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Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016

Plants and to fl ower in the spring

p26 Telephone 01460 242177 www.avonbulbs.co.uk

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs i Winners of… 29 Gold Medals at Chelsea in 30 years Avon bulbs contacts Welcome to the Avon Bulbs Email: autumn [email protected] Catalogue 2016 Web: www.avonbulbs.co.uk This is the 30th year that we have been operating Tel: under the same ownership – so we have now 01460 242177 done 30 years at Chelsea and this is my 30th 01460 249060 effort on this catalogue. Those of you who go Fax: back a while will remember a time when we 01460 249025 only produced one catalogue a year, though Burnt House Farm Mid Lambrook now I wonder how I managed that with any South Petherton, Somerset accuracy! It is now a very different publication in TA13 5HE a changed world: communications (particularly email), delivery methods (the advent of carriers in competition with the Royal Mail), digital Camassia Stellar hybrids photography, computing and websites just to mention a few. Many of the have changed too, though there are lots that we sell now that we were selling in 1987, and astonishingly we recently found some where the prices had changed very little. Late Writing the catalogue introduction after Availability Chelsea (which was a novelty forced upon me last year, one that caused no and Website evident problem then and is somewhat The website now contains a great easier to manage, so continues) allows deal more information about all me to quickly report on that show. It was a the bulbs we offer, their history year when one had to be very quick (and and provenance and more about Tulipa Cummins watch a lot of the show coverage on TV to the planting situations that suit see us for all of about 30 seconds in I think episode 17 of the show coverage, or them, as well as a repeat of the should that be coverage of The Gardens?) The pictures (on the back cover) do not planting instructions supplied do the exhibit (which won a Gold medal) full justice as it was very diffi cult exhibit with the bulbs. to photograph with a background that could not be disguised. A bee hive (with some locally made wicker bees on willow wands) nestled in a valley of shorter If there is not enough information bulbs rising up to two banks of taller , here for your needs, do have Poppies and Camassia. Especially admired a look there instead. We also were some of the fringed , Cummins mark bulbs as ‘Sold Out’ on the and Daytona particularly and a group of our website when they become Sold Camassia Stellar Hybrids actually opened Out, so if you are ordering later and performed better than expected after we in the season and want to check very nearly sent them home on Sunday as we on availability you might like to thought that the fl owers would not open by the check the website. Monday, judging day! And in a year when that Also if we have small numbers of show was scheduled to be as late as it can be ‘special’ bulbs to sell we do tend the weather stayed reasonably cool and very to offer them on the website – little looked sad by the end – as good as it gets check the Special Offers pages. for us at Chelsea! Chris Ireland-Jones Tulipa Daytona ii Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Plants and Bulbs that mostly Late Summer 2016 fl ower in the autumn, soon after planting, Plants and bulbs to fl ower 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.

Amaryllis X Amarygia parkeri alba

Late Summer (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: autumnalis Amaryllis X tubergenii Colchicum agrippinum Acis X Amarygia parkeri alba 56-10 Colchicum agrippinum 73-19 autumnalis 106-10 A hybrid between Amaryllis and Very different from the larger goblet An autumn fl owering of Brunsvigia producing very large Easy to grow in good, deep shaped forms below, the fl owers moisture retentive soil, these the snowfl ake family, forming bulbs. Flowering with apple-white on these open almost fl at, with appear from their summer distinct tussocks once happy and trumpets surrounding a green stem broad, pointed petals, in pinkish- dormancy denuded of undisturbed in a warm dry, sunny with a huge perfume. lilac, heavily chequered with darker soil (a rockery or scree bed are to fl ower in the autumn – hence Sept/Oct • 20” (50cm) ‘naked ladies’. A pointer to the markings. Narrow, wavy-edged ideal). Slender wiry green or russety £8.00 end of summer, their bright leaves appear after fl owering, less coloured stems, supporting several fl owers last incredibly well noticeable in the spring than their small white papery bells. the X Amarine considering their apparent bigger cousins. These increase in bulbs (only the size of large peas) tubergenii 56-11 fragility, their leaves only properly well composted soil, in an open 3” (7.5cm) deep, nearly touching. appearing in the spring. They sunny site. Possibly better in a Unusual hybrids between Amayllis Previously called Leucojum need planting 3” (8cm) deep - raised bed or trough as these are and Nerines, and looking like both autumnale. perhaps a little more for ones more petite. . Tough for all of that in some way. Bright cerise pink Aug/Sept • 9” (22cm) with bigger bulbs – and 6” and increasing in sunny conditions. £7.00 for 5 fl owered and winter growing so (15cm) apart. They will naturalise Sept • 4” (10cm) a little tender so requiring some effectively, but the mower will £15.00 for 3 protection. have to be restrained until the Amaryllis Sept/ Oct • 15” (38cm) leaves wither away in June. £4.00 each Amaryllis (and their hybrids) Please order early – after the end are winter growing, hence with of September they seem to fl ower exposed leaves in winter do regardless of the conditions. need to be planted in a sheltered site where they are likely not to be chilled below about -4°C. A cool conservatory should Plants we list which have received RHS Perfect for Pollinators. be fi ne, with the pots moved the RHS Commendation ‘Award of The RHS Perfect for Pollinators mark is only given Garden Merit’ are now tagged with to plants that support pollinating insects in gardens. outside in the early spring. A the trophy symbol. Space does summer baking in dry conditions not allow us to add the hardiness Bees, butterfl ies, moths, hoverfl ies and many others ‘ripens and primes’ the bulbs for rating – please be aware the award visit fl owers to feed on nectar and pollen; while doing fl owering. In favoured spots one applies to the ease of cultivation, so they transfer pollen and increase set and fruit may be possible to grow them excellence and constitution, but not development. Find out more at rhs.org.uk/plants successfully outside. necessarily hardiness.

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 1 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Colchicum speciosum Colchicum autumnale Colchicum speciosum album (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Colchicum Water Lily Colchicum autumnale album autumnale 73-05 speciosum 73-15 Water-Lily 73-23 These naturalise most effectively Probably the best of the larger A multi-petalled which opens either in sun or partial shade. forms for most gardens, and it out widely in the sun and one which Soft, satin-sheened mauve. Often naturalises effectively. Stronger somewhat later than the producing many flowers from stemmed (and later flowering) than others with multiple stems. each . An easy British native C. autumnale with taller stems and Surprisingly resilient to the weather “Meadow Saffron”, Wychwood more richly coloured with thicker, despite its appearance. Forest has thousands in flower rounded, rosy pink-lilac petals. Oct • 6” (15cm) each autumn. Sept/Oct • 8” (20cm) £4.00 or £11.50 for 3 Sept • 6” (15cm) £10.50 for 3 £10.50 for 3 speciosum Hardy, tough and persisting album 73-16 Clive Nichols) (Credit: autumnale and then seeding about. If Gorgeous shimmering goblets in album 73-06 you can plant them early (as a pure white. A very special plant consequence of ordering from The white-flowered form of the which could be the highlight of a this section) these Cyclamen above, sometimes they carefully chosen planting scheme in will arrive ‘properly’ dormant and are pinkish-white, these would all well composted soil, ideally where ready to pop in and awake in their SPRING tolerate full sun or some shade it is not too dark in the spring, but new circumstances. You may in damper, but not waterlogged they could brighten up what is a order them also from the Autumn FLOWERING conditions. shady corner in the autumn. At the section, but by then there will FORMS Sept • 6” (15cm) end of the 19th Century the famous probably be some growth visible £10.00 for 3 firm of Backhouse in Yorkshire were on them. These are all seed raised selling them for 5 Guineas each! in the UK. coum 51-116 Worth every penny now! This will probably be their first year Sept/Oct • 8” (20cm) of flowering, so were not sorted for £5.50 or £15.00 for 3 colour last spring, shades of pink and white. £14.00 for 5

2 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Cyclamen hederifolium goulimyi

