the white buds clasped edge but becoming increasingly as a cheerful pale yellow flower (Group 13) Earlier flowering than by intriguing green bracts. Where pink as the flower ages, feathering with pink on the backs of the outer the main Tulip display, large we have seen it in gardens it has gracefully from the edges of the flowered on sturdy stems and petals. persisted for years on thin stony petals, more strongly red within the available in lovely pastel colours. Mar/Apr • 9” (22cm) soil. flower. Very pretty indeed. £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 They need planting about 5” April • 18” (45cm) Mar/Apr • 14” (35cm) or £25.00 for 50 (12cm) apart and are equally £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25 £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25 suitable for containers or borders. or £27.00 for 50 or £26.00 for 50

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 45 Tulipa Purissima Tulipa Juan Tulipa Orange Emperor

Tulipa Abu Hassan Tulipa Apricot Beauty

Mid Season Tulips mid season Annie Schilder 131-135 Warm rose orange when in bud tulips then the flower opens and pales to These Triumph (Group 3) and a lighter shade with some yellow Darwin (Group 4) tulips all have at the petal edges. Broadly bowl tulipa Annie Schilder roughly the same flowering shaped with a lovely perfume that season - we used to say mid to seems to come with many of the late April and early May, but in our orange tulips. Dating back to the fickle climate this is just a guide, 1920s this is one that has been Juan 131-124 Purissima 131-16 some years they are early and around a while. I was taken by these tulips when Opening a pale primrose yellow, the frequency of that happening April • 18” (45cm) visiting Harlow Carr Gardens when about which we receive a number seems to only increase. These £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 in Harrogate for the spring show of phone calls wondering whether would be planted about 5” or £25.00 for 50 where a huge tub of these was a packing mistake has occurred, apart and are very well suited Ballerina, Apricot Beauty or Paul being admired by all that passed they turn through creamy shades to to the open garden in borders, Scherer by. A clear vibrant orange with pure white and then in late March or containers. Some suggested yellow at the base of the flower. The sunshine they open wide to reveal tulip combinations that look good Apricot Beauty darkly striped leaves are especially dramatic mascara black anthers. together for this purpose are handsome. Strong stemmed over bright green offered under each entry. 131-125 Mar/Apr • 14” (35cm) leaves, Pale apricot pink with a fine edge £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25 Mar/Apr • 18” (45cm) Abu Hassan 131-61 that is more orange and scented. or £26.00 for 50 £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 In shades ranging from ruby to One of the earliest of the taller or £25.00 for 50 terracotta-red, each petal edge tulips. Orange feathering into gold. The effect is April • 18” (45cm) £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, Emperor 131-72 one of an earthy Eastern feel that or £33.00 for 50 One of my favourites with quite ties in with its name. The russet and Annie Schilder, Abu Hassan or Jan long flowers in pale orange with yellow of wallflowers in particular Reus pretty green shading at the base. combine with the colours perfectly, Good for bold contrast and a great and brick walls make a good combination planted with Purissima background. April • 18” (45cm) below for an early flowering £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, twosome. or £25.00 for 50 Suggested planting Mar/Apr • 16” (40cm) With Gavota, Sunny Prince or Annie companions £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 Schilder or £24.00 for 50

46 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Tulipa Brown Sugar Tulipa Calgary

Tulipa evergreen

Tulipa Gavota Tulipa Couleur Cardinal

Brown Sugar 131-142 calgary flames Difficult to pin down in colour terms, 131-136 bronzed apricot or coppery pink A variant on the Calgary model with perhaps with some purple on the a prominent yellow flush to the outer reverse, tall and strong stemmed petals, we find them invaluable at with a beautiful perfume. We will be flower shows as with such short showing them for the first time this stems they do not flop over during year and am sure that they will be the show, so at the front of borders admired and in demand. or close to the edge in big pots April • 18” (45cm) Tulipa Calgary Flames £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25, these could provide your display? or £26.00 for 50 April • 9” (22cm) £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25 Gavota, Abu Hasan or Slawa or £26.00 for 50 evergreen 131-148 Gavota 131-29 At roughly the same height Princess Calgary 131-48 Irene, Orange Princess or Calgary This does live up to its name, tall, Deep fire brick red and quite late flowering and in bloom for pointed in bud but opening to show Very short and compact with white would work well. longer than one might expect with a broad deep yellow edge to the flowers that are brilliant in exposed fresh, slightly luminous green petals petal, lovely with wallflowers or conditions, shrugging off any wind Couleur with no trace of other colours. It is against old brickwork. and rain. We use them at the edges rather different and a bit beguiling. April • 15” (40cm) of exhibits and you could use them Cardinal 131-126 May • 18” (50cm) £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 in the same way in the garden or Crimson red with darker more plum or £25.00 for 50 coloured marking on the outer £8.00 for 10, £18.00 for 25 containers. or £34.00 for 50 Sunny Prince, Ballerina and Paul petals, famously scented and long April • 9” (22cm) Maureen, Elegant Lady or Sanne Scherer £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25 lasting, first named in 1845. or £26.00 for 50 April 16” (40cm) Princess Irene, Orange Princess or £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25 purple hyacinths or £27.00 for 50 Paul Scherer, Pink Diamond or Shirley.