Cyclamen hederifolium album Crocus imperati de Jager

coum roseum 51-117 AUTUMN Crocus – goulimyi 77-36 Second year flowering, so the Too Grecian really for ordinary tubers a year older and will produce FLOWERING autumn outdoor conditions here, but in well more flowers, all pale pink flowering drained compost in a pot to which . FORMS flowering you can provide some protection £13.00 for 3 Flowering in the late autumn (with a dry summer rest) these are hederifolium (except one that flowers in the beautiful flowers in both shape and coum album 51-118 very early spring) these bulbs in their soft lilac colouration. Stock 51-107 bloom as a reaction to the Second year flowering, white limited. Pink (or occasionally white) lowering of the soil temperatures flowered, always with a small pink Nov • 5” (12cm) cyclamen coum flowered with petals that sweep (and the dampening of the soil) £7.00 for 3 ‘nose’. in the early autumn. The spring £13.50 for 3 back from the flower. Ivy shaped leaves. flowering forms (listed in the imperati de £12.00 for 5 Autumn section of our catalogue) coum dark pink 51-131 flower as soil temperatures rise. Jager 77-39 Second year flowering, deep pink hederifolium Some are more difficult to grow Flowering in the very early spring shades. than others, but what is probably when the delicacy of these flowers £13.50 for 3 album 51-108 the easiest - C. speciosus, should is more than welcome, the outer Flowering for their second year with be a feature of any garden petals are biscuit buff with purple coum white petals. providing a dreamy violet splash stripes, the inside lilac to purple. £10.50 for 3 of colour in late September and From Western Italy and needing Silver 51-119 October. some protection or a well drained Mostly pink flowered, but the leaves sunny rockery. are additionally largely silvery Jan • 5” (12cm) patterned, great as part of the £7.00 for 3 winter leaf tapestry. £15.00 for 3

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 3 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Crocus speciosus Crocus sativus Crocus speciosus albus (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: crocus pulchellus Crocus tournefortii

pulchellus 77-35 sativus 77-20 speciosus 77-26 speciosus albus Pale sky-blue with darker veining, The source of Saffron, gathered Dramatically effective, deep lilac 77-27 and a central yellow throat. This is from collecting the bright red to purple hues, with bright yellow All white flowered, great for a a meadow plant of northern Greece stigmatas from each flower, anthers. Good in light shade or contrast amongst the others or a and , very pretty and delicate individually tiny (half a million per under deciduous shrubs, or in bright creamy white splash all on looking but quite possible to grow kilo!) justifying the huge cost of light grass, planted deeply. They their own. in light grass in sun or part shade. Saffron. They need deep planting will flower late in their first year, but Sept/Oct • 5” (12cm) Oct • 4” (10cm) in rich soil, in a sunny position and consequent to them having been £8.00 for 15 £4.00 for 10 or £10.50 for 30 probably need lifting and dividing out of the soil and dried off in this with regularity to encourage summer they will flower later than tournefortii 77-38 flowering. Their flowering is usual this year. Do get enough of Large flowered in pale lavender, triggered by suddenly colder them! Suggested planting density sometimes white, strangely the nights, our milder maritime climate 15 per sq ft. flowers do not close in dull light or sometimes does not provide that, Sept/Oct • 5” (12cm) at night. White anthered and with which makes reliance on one’s own £3.25 for 15 or £10.25 for 50 prominent orange stigmas. Cretan Saffron production a bit hazardous. in origin so requiring some shelter. Oct • 4” (10cm) £5.00 for 10 or £11.30 for 25 Sept/Oct • 5” (12cm) £7.50 for 3

4 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 (Credit: Clive Nichols) (Credit: Cypripedium Gisela eranthis schwefelglanz (Credit: Clive Nichols) (Credit: eranthis Grunling gladiolus tristis

Cypripedium Eranthis Grunling 81-02 Gladiolus Gisela 64-7 These are named forms of the Deep yellow (as E. hyemalis) but tristis 88-15 Winter Aconite, usually in flower each petal marked with a broad Some of these divisions will before the snowdrops in the green band. Native to South Africa, this is a produce several flower spikes in spring, with their characteristic February • 4” (10 cm) winter growing specie Gladiolus their first spring. They need a cold flowers surrounded by a ruff £5.00 with a wonderful scent in the spell to form their flowers. Flowering of green, on account of which evenings. It really needs a this spring was consequently my mother in law calls them sheltered site, or protection from poor after a warm winter. Perfectly ‘Choirboys’. temperatures lower than about -5°C hardy and really quite easy to as they are in leaf at the time. The grow in spring light and summer Schwefelglanz 81-01 5-20 greeny white flowers open shade, with some slug protection. progressively up the long rush-like Pale sulphur yellow, a clean clear Some of these may be a yellower stems. but distinctly different colour from flowered variant of C. Gisela, April/May • 3’ (90cm) the bright yellow one expects of but they are just as good. Hardy £5.00 or £12.00 for 3 Aconites. Easy and increasing. orchids are now becoming more No more difficult and a great widely available and our stocks of accompaniment to the early these are very good. More growing snowdrops and strangely they instructions on the website. ‘come true’ from seed. April/May • 18” (45cm) February • 4” (10cm) £19.50 £5.00

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 5 Helicodicerous muscivorus Hyacinth Delft Blue

Hippeastrum x acramannii Hyacinth white pearl Hyacinth PINK pearl

Helicodiceros LiliumHippeastrum Candidum Prepared Delft Blue 86-05 A compact, pale blue spike set off muscivorus 63-01 x acramannii Hyacinths by the emerging dark green leaves. Possibly the strangest plant for 56-14 For December/January blooming £3.30 for 3 or £7.00 for 7 which we sell the ? A weird The spelling of acramannii under the correct conditions. and wonderful aroid with a dinner is in some doubt, could it be These are suitable for forcing for plate sized flower which looks ackermannii? Having once seen Christmas flowering. For this they very flesh like. They actually do a greenhouse full of these bulbs need to be potted by the end of Pink Pearl 86-35 resemble the tail end of a pig, and in flower many years ago near September (hence they are sold Delicately pink, and like the others flies are attracted to pollenate them Taunton and admired them hugely in this late summer section), and deliciously fragrant. initially kept in a cool, dark place by a foetid smell. Nature is quite (only later to find that the owner had £3.30 for 3 or £7.00 for 7 to allow rooting. They can then be amazing. They increase and flower died and the greenhouse had been well for us under glass with no heat. brought into more light once they demolished shortly afterward) it was have emerged. Too much heat April • 18” (45cm) many years later that I was offered £5.00 will make them flag and flop. The a stock from the Isle of Man and process of preparation means White Pearl 86-34 jumped at the second opportunity. that these are not available until Strong-growing, broad, gleaming These multiply well under unheated early September. white flowers. glass for us, but reading about £3.30 for 3 or £7.00 for 7 them others suggest that they are hardier than I first suspected. They are early autumn flowering in red and green and in leaf all winter, dormant in summer. Sept • 18” (45cm) £12.00

6 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Iris Tuberosa Lathraea clandestina Narcissus Cyclamineus

Lilium candidum Narcissus Paperwhite Ziva Nerine flexuosa alba

Iris tuberosa Lathraea Narcissus Paperwhite Ziva 113-152 (Hermodactylus) clandestina 71-05 These Narcissus will be ready to be sent out in mid-September Early to flower from being forced; 103-110 Purple toothwort, a parasite mainly and, if you are after a very early we reckon on about eight to ten The ’Widow Iris’ does better from of willow, poplar hazel and alder display of Scented Daffodils, weeks to bloom from potting. White early planting, and if you have (though rarely seeming to cause may be ordered from this section flowered and multi-headed, with a tried before with limited success, any harm to its host). The slightly to be sent early with any other huge room filling perfume. Grow we do suggest that you add some orchid like flowers are all one sees plants. Also see the main Autumn them in good light and at cool of these to a Late Summer order above ground when they flower in Catalogue pages 36 - 42.w. temperatures without freezing so and try again. Alternatively see the spring, a true parasite having they don’t get too tall only bringing page 33 of the Autumn Catalogue. no chlorophyll. Plant these divisions cyclamineus 113-179 them in to room temperatures for close up against the bole or shallow Translucent black and jade-green An iconic small species, one that is their final flourish. Not reliably hardy. roots of a mature host. flowers, preceded by long rush-like loved and hankered after by many, Dec/Jan • 15” (38cm) April • 3” (8cm) £6.00 for 5 or £11.00 for 10 leaves. Requires time to establish £5.00 or £13.00 for 3 but they rarely do well in limey and flowering better after a hot soils. Neutral to acid soils suit them summer; plant in full sun. Loves better, moist in spring and more Nerine it around heat absorbing sun- Lilium shaded in summer. Grow them drenched paving, or at the base of where they will be happy and seed flexuosa alba 33-23 a warm wall. candidum 107-114 about. A winter growing species so these April • 6” (15cm) Like the Hermodactylus above, a March • 5” (12cm) £4.50 for 10 £5.50 require a bit more shelter than the plant that is better started off early, more familiar N. bowdenii. The frilly and inevitably the first orders get white petal however last ages in the pick of the crop, so ordering flower and in sheltered gardens are from here has its benefits. See page a treat in the autumn. 33 of the Autumn Catalogue for Sept/Oct • 14” (35cm) more details. £7.50 for 3 June • 36” (90cm) £5.00 or £13.00 for 3

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 7 Ornithogalum caudatum autumnalis cyanocrocus leichtlinii

Scilla greilhuberi Scilla lilio hyacinthus albus Scilla llilio hyacinthus

Ornithogalum greilhuberi 125-30 lilio–hyacinthus A lilac blue fl owered form from alba 125-29 caudatum 117-17 around the the Caspian Sea. It This pretty white fl owered form A large bulbed plant from which fl owers early in the year having also has paler leaves than the blue can erupt small bulbils through the started to produce its leaves late fl owered form above. Best in some surface of the bulb, consequently in the autumn, Safe enough in shade. this has a common name of the sheltered gardens in good light, Mar/Apr • 8” (20 cm) Pregnant (although it is not quite leafy by the time it does fl ower. £12.00 for 3 an , more accurately it is Feb/Mar • 8” (20cm) probably an Albuca). Easy to grow £3.00 in a conservatory or outside in the Tecophilaea summer, but they will only take Chilean bulbs from a high a slight frost, and are incredibly lilio-hyacinthus altitude, but where they come drought tolerant. Green tapered 125-28 from is relatively dry, and our produced at quirky angles. Broad leaved, with pretty, delicate winters are really too wet for May-July • 20” (48cm) racemes in a soft pale blue. Tidy them. But grow them under some £3.50 in their clumps and neat when in protection (particularly from rain) fl ower. The bulbs are formed of and you’ll be amazed by the loose lily-like scales. Clump forming colours in the blue fl owers. Their SCILLA blue is like the dazzling displays Tecophilaea cyanocrocus and best in some shade. A great produced by some exotic violacea addition to the early spring tapestry. autumnalis 125-18 butterfl ies. Hardy, but uncommon small bulbed Mar/Apr • 8” (20 cm) £12.00 for 3 natives of the south-west, these cyanocrocus are incredibly long-lasting in fl ower. cyanocrocus Bright blue fl owers up a fi ne wiry leichtlinii 128-04 violacea 128-06 stem, lasting ages. They need a White centred with gentian blue Intensely dark blue petalled, like a sunny, well-drained soil. petals. dramatic thundery sky. Aug/Oct • 5” (12cm) March • 5” (12.5cm) March • 5” (12.5cm) £8.50 for 3 £6.00 or £17.00 for 3 £6.00 or £17.00 for 3

8 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Order for Late Summer Despatch 2016 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) 6.00/5 1 6.50

Tropaeolum Tricolor

Tropaeolum Winter-growing forms of these climbers, starting to grow in late September and fl owering in late spring. They are not reliably hardy below about -5°C, but grown in pots with something to climb up and protected in the coldest weather they are actually better grown somewhere cool subtotal rather than too warm. carriage tricolor 47-06 Postage on a Late Summer order £4.95 (mainland UK only) total Exhibiting shoals of stunning red, black and yellow fl owers that last ages in fl ower. Early ordering a must, they start growing early in the The example at the top shows the information we need – in particular, the reference number autumn. One of the most spectacular plants given beside the plant name in the catalogue that we sell, and a favourite of mine. Spring • climbing up to 4’ (120cm) If possible, specify acceptable alternatives in case some of your choices are not available £4.00 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.. Is this an order for collection? Is it a gift?

Safeplace - if you are likely to be out during the day, please suggest where the parcel should be left or who else might accept delivery.

Please record personal and payment details overleaf

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 9 Order for Late Summer Despatch 2016 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

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Name: ______

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Street: ______

Town: ______

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Country: ______Postcode ______Contact Number:

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Other Delivery Instructions: ______Allium ______Velthemia bracteata

______Velthemia ______bracteata 170-01

______Winter growing plants from South Africa, slightly red hot poker like in flower, but closer ______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. March/April • 18” (45cm) £5.00 Payment: Orders are not accepted without payment except by prior agreement. Please include payment or please charge my Visa/Mastercard account.

Cheque enclosed Yes, value £ ______, or Collection Card No. . . . Times Valid from date / Card expiry date / We are primarily a business that Security code (last three digits on reverse of card) operates by Mail Order. But if you live nearby, or are passing by when we are likely to be getting your order

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We are open for such circumstances by arrangement from 19 September to the end of October 2016.

10 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Autumn 2016 Plants and Bulbs to plant in the Autumn, mostly to fl ower 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. (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit:

Allium angulosum

Allium cristophii cæruleum 53-14 Unusual blue fl owered drumstick fl owers originating from the steppes of Russia and China, best in a well drained sunny spot or rockery where the small bulbs can be Allium planted quite closely - 1-2” (2.5- 5cm) apart. June • 18” (45cm) £3.70 for 15 Allium Ambassador cernuum 53-04 Dainty chandeliers formed of Allium Ambassador 53-60 dozens of small claret pink fl owers Beginning to fl ower in late May hanging off the nodding stem Always welcome in the garden these heads should see one so the bees have to hang on as the fl owers offer height and upside down to get at the fl owers, distinction in the early summer through all of June with tall stems topped by mid purple heads about sometimes several heads in a when most gardens are not quite succession. Easy to grow and so colourful. Their exclamation 5” (10cm) across. Very big bulbed seeding in lighter soils in the sun. mark shape differentiates them plants benefi tting from deep Delivered as fresh dug plants rather from the surrounding planting, planting to ensure that the stems and the companion plants ‘hide’ do not wobble. Good seed heads than bulbs. what is sometimes distracting follow the main fl ower show. Summer • 18” (45cm) £5.00 for 5 foliage, which is tending to begin June • 40” (100 cm) to yellow at fl owering time. They £7.50 for 3 are generally plants of sunny and cristophii 53-11 well-drained soils, and can be angulosum If you only ever buy two or three used in dramatic eye-catching (pyrenaicum) 53-28 Alliums, this must be one of them. sweeps, or else, in a more Sculptural fl ower heads which are cottagey style, as isolated small Wonderfully easy to grow plants. initially greenish purple, gradually groups to equally good effect. Bright glossy green leaved with lots transformed as they are pollenated Everyone seems to love Alliums, of pale lilac fl owers in the height to a metallic silvery violet all borne they tell us so at the fl ower shows of summer when butterfl ies and on quite stocky stems. Spherical and, just as importantly, knowing hoverfl ies jostle to feed on them. melon sized heads complement the that the benefi cial insects and We supply small clumps to be bees are struggling nowadays, purples of rampant geranium or the planted 9” (22cm) apart, in the sun spikier silvery blues of Lavender. it is worth a reminder that the and not too dry. Divide them again Alliums provide fantastic food for Buff coloured seed heads follow. when they are thick. those insects, especially the late Plant them 8+” apart in sunny well July/August • 12” (30cm) drained soils in borders or even fl owering forms. Our beds of A. £6.50 for 3 - (divisions not true bulbs) angulosum, A.glaucum and A. rough grass, they will also tolerate tuberosum shimmer with activity some shade. on sunny summer days. Try June • 10-16” (25-40cm) out a number of different forms £3.15 for 3, £9.90 for 10 to see which do best in your or £19.40 for 20 circumstances? Allium cæruleum