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Tulipa Grand Perfection tulipa Hemisphere Tulipa Jan Reus

Grand Hemisphere 131-137 Jan Reus 131-62 Princess Irene Perfection 131-123 There are few tulips quite like this, Deep purple-red when first open they 131-10 Exhibiting broad flashes of red over although Shirley is another. These fade to a ruby red with petals that An earthy mix of oranges, what is, when first open quite a yellow change colour as the flowers shimmer in the sun atop a dark strong marmalade and purple, but unlikely background, but this turns white for a mature so the effect is one that stem that adds to the impact. They as it seems they work brilliantly stronger contrast. evolves gradually, each flower combine with just about everything, together. This is a great favourite, Reminiscent of the tulips illustrated in developing degrees of freckling and especially the acid green foliage of with low reddish marked leaves and the paintings by the Dutch Masters at faint stripes at a slightly different emerging Euphorbia maybe. on short stem it is less affected by the height of the Tulip mania. rate. The whole result is a range of April • 18” (45cm) poor weather and adding in a huge £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 April 18” (45cm) colours from warm white through or £25.00 for 50 scent , one can see why it is so £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25 to raspberry. Most tulips are pretty China Pink, Abu Hassan or nearly popular. See also ‘Orange Princess’ or £26.00 for 50 uniform, these are less so which is which is a double form of the same Elegant Lady, Couleur Cardinal or everything else nice. tulip, Page 54. Sanne April • 18” (45cm) April • 15” (38cm) £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 Paul Scherer £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25 Havran 131-57 or £25.00 for 50 131-107 or £27.00 for 50 Rem’s Favourite, Blue Ribbon or Try it with Calgary Flame for a low Darker than plum in some lights, China Pink Strong stemmed, with slightly grey- with a grape like bloom dusting green foliage contrasting with the duo, or maybe with its double flowered cousin Orange Princess the petals, these are not quite as exceptionally dark cup shaped dark as Queen of Night but have flowers. I love the possibilities that a slightly more pointed shape and tulips provide to play with colours would open earlier, so these could in a way that no other plants allow. start off your dark theme. Quite As dark as Queen of Night and often they have more than one probably with a stronger stem these flower to a stem. are better than dark chocolate. April • 18” (45cm) April • 18” (45cm) £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 or £25.00 for 50 or £25.00 for 50 Suggested planting Rem’s Favourite, Pink Diamond and Daytona, Shirley, Pink Diamond, companions Slawa Couleur Cardinal or Sanne

48 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Tulipa Rem’s Favourite Tulipa Unique de France Tulipa Slawa

Tulipa Shirley

Rem’s Slawa 131-138 Favourite 131-84 First seen under rather artificial White with broad raspberry flames lighting at a trade show In Holland from the base. The white is clean so these looked purple and brown the whole effect is like an expensive which alerted me to something a ice cream, absolutely perfect in bit unusual. In the light of day the combination with the pink and white flowers are mainly a deep purple apple blossom that is out at the with a pinkish or coppery edge, which turns more silvery as they same time. A few of these tulips go Tulipa Whispering Dream a long way. age. April/May • 24” (60cm) April • 18” (45cm) £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, or £25.00 for 50 or £33.00 for 50 Elegant Lady, Sanne or Gavota Unique de Whispering Paul Scherer, Shirley, Queen of perhaps. Night France 131-121 Dream 131-132 Amazing petals - shiny and A big petalled tulip with what is Shirley 131-56 gleaming like a newly painted quite a subtle pink edging to a pillar box, certainly one of the most creamy petal when they first open, Great fun and ever-changing, and in vibrant coloured tulips but more this diffuses steadily till the top is that regard like T. Hemisphere. Pale unique still is the foliage, the leaves all deep pink above a creamy white creamy white throughout when first are deep green and very waxy, quite base. If T. Elegant Lady is a bit too they open, then they gain a purple different from any other tulip foliage. tame for you this should do the margin to each petal with some Good for the garden or containers trick? additional freckling and gradually where they will be noticed!. April • 16” (40cm) this spreads and darkens till the April • 16” (40cm) £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25 petals are suffused purple all over. £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, or £27.00 for 50 April/May • 24” (60cm) or £25.00 for 50 Sanne worked well at Chelsea, £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, Outstanding on its own. China Pink or Pink Diamond or £25.00 for 50 Cummins, Blue Ribbon or Havran.