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 11 Allium giganteum Allium hollandicum (Credit: bolton Image Library) bolton Image (Credit: Allium Globemaster Allium gladiator Allium hollandicum Purple Sensation giganteum 53-20 Globemaster 53-46 hollandicum hollandicum Densely fi lled heads in pale purple Probably the best large headed 53-08 Purple Sensation the size of a grapefruit top a tall Allium hybrid with exceptionally Best for bigger gardens, or where 53-09 bare stem. A central Asian species long lasting fl owers, the fi rst array you might want a more subtle and An intense deep purple coloured requiring well-drained soils and a replaced by another second fl ush textured display. They provide a strain, with heads the size of small sunny site, the leaves have mostly of deep violet-purple fl owers. The slight irregularity in colour, height, oranges. Another of that select withered away when they come insects still love to feed on them size and maturity which adds group of ‘must have’ Alliums. They to fl ower. Its name refers to its though you’ll not get a remnant dry subtlety and charm to any planting, provide purple polka dots in your impressive height rather than to a seed head as they are sterile. Tidier especially one on a bigger scale. planting scheme, adding colour, huge fl ower. leaved than most even at fl owering Deep lilac to pale purple fl owers, texture and geometric shapes to Late June/July • 48” (120cm) time. Plant them about 12” (45cm) about the size of an orange. Easy your borders. Derived from a clone £4.00 or £10.50 for 3 apart in well drained soils in good in any free draining soil in the sun, these should all be the same hue. light Great with Astrantia ‘Roma’ or planted about 6” (15cm) apart. May/ June • 30” (75cm) Gladiator 53-55 Polemonium ‘Sonia’s Bluebell’ . May/ June • 24-36” (60-90cm). £3.90 for 5, £7.00 for 10 or With fully rounded fl owers this is a May/June • 36” (90cm) £3.30 for 5, £6.00 for 10 £12.80 for 20 solid hybrid between A. afl atunense £4.50 or £12.50 for 3 or £11.00 for 20 and A. elatum. In a pinkish purple shade on strong stems. Easy, increasing and supplied as big £23.50 Do see the bulbs these always fl ower and last well. June • 36” (90cm) Allium £8.00 for 3 Collection Offered on page 65

12 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Allium Powder Puff

Allium Mount Everest Allium obliquum Allium karataviense (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Pink Jewel (Credit: bolton Image Library) bolton Image (Credit: Allium ivory queen Allium nigrum karataviense 53-22 Mount Everest 53-43 nigrum Characterised by low tough broad Probably the best tall white flowered Pink Jewel 53-65 Allium Pinball Wizard grey-green red rimmed foliage Allium. Grapefruit sized heads top A pale pink form of the plant above, covered in a dusty bloom, these a tall glossy green stem. The leaves one which was much admired in the look as though they come from a persist, so are not too obtrusive Allium trials at RHS Wisley in 2014. modern design school with such Pinball Wizard 53-61 at flowering time. Lovely when Large domed pale pink heads with metallic looking leaves. A pale combined with other strong colours dark centres. Fully 6” (15 cm) across these are pinkish white flower is held on a such as Gladiolus byzantinus, May/June • 36” (90cm) not as densely packed with flowers short stem. Best grown in tight and planted with a dark backdrop, £6.50 for 3 as the heads of Globemaster, so clumps, 4” (10cm) apart in sunny though some planted in the the effect is rather more fluffy but sites, and ideal for gravel gardens dappled shade of a Laburnum are obliquum 53-26 they are tall on thick stems so or silvery planters. great, we suggest about 12” (30cm) resistant to weather, the flowers a Siberian, so incredibly tough and May/June • 10” (25cm) apart. mid purple. Rather earlier flowering despite being in leaf all winter, £4.00 for 5 or £11.40 for 15 May/June • 36” (90cm) too, at their best in mid May perfectly hardy. Flowers the size £7.00 for 3 or £11.00 for 5 May • 40” (100 cm) karataviense of large eggs in June when they £7.50 for 3 eventually stand erect, greenish- Ivory Queen 53-23 nigrum 53-24 yellow and quite ‘fluffy’. Increasing Powder Puff 53-66 This form, selected from those Greeny-black ovaries in the centre from seed as well as clump above, is similarly grey-green of each floret provide the source of forming. Relatively low growing but large leaved but with a pale margin and the name, though the suggestion June • 24” (60cm) flowered, a broad leaved allium an apple-white flower. The two go of blackness in the name does not £8.00 for 3 with violet purple flowers about together perfectly and the two forms sit so well with an otherwise creamy the size of a tennis ball on much could be intermingled. white flower! The shape is less shorter stems than would normally May/June • 10” (25cm) rounded, more that of a flattened be expected for the size of head, a £4.00 for 5 or £11.40 for 15 , easily grown in sunny well- hybrid (allium nevskianus X allium drained soils with a dry summer servaschanicum, both from Central rest. Asia since you asked!) June • 24” (60cm) May/June • 15” (35cm) £4.00 for 5 or £7.00 for 10 £8.00 for 3

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 13 Nectaroscordum Tripedale

Allium unifolium Allium purple rain Allium senescens ssp. glaucum

Nectaroscordum siculum

siculum 53-32 Allium schubertii Tall stemmed (with a pronounced keel – think of the seam in a pair of tights) leading to dozens of hanging Allium sphærocephalon green and burgundy marked bells Allium tuberosum 53-38 pendulously arranged in a loose Purple Rain 53-67 As much a herb as a bulb, (much head. They enjoy more shade A product of the cross between senescens ssp. as are ) but with a long than true Alliums might and seed A. Purple Sensation (from which glaucum 53-30 flowering period through the about in conditions that they like. it gains its height and deeper summer, the white flowers over The bees love them. The dry seed These are one of the summer colouration) and A. cristophii lush foliage on very wiry stems and heads look like models of multi- flowering Alliums (as is A. (which gives it the open structure) afterward they seed about. They turreted fairy castles. angulosum another) which really with heads about 5-6” (15cm) are multifaceted plants, and brilliant Early summer • 30” (75cm) come into their own in the summer, £3.20 for 5 or £6.00 for 10 across. With such popular and insect feeding stations too. they flower for ages and stay low, eminent parentage these are Aug/Oct • 24” (60cm) tidy and neat in the sun. These are £6.00 for 3 (small clumps) evidently superior and will become tripedale 53-25 from northern Asia, with pale lilac increasingly popular themselves. Like N. siculum above, but with flowers over lovely blue grey-green I am not sure whether the person unifolium 53-40 more numerous flowers in a foliage. Plants from division, not who named it was a Prince fan, but Shell pink heads of quite papery gorgeous soft pink which emerge true bulbs. in the year of his death maybe there and long lasting flowers, about spectacularly from their translucent Summer • 12” (30cm) 15 contained within each head. sheath, a fascinating process. Not is a connection? £7.50 for 3 (small clumps) June (later than Purple Sensation) Easy to grow in any sunny and as difficult to grow as the price 38” (100cm) well drained spot, or rockery. The suggests, but uncommon and very £6.00 for 5 or £11.00 for 10 sphærocephalon small bulbs are planted quite close select. How should one say the 53-33 together, their massed effect is very name? I am not sure, but hope that schubertii 53-31 Butterflies love these egg shaped attractive. it should be ‘tripi- dali‘ rather than Spectacular and eccentric. heads (and about the same size) May • 10” (25cm) ‘tripe-dale’. £5.50 for 20 Emerging early in the late winter initially deep green in June, turning Special offer alert - these are they are at some risk in extreme purple from their tips in July. such good plants that deserve to winters but planted in a warm sunny Swaying and waving in the summer Nectaroscordum be more widely available and to garden and given a dry warm rest breezes on long wiry stems. Woven encourage this we have a special following flowering these can be through a summer border they Much like the Alliums, with the offer for 3 bulbs rather than the fabulous. Like a tumbleweed the visually ‘tie things together’. Easy same ‘oniony’ scent when the £11.00 each we charged in 2015. long spokes are what they might and inexpensive, and no less good leaves are crushed, and with Order before they all go, the roll away on when dry, the for that. We always supply much very similar looking bulbs armed numbers available are limited with a small spike. However for held on the shorter extensions. A bigger than generally available, June • 36” (100cm) accuracy’s sake we list them £15.00 for 3 vegetable explosion ! ensuring that the resulting flowering separately, but together (though June • 18” (45cm) will be better as a result. Plant them out of strict alphabetic order). £10.00 for 3 3” apart or 10-15 per square foot. Summer • 24” (60cm) £3.80 for 15, £5.75 for 25 or £10.50 for 50