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Tulipa Angel’s Wish Tulipa Pink Diamond Tulipa Queen of Night Photo credit: GAP Images Photo credit: GAP Images   Tulipa maureen tulipa sunny prince Tulipa Recreado single late Maureen 131-128 Queen of Night 131-58 Recreado 131-83 Late flowering and tall with simple One of the darkest delights, and Simply bold and dramatic, with a (Group 5) These have simple, egg shaped flowers atop the stems, justifiably one of our best sellers. deep purple wine-coloured flower elegant cup or goblet shaped the flowers fading gently from Though not quite black, only Paul over a strong dark stem with flowers and longer stems, creamy white to a more ivory hue. Scherer comes close, the deepest greyish leaves below. flowering after the mid season April/May • 24” (60cm) April • 18” (45cm) tulips (but overlapping with hue shows on bulbs in direct £8.00 for 10, £18.00 for 25, sunlight, in more shade they are £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25, them). or £26.00 for 50 or £34.00 for 50 deep purple and often taller. Merlot is nearly as tall, Queen of La Belle Epoque, Ballerina or April/May • 24” (60cm) Elegant Lady Angel’s Wish 131-32 Night or Black Hero £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25, White with a dash of cream, simple or £26.00 for 50 looking and broad petalled, with Pink Diamond 131-91 Oranges, purples, pinks and greens, Sunny Prince 131-143 a strong stem. You have to have Soft pale pink, with quite rounded and anything white. Bright butter yellow within the flower, some whites as a foil for the other flowers, dark enough not to burn slightly paler on the backs of the stronger colours. These are one of out in the sun, pale enough not to petals, this is a relatively short, the best. be too sugary pink. Simple, and sturdy form seemingly filled with April/May • 20” (50cm) very pretty. happiness. £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25 April • 15” (38cm) April • 14” (34cm) or £26.00 for 50 £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 With Pieter de Leur, Shirley or Sanne or £25.00 for 50 or £25.00 for 50 Recreado, Havran or Paul Scherer Suggested planting Princess Irene, Uncle Tom or Gavota companions

50 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 parrot Tulips

Tulipa Black Parrot Tulipa Rococo Tulipa White Parrot

Lily Flowered Tulips

Tulipa Ballerina Tulipa Burgundy Tulipa China Pink parrot tulips Rococo 131-127 lily flowered Burgundy 131-96 (Group 10) Exuberance is the Earlier than most other Parrot tulips Elegantly poised in a purplish hue greatest asset of this group, with short stems, these are deep tulips of deep lilac, this variety has a more with flowers that seem to be velvety red with the reverse of the (Group 6) Characterised by their waisted shape with more pointed overflowing with frilled or fluted petal marked with green, the petals longer stems and that refined petals than some in the group. petals. Dramatic is the best tightly crimped as though they ‘hour glass’ shape to the flower, April/May • 18”(45cm) way to describe them I feel. had been too tight in the bud, very waisted when in bud and opening £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, or £33.00 for 50 Wonderful to use as part of a suitable for pots. up in the sun with pointed tips. Obviously Ballerina, Rem’s Favourite fantastical flower arrangement. April • 12” (30cm) They are great in flower borders, Big and heavy headed, best in £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25 and in tall containers which seem or Queen of Night good light and in some breeze or £26.00 for 50 to exaggerate the stem length. which will shake the rain from the Jan Reus, Paul Scherer or White China Pink 131-59 multitudinous petals. Parrot for vivid contrast Ballerina 131-65 Pink lily flowered heads with pointed Soft tangerine coloured flowers, tips on much shorter stems than Black Parrot 131-17 White Parrot 131-64 though different lights and strength most of the group, and generally a The unopen flower buds seem to Large flowered, the whole head of the sun seems to result in some much leafier plant. be clutched in a green fingered grip bursting full of crimped petals, variation In the shade from year to April • 14-16” (35-40cm) and when it escapes to flower the like clouds of egg white about to £6.50 for 10, £15.00 for 25, year. One of my favourites (and in or £28.00 for 50 dark chocolate purple petals seem become meringue, the outermost that I am not alone), I particularly love Angelique, Pink Diamond or to erupt in a cockscomb of frilled ones with a tinge of creamy green. its scent in the sun. The tangerine Whispering Dream excess, a dark favourite indeed. April/May • 18” (45cm) hue also goes perfectly with all the £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, April/May • 20” (50cm) leafy greens, altogether very eye- £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25 or £33.00 for 50 or £33.00 for 50 Great with pretty much everything! catching with a heady perfume. White Triumphator, Greenland or April/May • 20” (50cm) £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25, Spring Green or £26.00 for 50 Queen of Night, Sanne or Apricot Beauty

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 51 Tulipa elegant lady Tulipa Merlot Tulipa Pieter de Leur

Tulipa Sanne Tulipa Tres Chic Tulipa White Triumphator

Elegant Lady 131-78 Pieter de Leur 131-150 Sanne 131-122 White Pale ivory yellow with pale pink Glistening, vibrant, deep vermilion Pale apricot when they first open Triumphator edging, a cooler tone than many red, almost opalescent as a ruby with a pinkish tinge added to the mix 131-46 with a strong shape and a good tiffany lamp, not a tulip for the faint as they mature, the tips of the petals All white with long clean green stem. hearted but then these are showy always slightly paler. Soft, feminine stems. An iconic and popular tulip, April/May • 24” (60cm) tulips doing what they do best! My and subtle with a great shape. but not so typically lily flowered in £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25, father’s favourite with his dimming April/May • 18” (45cm) its shape. They seem always more or £26.00 for 50 eyes. £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25, China Pink, Sunny Prince and or £27.00 for 50 dramatic when provided with a April/May • 18” (45cm) Greenland Elegant Lady Jan Reus or Paul stronger background against which £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25, or £26.00 for 50 Scherer to view them. Merlot 131-130 Spring Green, Greenland or White April/May • 20” (50cm) Triumphator £6.50 for 10, £15.00 for 25, Tall and elegantly poised with Trés Chic 131-66 or £28.00 for 50 flowers that mimic a wine glass in Creamy white when in bud, Safe as houses, goes with both shape and content, there is no becoming white with faint green tips everything! doubt about how the name arose. to the pointed petals as they open April/May • 28” (65cm) properly, much shorter in stature £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, which in exposed gardens or some or £33.00 for 50 planters may be an advantage, a Maureen, Black Hero and Pieter tulip that lives up to its name. de Leur April/May • 12” (30cm) £6.00 for 10, £14.00 for 25, or £26.00 for 50 Suggested planting Any of the coloured tulips with a companions different silhouette

52 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Fringed Tulips

Tulipa Cummins Tulipa Daytona Tulipa Greenland

viridiflora Tulips Photo credit: Visions Image Library p Tulipa Spring Green Tulipa Flaming Spring Green tulipa violet bird

fringed tulips Daytona 131-95 Greenland 131-44 Flaming Spring Creamy white, sometimes tinged A subtle combination with pink (Group 7) First popular in the Green 131-97 florist shops these are fringed with green and edged in a sparkling and green coloured flowers shot Spring Green (as described above) by frills along the edges of frosted fringe. A cracking tulip that with cream, the effect is calming with the addition of deep red the petals, they are not just looks as though it has just been and unfussy and the colours are staining from the base, these will frivolous though, they provide a drawn from the ice bucket, one of easy to mix with any pink or green certainly get noticed. contemporary twist. the most popular at Chelsea where combinations. April/May • 18” (45cm) it helps us tone down the loud April/May • 18” (45cm) £8.50 for 10, £18.50 for 25, Cummins 131-88 colours provided by the range of £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, or £35.00 for 50 tulips that we show. or £25.00 for 50 Spring Green, Unique de France Sanne, Flaming Spring Green or Dove-grey, lilac and purple with a April/May • 15” (38cm) and Pieter de Leur wide fringe of frost like ‘pinking’ £6.50 for 10, £15.00 for 25, Elegant Lady adorning the edge of each petal. or £28.00 for 50 Violet Bird 131-145 Thick, lustrous and long lasting Cummins, China Pink, Pieter de Leur Spring Green 131-51 Some tulips have untidy foliage, flowers with style and class. Always or anything else! Pale apple-white petals marked this one is unlike them and we admired wherever we show them. with wispy green brush strokes on like its habit with a sturdy, tidy Good also for cut flower with strong the back of each petal. Often less demeanour, but calling it violet was stems. viridiflora ‘regular’ in height and flower shape probably one marketing gimmick April/May • 15” (38cm) compared to many other tulips but £8.00 for 10, £18.00 for 25, tulips too far. It is closer to a lavender or £34.00 for 50 ideal for separating strong colours purple with some green. (Group 8) Multi-coloured tulips in the border or for flower arranging. Shirley, Spring Green or Havran with vertical colour banding, April/May • 18” (45cm) One of the all-time favourites. £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, most often in green. Some of April/May • 18” (45cm) or £33.00 for 50 these exhibit complicated colour £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25, Elegant Lady, Pieter de Leur or patterning, like an artist’s mixing or £27.00 for 50 White Parrot palette. In the borders they With everything, and they all look provide great opportunities to better for it! create subtle combinations.