14 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Anemone

Anemone blanda blue Anemone blanda White Splendour

Anemone blanda pink star

Anemone apennina ANEMONE ranunculoides liliago major fl ore plena

apennina 57-11 blanda White ranunculoides An excellent and very pretty plant, Splendour 57-12 fl ore plena 57-27 probably better than A. blanda for Gleaming white petals surrounding A native of with all the our conditions. Pale blue or white Anemone nemorosa a hub of golden , and when characteristics of the wood fl owered with many deeply cut ruffl ed by the wind showing their anemone but these have bright petals on fl owers held well above pink tinged backs. Opening widely yellow double petalled fl owers. Easy soft mounds of leaves. Ideal under in direct sunshine, their fl owering is and increasing in humus rich soil in Anemone big deciduous trees or in light grass a sure sign that spring has arrived. woodland conditions. following snowdrops and fl owering Warmer soils and direct light suit April • 5” (13cm) The spring fl owering anemones with the early daffodils. Both colours them best, in too much shade they £5.50 for 3 ought to take over from the are equally lovely and they combine get rather leggy. Larger corms, crocus in late March for their turn very naturally. Plant in small groups which you will receive whole - many in the limelight, this spring they 6” (15cm) apart where they will sell these cut into smaller pieces. Anthericum started fl owering in mid February.. seed about. Home grown and dug Cyclamen hederifolium for a leafy liliago major They mark that moment when to order the damp packed contrast Another plant that is great the weather is on the turn for are inevitably rather variable in size. around deciduous shrubs with 58-05 the better and the brighter light March/April • 8” (20cm) good winter stems such as Cornus is accentuated by the shiny wet £7.50 for 5 Pretty white fl owered perennials foliage resulting from scudding alba ‘Westonbirt’ the striking red from southern Europe. A crown of showers and windy conditions. blanda blue 57-07 stems of the Cornus provide a thick fl eshy roots when dormant in This is just what Anemones great contrast to the white fl owers the autumn, providing for splendid, love. And they open wide in the Low growing in shades of blue of the Anemone. For a more subtle informal looking plants that enjoy sunshine, though if the light is fl owers which shimmer close to combination, the dwarf willow, Salix moisture retentive soil in good only dappled by dint of bare the ground in the March winds hastata ‘Wehrhahnii’ produces light. When settled, will carry ten or branches and evergreens, they and shake off the rain. Easy in any beautiful pure white cotton like more fl ower stems piercing upward won’t mind. summer shaded spot wherever fl owers which harmonise with the through the foliage each carrying a They are not all alike even when the more angled spring light (and white fl owers of the Anemone dozen or more fl owers. The fl owers, ‘resting’: the bulbous (A. blanda) moisture) penetrate through. March • 5” (13cm) looking like little fl ared trumpets with forms come as hard wizened £3.55 for 10, £8.15 for 25 March • 4” (10cm) yellow stamens, open sequentially corms, which need an overnight £2.00 for 10, £4.50 for 25 or £14.25 for 50 soak before planting and will take or £8.00 for 50 up the stems. Border plants for a long hot summer in their stride. nemorosa 57-20 good fertile soils in the sun. Plant 2’, The rhizomatous (A. apennina blanda 60cm apart. and A. nemorosa) forms need a The wild wood anemone. The May • 24” (60cm) cooler, shady rest after they have Pink Star 57-08 simplest of low white fl owers from £6.50 fl owered, so they prefer more Pale pink fl owered plants of the stick-like rhizomes, for woodland shaded, woodland-like conditions same stature and usefulness. like situations, in shade with and hating exposure to air will March • 4” (10cm) leafmold rich soils. be damp packed in coir when £3.80 for 10 April • 4” (10cm) despatched by us. £4.00 for 5

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 15 Asphodelus albus 34-05 This Asphodel makes a strong structural statement with its broadly branching habit, the stems carrying starry white fl owers, fi nely henna lined. Best in a sunny border or gravel garden and in early growth through the winter, more suitable for early autumn planting. Architectural and structural plants for full sun, probably planted no closer than 2’ (60cm) apart. Expect big roots! Summer • 3-5’ (90-150cm) £12.00 Bomarea salsilla 10-04 Mexican and South American Library) GAP Image (Credit: climbers that one would imagine Asphodelus albus Bomarea Salsilla leichtlinii alba ought to need protection, but recent winters here have left them untouched by cold, buried deep in the ground. Pink fl owered on the ends of thick tangled stems with quite succulent-like foliage, sometimes the heads look down, or up, but never the same way! They will need full sun or part shade and you will need to provide support when in growth. Summer fl owering • 30” (70cm) £5.00 Bongardia chrysogonum 67-04 A rare bulb with coppery yellow fl owers and attractive grey-green leaves marked with red best suited to somewhere sun-baked and dry in the summer, As well as being totally hardy they are hugely drought resistant and love a hot dry Bongardia chrysogonum soil. Very special members of the Berberis family with pretty, hard, camassia nut-like tubers.

April/May • 9” (22cm) Library) BOLTON Image (Credit: £4.70 or £12.50 for 3

Camassia leichtlinii ssp. leichtlinii (ssp. Very hardy bulbs of North leichtlinii alba suksdorfi i) American origin that love that 70-07 caerulea 70-06 heavy, often rather poorly drained Ivory-cream in fl ower, standing out A brilliant plant for heavy clay soils soil that many bulbs fi nd is too brilliantly against any dark backdrop tough to cope with. If your soil is and a feature plant for the border and a good contrast plant for the too heavy and the summers too in late spring where they make wet to get repeat fl owering from Alliums in May. They spread their magnifi cent shows with many your Tulips some of these might seed around, and in time sow erect stems of deep lavender blue be a suitable alternative? Suitable themselves through the herbaceous fl owers, curving skyward from thick for borders or in grassland border in good cottage garden clumps when established. They where one can achieve a full six style. They do not naturally make as set no seed, only increasing as weeks of interest using just a few big a bulb as the blue C. caerulea the bulbs split up. Longer lasting different varieties. and sometimes fl ower from quite fl owers result from planting in small bulbs, these planted about 9” some shade and they love heavier (22cm) apart. They generally fl ower soils that hold the moisture. Ideal about 10-14 days later than the blue partners might be Polygonatum x C. ‘caerulea’ form. hybridum, Maiantheum racemosum May/June • 36” (90cm) or Tellima grandifl ora. Big bulbs that £6.00 for 3 or £17.00 for 9 ought to have 5” of soil over them when planted 9” (22cm) apart. leichtlinii Suksdorfi i Caerulea April/May • 32” (80cm) £5.30 for 5 or £10.00 for 10