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 53 double petalled Tulips

Tulipa Angelique Tulipa La Belle Epoque Tulipa Foxtrot

Tulipa Orange Princess

double petalled Tulipa Uncle Tom tulips (Group 11) Also known as the Foxtrot 131-147 Paeony flowered forms. These An early flowering double in old Tulipa Black Hero Uvularia grandiflora tend to be late flowering with rose pink which deepens in colour more spherical buds and rounded as the flowers age. Tidy and neat flower shapes, filled with deep and much earlier than the similar layers of petals. (but taller) Angelique. Orange uvularia April • 12” (30cm) Princess 131-140 Bombproof but quite slow Angelique 131-24 £8.00 for 10, £18.00 for 25, I was tempted to list this alongside or £34.00 for 50 growing woodland plants of N. Often multi-headed, the flowers Sunny Prince, Havran or Orange Princess Irene, it is after all a double America needing cool leaf-mould filled with ruffled petals in delicate Princess form of that favourite tulip. But rich soils in part shade. Quite shades of pink, genuinely paeony- being a double this is where it fits slow growing but established like from a distance, somewhat La Belle best and if you love the single form clumps are quietly impressive, shorter in stature than most. Late you will recognise the similarity and but easy to achieve in time in flowering beauties for borders as Epoque 131-104 perhaps be tempted to try them? the right conditions, brilliant well as cut flower. Another colour that is difficult to I find the encircling green tipped with other choice shade plants April/May • 16” (40cm) describe: pinkish or even pale tea- petals rather appealing. like Trilliums, Sanguinaria and £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25, rose coloured, turning more apricot April/May • 16” (40cm) Erythronium. or £27.00 for 50 as the flower develops, a more £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, China Pink or Hemisphere or £25.00 for 50 subtle colour that goes well with grandiflora Calgary Flames or Annie Schilder the pinks and lilacs that are often 133-05 Black Hero 131-80 prevalent in tulips. Known as the Merrybells in the Tall, dark and clean stemmed round April/May • 18” (45cm) Uncle Tom 131-106 eastern USA. Deep yellow flowers buds indicating their potential long £8.00 for 10, £18.00 for 25, Dark red, late flowering gems that hanging from arching stems. Soft before they open with smaller, tight or £34.00 for 50 are neither too big, nor too tall, but foliage but completely resistant to packed, shiny petalled heads in Blue Diamond, Ballerina, Angels’s these show how much of a passing Wish or Sanne our coldest weather. deep chocolate purple. similarity there is to the Paeony flower. April/May • 26” (65cm) Apr • 12” (30cm) A fitting finale to the Tulip season? £5.00 £8.00 for 10, £18.00 for 25, April/May • 18” (45cm) or £34.00 for 50 £6.25 for 10, £14.50 for 25, Spring Green, Ballerina or White or £27.00 for 50 Suggested planting Triumphator Angels’ Wish, Sanne or Greenland. companions

54 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Ordering from Avon Bulbs

This catalogue covers the period May 2017 to December 2017. It costs £2. Delivery may be weather affected Prices are given at the end of each plant description; prices are for a single bulb or plant unless stated otherwise. We despatch ‘Autumn’ orders through from mid September to early November dependant on the prevailing conditions, the ‘Late Summer’ orders between late Please list acceptable alternatives August and mid September. All plants and bulbs are offered subject to availability. Stocks we anticipate being Delivery can be tailored to your needs saleable as we write the catalogue in April sometimes fail before their due despatch season in Sept - Nov, but that’s gardening. We do not make substitutions, but a list We use the Post Office (Royal Mail) for smaller parcels, DPD Local for larger parcels. of alternative bulbs that might be acceptable helps greatly. Both organisations now allow us to specify Safe Place Leaving Instructions and if these are provided no signature on delivery is required, the delivery will be made Payment following those instructions. If you do not specify a Safe Place you will have to sign for Please order by post and send your payment with your order with cheques made the parcel or arrange a redelivery on receipt of their card. If you might be away during out to Avon Bulbs Ltd. “Not To Exceed” (NTE) cheques are a convenient and safe our delivery season, please tell us – we can fit around most dates. way to allow for slight variations in your order — particularly useful for late orders Providing us with your email address means that you will receive an email from us where availability is less certain, after 1 September. Make the cheque out as usual confirming despatch of your parcel, and a further email from DPD Local (ifyour and sign it but do not date it or complete the value in words or in figures. At the top parcel is bigger) confirming the expected delivery date and time slot of one hour. of the cheque write “Not to exceed £X”, where X is a round number of pounds that If you wish to collect your order please either advise us of the intended date or allow is likely to be enough. Once your order has been sent, we complete the date and us to suggest one. amounts to match the amount invoiced (and supplied), bank the cheque and your account is settled. Completed cheques (ie not NTE cheques) are banked as orders Please raise problems immediately are accepted. While we try to ensure everything is correctly named and labelled, errors do occur Paying by card: points to note occasionally.­ If we seem to have made a mistake please tell us as soon as possible; late complaints are very difficult to deal with in the same reason if stocks are limited. We normally debit your account when bulbs are despatched, not when your order is Regrettably,­ the bulbs we sell cannot be absolutely­ guaranteed to flower and thrive, received, so do try to ensure that your card does not expire before the date when we nature is fickle sometimes and we cannot be responsible for its vagaries, or even will need to draw from the account. poor gardening. Please allow for p&p Data Protection Act: We do keep computerised records with your name and address and order history for our own business use and for our carriers to communicate The contribution towards packing and delivery is £4.95 per order (mainland UK). It with you regarding a delivery. We will not sell or pass on your details to any other is likely that for larger orders this will be exceeded by the costs to ourselves. You will businesses and all credit card details that are stored by us are done so in an however receive an acknowledgment, individual planting instructions for all items, a encrypted manner that we cannot ourselves view. strong box and further catalogues from us whilst you continue to order. For customers with addresses outside the UK mainland (Channel Isles, Northern Ireland, Isles of By placing an order with us customers are agreeing to these terms. If you do not wish Wight, Man, Shetlands etc.) we will probably need to add a surcharge dependant on to receive any marketing material from us please let us know (but this will also mean the weight of the parcel and your location, this sometimes takes the cost of a parcel (or that you do not get delivery alerts from our delivery agents). two if we split the delivery) to about £15.00. Overseas customers are requested to check the website for details of the costs of shipping to the European Union. The minimum postal cost for non UK orders Please retain our acknowledgement is £10.00. We acknowledge all orders by post or email unless the order is to be despatched immediately. If you need to contact us about your order, please use this invoice reference number.