16 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Camassia BLUE Heaven Camassia Maybelle leichtlinii Semi-plena quamash (esculenta)

leichtlinii Electra Camassia Sacajawea leichtlinii Avon’s Stellar hybrids

Blue Heaven 70-17 leichtlinii caerulea leichtlinii quamash Paler blue than all the other Maybelle 70-16 Sacajawea 70-15 (esculenta) 70-05 Camassia that we sell and of Flowering two or three weeks later A variegated form with a cream The shortest form of Camassia, middling height. This is the result than the one above, this form is coloured margin to the leaf suitable for naturalizing in rough of a crossing of C. cusickii and more compact and the flower and cream flowers, this nicely very late mown grass or to dot in C. leichtlinii, and a considerable colour is less purple and more accentuates what is (in Camassia groups informally in the borders. improvement on the standard blue than those of the plant above. generally) not very interesting Smaller bulbs, which give rise to pale blue C. cusickii which gives Late May can be a time when one foliage. The name honours a native rich, dark purple-blue flowers with Camassia generally a bad name is short of colour in the garden so American Indian woman who found startling yellow stamens. A meadow as it does not flower well after the these should really fill a gap and the explorers on the Lewis and plant. The bulbs are often pitted first year, but sold cheaply is often extend the season. Clark expedition of 1805 starving as and marked when dormant, though people’s first introduction to the May 24” (60cm) they crossed America east to west this seems to make no difference to family). £6.50 for 5 (and back again, for the first time) their growth, plant them 3-4” (10cm) April/May • 18” (45cm) feeding them ‘quamash’ bulbs. apart. £10.00 for 5 leichtlinii Avon’s May/June • 36” (90cm) May/June • 12” (30cm) Stellar hybrids 70-11 £9.00 for 3 £3.80 for 10 or £7.00 for 25 leichtlinii Electra May/June • 12” (30cm) A seed raised ‘swarm’ these are £3.80 for 10 or £7.00 for 25 70-10 the result of hybridisation and leichtlinii One of the very best Camassias, selection work done here. The Semi-plena 70-08 although it seems never to be in resulting plants exhibit widely A tall tower of full petalled, almost flower long enough. Large headed varying colours, combinations fluffy looking cream coloured with large pale lilac purple flowers. of purple blue, mauve, greyish, flowers, a sterile form of the species They set no seed so increase only purplish, green and pale pink. We plant C. leichtlinii alba, but the slowly to magnificent clumps as cannot guarantee what you might benefit of sterility is for us a long the big bulbs develop. The original receive, but many are eye-catching flowering season. Better where they stock (going back all those 30 and from the seed that they in turn get more sun than shade and best years) came from Beth Chatto, and produce, who knows what you where the soils are damp through still a welcome sight every spring. might raise yourself! The bulbs also spring and early summer. Apr/May • 36” (100 cm) vary somewhat in size. June • 36” (90cm) £7.50 May • 36” (90cm) - colours will vary £3.50 or £9.00 for 3 £5.50 for 3

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 17 Chionodoxa luciliæ Chionodoxa Pink Giant Convallaria majalis Hofheim

Chionodoxa Blue Giant Convallaria majalis Blush Convallaria majalis Fortins Giant

Chionodoxa forbesii Convallaria majalis Fortins The main spring bulbs provide Pink Giant 72-10 Lilies of the Valley. Spring Giant 75-05 a big range of shapes, strong With a spike of very pretty pale pink fl owering plants of woodland Larger fl owered and taller than the colours and varied textures. It can fl owers, this is a taller and slightly origins with stringy rhizomes ‘common’ white Lily of the Valley all look a bit ‘scrambled’ and a earlier fl owering alternative to the under the soil. They like humus but equally scented. For sun or way to combine them all better is more common blue shades. Being rich soil and part shade but shade but in the former they need to use a range of the ’little blue taller it needs more light to avoid everyone’s experience of growing a more moisture retentive soil. bulbs’ to create a more unifying fl opping over. Plant about 1”- 2” these is different and (as is Good, strong, fresh-dug rhizomes backdrop. This ties the louder (2.5-5cm) apart, or 15 per square reported to us) they will grow in to plant horizontally about 2” deep colours together and provides a the most unlikely places. But they foot. (5 cm) and double that apart. steadying consistency. Any of the do need patience to begin with £3.50 for 5 Chionodoxa, , Scilla and February/March • 5” (13cm) £2.80 for 10 or £6.50 for 25 and tales of them taking 2 or 3 Anemone provide this function. years to settle abound. They are all about 6” (15cm) tall when in majalis luciliæ 72-04 forbesii Blue Giant fl ower in May. Hofheim 75-12 Multifunctional small bulbs, they 72-11 A creamy yellow edge to the can go into perennial beds or be Larger fl owered than the C. luciliae majalis Blush 75-10 otherwise plain green leaf marks naturalized in rock gardens in sun above with a more noticeable In paint terms these are probably these out, the edge is considered or part shade, where they combine central white throat. The photo rose white, so they are the palest rather stronger in this form than well with the daffodils, grape was taken of them in a pot of tulips of pinks but they increase well. it is in the variety ‘Hardwick Hall’ hyacinths, and other that were yet to fl ower and the Do plant these in light shade so (which we are resting at the small spring bulbs. They can also Chionodoxa were fl owering their avoiding direct warm May sun moment), the fl ower is creamy be naturalized in grass (though socks off and providing a very good which bleaches the colour from the white and scented. mowing too early or too low needs early show. fl ower. £4.00 each to be avoided). Brilliant blue with March/April 6” (15cm) £6.00 for 3 £4.00 for 10 or £9.50 for 25 white centres. Buy lots, planting densities need to be generous, though they will seed about in time. See the Little Blue You’ll initially need about 30-40 per square ft. Bulbs Collection February/March • 4” (10cm) £3.75 for 20, £8.50 for 50 Offered on page 65 £13.50 or £16.00 for 100

18 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Convallaria majalis Fernwood’s Corydalis BLue Dragon Corydalis solida George Baker Golden Slippers

Convallaria Majalis rosea Corydalis flexuosa China Blue Corydalis solida majalis Fernwood’s Corydalis flexuosa China solida 76-15 Golden Slippers 75-11 Blue 76-22 Small wizened pebble-like tubers, A family with snapdragon like the size of small marbles which A startlingly golden leaved form, Exhibiting beautiful pink-fringed flowers – but those we sell fall produce froths of grey-green foliage particularly in the early spring juvenile foliage when planted in into two distinct groups, the blue and attractive spikes of spurred before the flowers appear and they some sunshine and startling pale flowered flexuosa forms which flowers in lilac, pink and purple appear perfectly stable as there has blue flowers, this still remains a ‘buy we supply already growing in hues. Easy in any well drained soil, been no reversion to green. From on sight’ plant. Sold by the potful. pots, and the solida types with even in our heavy loam planted in the late Stephen Taffler (inveterate corky tubers. The latter will cope Spring/Summer • 6” (15cm) summer shade they happily seed variegated plant addict) who used anywhere in sun or part shade £2.90 to live nearby. and will seed about, the former about. £2.50 or £7.00 for 3 need encouragement to grow March/April • 4” (10cm) flexuosa Blue £4.20 for 10 away from the compost in which Dragon 76-12 majalis rosea 75-07 they are established before they settle in. Bronze purple foliage, its colour solida George Like small and very expensive pink heightened when planted in some pearls, a vigorous form which we direct sunshine, particularly in the Baker 76-04 know to be tough and productive early spring, with deep purple-blue A vibrant red coloured clone, with lovely pale pink fragrant flowers. Sold by the potful. originally discovered in Romania flowers, Best in dappled light or part Spring/Summer • 6” (15cm) in the 1930s and further selected shade, direct bright sunshine tends £2.90 in Holland, being named after a to burn out the pink. As with all the famous mountaineer. These do Convallaria you’ll need a dose of set seed, though the resulting patience before they thicken up. seedlings may themselves produce £7.00 for 5 varied colours. March/April • 4” (10cm) £3.50 or £10.00 for 3

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 19 chrysanthus Snow Bunting

crocus

chrysanthus Blue Pearl

Crocus chrysanthus (Spring Blue Pearl 78-12 A lovely goblet shaped fl ower with Flowering) a soft lavender-blue exterior, pale silvery blue inside, with bronzing at The C. tommasinianus forms are the base. great in light grass or in borders, £3.75 for 20 or £8.70 for 50 chrysanthus Cream Beauty self-sowing and increasing where happy, potentially getting everywhere. The garden hybrids, chrysanthus Cream forms of C. chrysanthus, C. Beauty 78-14 bifl orus and C. sieberi have been Elegant, the pale-cream petals raised for garden use in suitable brushed with charcoal on the (but possibly more restricted) reverse, with bright orange stigmas situations. Mice and squirrels when open wide in the sun. chrysanthus herald are a problem with these and £3.75 for 20 or £8.70 for 50 the other ‘target’ bulbs. Mesh baskets sold by garden centres and DIY stores for aquatic plants chrysanthus chrysanthus are a great help (with the addition Gypsy Girl 78-20 Herald 78-21 of a home-made wire lid), these Golden yellow throughout the fl ower buried containers should thwart Yolk yellow within the fl ower with those pesky raiders. The bigger with darker brushing on the reverse plum coloured backs to the petals, and later fl owering C. vernus or of the petals. Bigger fl owered. more highly coloured than most, ’Dutch’ forms are much bigger £4.30 for 20 or £10.25 for 50 though no more diffi cult. bulbed and have the advantage £4.15 for 10 or £10.00 for 25 of both persisting better and being relatively unaffected by chrysanthus Snow rodents. Bunting 78-18 Ivory-white with a yellow throat chrysanthus Gypsy Girl inside and on the outside some purple brushing over the white ground. £3.60 for 20 or £8.30 for 50