Five year Diaries! This remarkable diary really is a real memory builder! As you fill one entry you cannot help but look back to what you wrote on the same day in past years. Keeping a record year on year of the weather for the day can really help you understand your garden and its microclimat e, as well as remind you of your gardening successes and lessons to learn. But you can also include films you saw, books you read, how much jam you made, who called for a chat or came to dinner, what you ate, what the grandchildren told you, the list is endless! Finished in a wipe clean cover and spiral bound with botanical illustrations by Susan Olgilvy marking the start of each month. 6” wide (15 cm) and just over 9” deep (23.5 cm) and weighing 770g these are provided in a purpose made delivery sleeve and can be posted at any time (they make great Christmas presents) but can be started at any time of year. Unique to ourselves and not available elsewhere. £15.00 including P&P (within UK) Additional EU postage £6.00

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 55 Seeds from Avon Bulbs Any packet We have a seed box which travels to the shows and from which customers can pick out seed packets that they might like to purchase. The range is small and generally reflects the plants that we have grown and are showing to associate well with of seeds the bulbs on the display (but the annuals flower from seed very much more quickly than bulbs) particularly at the Chelsea Flower Show where so many visitors from abroad want something to take home and try for themselves. £2.50 But many of our mail order customers do not see us at the shows and may like the chance to buy a packet or two? Availability may be limited depending on the demand at the shows!

777-001 777-008 777-003 777-009 777-005

Average seed contents: 80 Average seed contents: 80 Average seed contents: 80 Average seed contents: 50 Average seed contents: 20

Ammi visnaga Nicotiana mutabilis Camassia leichtlinii Dianthus barbatus Orlaya Grandiflora ‘Mystique’ (Ornamental Tobacco) ‘Avon’s Stellar hybrids’ nigrescens ‘Sooty’ (White Lace Flower)

Hardy Annual. Large domed umbels A striking tender plant up to 5’ (1.5m) Hardy North American plants, Sweet William. Hardy biennial A plant of meadows, vineyards and of green and white flowers supported with showers of white flowers which Camassia all like heavy soils in sun with scented maroon-chocolate olive groves in the Mediterranean. by fine feathery green foliage in the turn through pink to a deep magenta as or part shade. They flower in late April flowers on red stems and mid green Fern-like foliage and lace-like summer about 2-3’ tall (60-90 cm), they mature. The effect is spectacular or early May, (after the blue flowered foliage. Good as a border plant in white umbels, with the outer petals very good cut flower (strip most of with both colours present on the plant forms which produce little or no seed). May-June and for cut flower, grown larger than the inner. 18-24” tall the leaves off as these turn yellow together. Flowers in the late summer. The flowering plants are 24-26” tall in sunny conditions in well drained (45-60cm). An easy to grow annual in a vase) and a very good foil for If a plant is overwintered (in frost free (60-90 cm). Colours will vary - pink, soils. Mature plants 12-15” tall setting seed that you can collect colourful summer flowering dahlias conditions) flowering is much earlier lilac, blue, cream and green. (30-38cm). and grow. and more profuse the second year.

777-021 777-024 777-004 777-007 777-010

Average seed contents: 80 Average seed contents: 15 Average seed contents: 15 Average seed contents: 10 Average seed contents: 15

Nigella damascena Cerinthe major Dahlia coccinea Lunaria annua Tulbaghia cominsii (Love in the Mist) ‘Purpurascens’ var palmeri ‘Alba Variegata’ x violacea

A hardy annual suitable for any soil A hardy annual from the Single orange-red flowers in late Hardy biennial, late spring flowering Long flowering perennial of South but it must be grown in a sunny Mediterranean region, known as summer on a plant which exhibits with scented white flowers on branching African origin. Long thin leaved foliage, position. The common name is Honeywort. An aristocratic border very dissected ‘frothy’ foliage. The hairy stems bearing leaves with strong scented when crushed. Purple suggested by the way the flower is plant which is beautiful and versatile. plant can be large, the seed was white variegation. The seed cases are – pink flowers from June to October, held in a nest of lacy bracts. This It is adored by bees and is much collected from an established plant distinctive as papery transluscent discs. 18-24” (45-60 cm) tall. Seedlings form is not the normal blue one, favoured as a cut flower. It has about 7’ tall. Dahlias like a rich Early spring sown plants will flower may vary, due to the hybrid nature of but opens white and matures to a glaucous leaves with interesting fertile soil and need planting in the the following spring and summer but the plant. Plants flower in their second wonderful antique pink, perhaps a purple bracts and bell shaped flowers sun. They may need a mulch (or to autumn sown seed will not flower till year. Very good patio plants in planters, form called Persian Rose. Originally from May to September. It produces be lifted) in cold gardens, but the the second spring The variegation enjoying warm conditions and very from southern Europe these grow to large black seeds in the autumn. species forms seem hardier than the becomes more pronounced with age. drought tolerant. In cold areas mulch between 8-20” (20-45cm) tall. They will reach 18-24” (45-60cm) hybrids. These should flower in their Grow in sun or part shade. Self seeding plants in the ground in winter and Easy to grow and especially useful tall. first season. around the garden. Mature plants 2-3’ protect pots from extended freezing for providing colourful ground cover tall (60-90cm) temperatures. Hardy outside to about in poorer soils. -10˚C.

P&P for any number of seed packets ordered alone within UK £1.50,or destinations within the EU please add £2.50 P&P

56 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017

More seeds from Avon Bulbs 777-013 777-014

777-018 777-019 777-023 Double Black Double Lilac

Papaver somniferum 777-012 Fully double flower heads of various colours. June flowering about 36” (90cm) tall. May need staking in windy gardens. They are plants of open, sunny situations in well drained soil and are hardy, but annual, so you will be reliant on falling (or collected) seed for future years. Self fertile, but some slight variation in flower Double Shiraz colour may occur. Average seed contents: 80 Average seed contents: 10 Average seed contents: 30

777-011 777-017 Iberis umbellatum Lunaria annua Tulipa sprengeri (Candytuft) Chedglow May flowering species tulip, now A hardy annual from the Hardy biennial flowering April to early unknown in the wild. Red flowered, Mediterranean growing to 12-14” May with wonderful chocolate leaves often verdigris marked on the outside (30-45cm) flowering for much of and lilac flowers, growing to 3’ (1 m) with contrasting golden anthers. the summer with domed fragrant or a bit more. Decorative seed heads About 18” (40cm) tall. May take 3-4 flowers in pink, mauve and white. persist with translucent discs that can years to flower, but avoid disturbance Easy to grow and especially useful be used in dried arrangements. in the area. Once flowering will self for providing colourful ground cover seed. Bulbs flower when grape sized in poorer soils. or larger. Double Pink Blackcurrant Fizz

777-002 777-006 777-025

Glove sizing: If unsure this is a guide – finger to wrist, or right round the palm, whichever the larger measure – under 8” we think the Small (7) size is likely to fit best, over 8” our Medium (10) may be better. Average seed contents: 15 Average seed contents: 25 Average seed contents: 20 Maxiflex Anthriscus sylvestris Gladiolus tristis Allium cernuum Gardening Gloves ‘Ravenswing’ (Black Cow Parsley) A beautiful South African species that Claret pink flowered plants of More and more people now garden in gloves. flowers in April/May in Britain with reasonably well drained locations in These are hard wearing and comfortable wonderful pale straw coloured flowers Perfect for a wild garden or meadow. full sun. Of North American origin gardening gloves that still allow you to feel what An elegant, clump-forming biennial with pretty green highlights and a good and hardy in the UK, self sown or short lived perennial with finely perfume in the evenings. 3-4’ (30-40 seedlings spreading and thickening you are doing but most importantly one’s hands divided ferny foliage of darkest cm) tall. They will need a sheltered one’s clumps. Summer flowering do not sweat inside them. Washable (inside situation in cold gardens or cold mahogany-bronze and umbels of about 18” (45 cm) tall with leaves out in a cool wash). The Medium size fits nearly white flowers in late spring and early districts, but if they can be grown in a that persist for much of the year. summer. Plant in well drained soil, favoured spot they will set seed and The flowers are good for beneficial everyone here, though a Small size is offered in sun or partial shade. Height 80cm, increase. They are in leaf through much insects. They may take 3 years to too. Include these with an order for £4.90 each spread 50cm. of the winter when they will cope with flower from seed, some will flower in temperatures down to -3ºC. their 2nd year (sent on their own please add £3.00 postage).