20 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: crocus minimus Bavella Rhodadendron Praecox and Crocus sieberi tricolor Crocus tommasinianus

tommasinianus Ruby Giant

tommasinianus Crocus Yalta tommasinianus Whitewell Purple Whitewell Purple 78-45 Free-flowering with silvery mauve- minimus tommasinianus tommasinianus pink flowers and bright yellow Bavella 78-66 Ruby Giant 78-44 anthers, this form is a little finer and 78-42 paler in hue.. Ideal to plant with the Gorgeously marked with dark Silvery lilac-lavender pink coloured Deep pinkish-silvery purple intention of allowing them to seed feathering up the backs of the lilac flowers. These seed about and, flowered with contrasting yellow about and naturalise. They don’t purple petals, these are derived being small in size, are not so anthers. Excellent for naturalising last long in blazing March sunshine from a Corsican species but being appealing to (or found so readily) and an ideal accompaniment to the so try them in dappled shade. Don’t late flowering they miss most of the by mice and squirrels. These are early dwarf daffodils and to follow mow till the leaves have gone if worst winter weather, also setting a the best to naturalise, in the true the pink Cyclamen coum. Don’t be planted in grass, and look out for lot of seed. A raised bed or similar sense of the word These will be deceived by the deceptive naming, the seed-heads at soil level in June. in the sun would be ideal. less uniform than the hybrids listed they are neither Ruby nor Giant, £3.60 for 20, £8.30 for 50 or £15.50 £2.50 for 3 or £5.50 for 7 below which are easier to grow just ‘chubbier’ and darker than for 100 commercially (and to harvest) and Whitewell Purple below. sieberi they are of consequence somewhat £3.60 for 20, £8.30 for 50 or £15.50 for 100 Yalta 78-64 tricolor 78-58 cheaper! Flowering as soon as it Bigger and bolder than the starts to feel a bit warmer in early Early flowering where it needs a chrysanthus hybrids above but not March. sunny site, a small but a bright as big as the Dutch types below, £3.60 for 10 or £8.50 for 25 flower, banded dark purple, yellow some left over bulbs have survived and lilac with short leaves at in some rough grass under a flowering time. One of the most birch and done quite well here, intensely colourful of the crocuses, our heavier soil generally does not and persisting. suit the smaller crocus, though the £3.80 for 20 or £9.00 for 50 ‘tommies’ do brilliantly. Alternating deep purple and silvery backed petals contrast nicely. £3.00 for 10 or £6.50 for 25

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Crocus Grand Maitre

Crocus Golden Yellow Crocus Remembrance Crocus Jeanne D’Arc Crocus vernus ‘Dutch’ hybrids Grand Maitre 78-62 Golden Yellow Jeanne D’Arc 78-51 Selected over the centuries, Lavender-violet with a silvery hue 78-52 A superb goblet shaped white originally from C. vernus these and a paler edge. Very pretty, either crocus (occasionally with purple are useful in thicker grass Bright golden yellow fl owers either alone or as part of a mixed group. for use alone or in combination with fl ecking) with strong stems. Great (though in February and March £4.00 for 15, 7.50 for 30 alone or else supporting a mix the grass will hardly be growing) the purple forms. It has been found or £14.00 for 60 of other colours. Also we can and being bigger bulbed they not to be a true C. vernus form at can be planted more deeply. all but a triploid hybrid between C. recommend them as a foil to any of Flowering into the early Daffodil Pickwick 78-53 vernus and C. angustifolius. Earlier the Greigii tulips which fl ower at the season they can be an effective Strongly striped and feathered in than the others. same time, try a combination of the contrast to the sea of yellow in violet over a white background. £4.00 for 15, 7.50 for 30 two in pots? the March garden. Plant them A larger fl owered and vigorous or £14.00 for 60 £4.00 for 15, 7.50 for 30 4-6” (12-15cm) apart, or roughly crocus, generally with several or £14.00 for 60 7- 12 per square foot. They do fl owers per corm. not quite all fl ower together £4.00 for 15, 7.50 for 30 Remembrance 78-63 (which is a benefi t) so choose a or £14.00 for 60 A deeper blue purple shade, with few varieties to provide a slightly a good depth of colour and slightly greater spread of fl owering. shorter stemmed. Late February and early March £4.00 for 15, 7.50 for 30 fl owering 5” (12.5 cm) tall. or £14.00 for 60

22 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Cyclamen Cyclamen tubers tend to do best in drier sites in lighter soils that have benefi tted from the addition of some humus or leaf-mould. But here they seed through and pop up on 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 fl owering forms can reach dinner plate size and a great age. These are all in leaf throughout the winter and spring months so do take the attractive foliage into account and aim for cyclamen that varied green tapestry that a mix of the two provides. They are all completely hardy except C. Cyclamen COum Cyclamen COum ALbum 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” apart.

Cyclamen coum fl owers in the early spring and the foliage is smooth edged and rounded, Cyclamen hederifolium fl owers in the early autumn with distinctively heart or arrow shaped foliage. The two foliage types complement each other well, though the fl owering is about Cyclamen coum roseum Cyclamen coum Silver Leaf 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

Forms Cyclamen Coum Dark Pink coum 51-16 Plump tubers throwing mainly coum roseum 51-17 coum repandum 51-29 pink fl owers with hugely varied Pale pink fl owered, the easiest dark Pink 51-31 Better in more sheltered conditions leaf markings around the silvery colour to combine with those other These exciting forms have more and certainly needing more ‘Christmas tree’ outline within the early spring gems. But a year older strongly coloured carmine pink shade and leaf mould in the soil rounded leaf. I think they are the than those above they will have fl owers. The leaf markings will vary where they need to be planted perfect companions to the early bigger tubers and so will produce enormously from all matt green to more deeply. Only properly hardy spring display of winter aconites, more fl owers than them in their fi rst largely silver etched forms. in the south, though special dwarf crocus and snowdrops under year. Jan/March circumstances may affect that trees or shrubs, perhaps with one of Jan/March £13.50 for 3 generalisation, small bulbs which the deliciously fragrant Sarcocca? £13.00 for 3 need careful handling, but providing These will be about 3 year old coum fragrant deep carmine coloured tubers, but even at that age, a year coum album 51-18 fl owers in late spring. Like the younger than the colour selected Always showing a pink ‘nose’ but Silver Leaf 51-19 others they do set seed and spread forms below. the fl ower is otherwise white , the These demonstrate a silvery where happy. Jan/March petals twisted and swept back. sheened leaf, still defi ned by the April/May £14.00 for 5 Ideal to provide a bit of contrast deep green edge. When planted £5.40 each or £15.00 for 3 amongst the pinks, or planted with with the other forms one builds up your snowdrops, to maintain an all- a low ‘tapestry’ of interest created white theme. from the leaves alone, the fl owers Jan/March could be any colour. £13.50 for 3 Jan/March £15.00 for 3