669 - 01 Maxiflex gloves (Medium) £4.90 669 - 02 Maxiflex gloves (Small) £4.90

P&P for any number of seed packets ordered alone within UK £1.50,or destinations within the EU please add £2.50 P&P

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 57 2017 Collections Colour Themed or Seasonal Tulip Collections. Collections of varieties for planting in pots or the garden. Ideal as Gifts.

Pastel Tulip Collection Purple Harmonies Tulip Collection

£37.00 £38.50

Tulipa Shirley x 25 Tulipa Negrita x 25 Tulipa Rems Favourite x 25

Whilst these can be planted in lots of different ways to achieve the effect in the photos these need to be planted quite closely (the optimum might be 60 -70 bulbs per m²) and whilst they come to you as bags of named bulbs for this Tulipa Angelique x 25 Tulipa Mount Tacoma x 25 they would need to be mixed up as they are planted. Some varieties are not Tulipa Blue Diamond x 25 listed in the catalogue for individual purchase, they are available online)

999-323 999-324

White Tulip Collection Bright Tulip Collection

£21.50 £22.50

Calgary Flames x 10 White Triumphator x 10 Pieter de Leur x 10 Merlot x 10

Daytona x 10 Angel’s Wish x 10 Whispering Dream x 10 Couleur Cardinal x 10

999-325 999-330

58 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 Order for Autumn despatch Please specify plants and costs here, and complete the other side of the form.

Stock Price and No. of packs No. x price ref. no. Plant name pack size required £

131-106 Tulipa Uncle Tom (EXAMPLE ONLY) 6.25/10 2 12.50

The example at the top shows the information we need – in particular, the reference number given subtotal beside the plant name in the catalogue. If possible, specify acceptable alternatives in case some of your choices are not available. carriage

Normal postage on any Autumn order is £4.95 (UK mainland only). total

Please record personal and payment details overleaf

Remember – cards, gloves and diaries can be ordered to accompany your bulbs, saving on postage. Please fold this sheet into a smaller envelope to avoid postal surcharges

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 59 Office use only: Mail Order for Autumn 2017 Date received: Plants and bulbs to flower in the spring Order No:

Avon Bulbs Ltd • Burnt House Farm • Mid Lambrook South Petherton • Somerset • TA13 5HE

Title: Mr Mrs Miss Other ______

Name: ______

House Name/No: ______

Street: ______

Town: ______

County: ______

Country: ______Postcode ______

Telephone/Mobile number: ______/ ______

Email address: ______@______It may be helpful for us or the carrier to contact you if any problems arise.

Other Delivery Instructions: ______

Is this an order for collection? ______Is it a gift? ______If you are likely to be out during the day, please suggest where the parcel should be left or who ______else might accept delivery. ______If you want your order to be sent as a gift to someone else (invoice to you), tick the box ______and put the recipient’s name and address and postcode in the space provided to the right. ______

For our own interest, did you use our website in making your selections? Yes No If this is your first order with us please tell us how you heard about us, or where you obtained our catalogue?

Payment Orders are not accepted without payment except by prior agreement. Please include payment or please charge my Visa / Mastercard account.

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60 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2017 2017 Collections Colour Themed or Seasonal Tulip Collections. Collections of varieties for planting in pots or the garden. Ideal as Gifts.

Camassia ‘Taster selection’ Allium Collection

£22.00 £24.50

C. leichtlinii x 5 C. quamash x 10 Allium Pink Jewel x 3 Allium Powder Puff x 3

C. leichtlinii alba x 3 C. l. Sacajawea x 3 Allium h. Purple Sensation x 5 Allium Mt Everest x 3

999-322 999-327

Easter Cheer Narcissus Collection Early Tulip Collection

£12.00 £19.50

Martinette x 5 Minnow x 10 Cape Cod x 10 Johann Strauss x 10 With Easter falling in 2018 at the end of March these ought to add to the event.

February Gold x 10 Sailboat x 3 Juan x 10 Purissima x 10

999-328 999-329 If undelivered please return to sender: Avon Bulbs Burnt House Farm Mid Lambrook South Petherton Somerset TA13 5HE

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