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Cyclamen hederifolium

Cyclamen hederifolium Album Dichelostemma ida-maia

Autumn hederifolium Dichelostemma ida-maia 82-05 Spectacular red, yellow and green album 51-08 Allium like bulbs of North West Flowering coloured flowers, shaped like Selected white flowered tubers America with nice stories to go Forms of the form above, these were with them. Unusual plants in our cigars, opening at the tip of a wiry selected out from amongst the pink UK gardens but normally hardy stem. Named after the daughter flowered forms when they flowered and tough enough to grow in of a Californian stage coach-driver hederifolium 51-07 last autumn. Use just a few to lighter soils. They grow much and pollinated (in the wild) by as any Allium but flower later. humming-birds! Grown much as The toughest and most enduring provide an interesting contrast, or The sap from cut stems can be any Allium. of all cyclamen, with long petalled alone as a beacon in October to lighten up a dark corner. caustic to the skin. June • 18” (45cm) (and mostly) pale pink flowers in £2.90 for 5 or £8.00 for 15 the autumn (when flowering without Aug/Oct £10.50 for 3 congestum 82-04 their foliage) followed by glossy dark green heart-shaped foliage From the far west of America, through winter, often beautifully producing a compact, hens egg marked. These will be three or more sized flower head much like an years old and will get better and Allium, formed of very long-lasting better over the years, eventually lilac-purple flowers, on a slender becoming very large and corky but very wiry stem. They will grow tubered. where one would expect Alliums to Aug/Oct thrive. £12.00 for 5 June • 24” (60cm) £4.50 for 5 or £8.00 for 10

24 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Erythronium Revolutum

Erythronium White Beauty Erythronium

Erythronium Pagoda

Erythronium dens canis The Dog’s Tooth Violet is the Snowfl ake 84-11 only form with a European origin A white fl owered selection, worth a (the name referring to the shape closer look when in fl ower (though of the bulb) The others are all this can be awkward as they are American species or hybrids very close to the ground) in order where the common name for to admire the extraordinary mauve- them is Trout Lily (due to the purple stamens. markings on the leaves). They March • 4” (10cm) Erythronium Dens Canis grow best where they have £4.00 or £11.00 for 3 cool humus rich soil conditions in the spring, usually grown Pagoda 84-17 Erythronium Revolutum in dappled shade, with a drier knightshayes pink resting phase in deeper shade A more vigorous hybrid fi rst in the summer. They all have discovered in the late 19th Century, interesting leaves and combine it is a bigger plant altogether, with well with Dicentra, Trilliums, yellow fl owers. Easier to grow than Epimedium and the many wood any of the others, starting with a Anemones.. Knightshayes Court, relatively large fi nger sized tuber. or The Garden House at Buckland Ideally planted in some shelter from Monochorum, both have good spring tempests (the larger leaves displays. tend to crack in strong winds) and in humus rich soils where they will dens canis 84-08 clump up. Plant 7” to 9” (16-20cm) The European ‘Dog’s Tooth Violet’. apart. Magically mottled leaves in green, April • 12” (30cm) brown and purple; usually pale pink £4.00 for 3 or £11.00 for 9 to lilac fl owered but sometimes white.. They benefi t from good light revolutum 84-21 in the spring, though if it gets warm The ‘wild’ pink fl owered too early the fl owers are rather Erythronium, originally from Erythronium old aberdeen fl eeting. Some shade may then the western seaboard of North help. Plant 3” to 4” (7-10cm) apart. America, right through from March • 6” (15cm) California to Vancouver but now Erythronium Snowfl ake £4.50 for 3 or £9.50 for 7 fairly widespread and a welcome White Beauty 84-15 highlight in woodland gardens here. Probably the best Erythronium dens canis Old They seed around quite vigorously revolutum for a small garden and possibly Aberdeen 84-09 and mix in very naturally with wood Knightshayes my favourite, if you have visited Noted for their exceptionally dark anemones, A. apennina, and all Knightshayes in Devon in early April leaf markings these are more those low gems of April. Never Pink 84-13 you’ll know why. A very handsome deeply coloured than the standard in fl ower for long, and the leaves Named after the garden in which and compact hybrid with marked E. dens canis. First named (I sometimes marked with brown these abound in Devon, this strain leaves and creamy white fl owers, believe) by Carol Scott whom I fl ecks. has even more heavily marked often multi-stemmed on established met and stayed with many years April 8” (20cm) leaves with pale pink fl owers, but plants. Pamper it with deep leaf £5.50 or £15.00 for 3 ago near Glasgow. They should handle the tubers carefully, they are mould rich soils in the summer increase quite rapidly. long and fragile. shade of trees or shrubs. Plant 5” March • 4” (10cm) April • 8” (20cm) (12cm) apart. £4.50 £4.80 or £13.50 for 3 April • 8” (20cm) £4.50 or £12.50 for 3

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Fritillaria meleagris

Fritillaria elwesii Fritillaria rascal chopin

Fritillaria imperialis lutea imperialis rascal meleagris 85-27 Chopin 85-23 The ever popular Snakeshead The Rascal series is the result of Fritillary. Maroon-coloured, serpent Fritillaria elwesii 85-07 years of interbreeding F imperialis like, darkly chequered nodding Dark stemmed with narrow slate bells, a smattering of which are The plants listed below are and F.raddeana to produce hybrids and green fl owers covered in a paler or even white. In Elizabethan illustrative of the amazing that fl ower from smaller bulbs, diversity of the family, from small fi ne bloom held atop a fi ne stem aiming (eventually) to bringing times it was widespread – typically bulbs of moist riverine meadows that would prefer somewhere out the cost down, but they are still in damp, grassy, late-cut meadows to giants of near desert like of excessive wind. They hail from relatively new! I like their daintier and in moist alluvial soils. So locations. Sadly few of the many southern Turkey and will happily stature, the less regimental stance aim for these conditions to have species of Fritillaria are suited to survive our cold winters , but would and their earlier fl owering which them increasing and self-seeding ‘ordinary’ UK garden conditions do better for a dry summer rest, so ought to allow more time for them yourself. They are best ordered but, particularly if you can invest that calls for well drained soils. to ‘put on weight’ before going early to allow for timely planting. some effort into their planting April • 15” (35cm) dormant and so to fl ower well in Plant 4” (10cm) deep in drifts, 4” £6.20 for 3 and exercise judgment in where future years. (10cm) apart (10-15 per sq ft.) to plant them, the following March/April • 30” (75cm) March/April • 12” (30cm) are suitable. Our website does imperialis £4.50 or £12.00 for 3 £3.30 for 15, £10.50 for 50 provide more detail on all of or £20.00 for 100 them. William Rex 85-20 Deeply coloured orange-red fl owers imperialis acmopetala 85-04 which ring a strong dark stem. A lutea 85-21 selected form of the Crown Imperial A native of the Eastern Strong yellow fl owers on a pale Lily. A top knot of green leaves Mediterranean with one or more green stem, no more diffi cult to above the fl ower makes them look hanging jade green bell shaped grow than the red fl owered form. quite exotic. For rich sunny soils, fl owers, refl exed at the opening, Both grow very rapidly in the early well-watered in spring but well with chocolate brown markings. spring and needing to quickly drained in summer, sheltered from For sun, or part shade, in drier replenish that effort, we suggest wind and planted 6-8” (15-20cm) conditions out of the strongest that they benefi t from liquid feeding deep. wind. whilst in growth to encourage April • 30” (75cm) April/May • 12” (30cm) further fl owering. £4.50 or £12.00 for 3 £5.10 for 3 or £8.00 for 5 April • 36” (90cm) £4.50 or £12.00 for 3

26 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Fritillaria meleagris alba Fritillaria michailovskyi Fritillaria pallidifl ora (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Fritillaria Pontica Fritillaria RADDEANA Fritillaria UVA VULPIS meleagris alba pallidifl ora raddeana 85-41 uva vulpis 85-42 85-28 85- 36 Related to the Crown Imperials The name Is latinised for the Turkish Whilst the bulbs of F. meleagris Pale straw green bells, speckled but rather shorter and more subtle ‘fox-grape’, its common name in (above) ought to be dominantly within with darker fl ecking. Usually with a less formal arrangement of the Levant. There they are plants dark, these should be the converse, the broad leaves and relatively fl owers in yellowish green. They of cornfi elds and meadows but in mainly a ghostly greeny white large fl owers act as sails and the root early in the autumn and then our higher latitudes they need to but darker ones do creep in stems becomes more S shaped. emerge early and race up to fl ower be grown in the full sun, they are occasionally. For darker corners or This actually makes it easier to see quickly. They will need a bit of tall enough without being made under late leafi ng shrubs they are within the fl ower! None too diffi cult shelter from the wind and good taller by shade. So another sunny ideal, the paler colours standing out and charming in a raised bed or light, though are very resilient to well drained spot out of the wind is in the shade. well drained soils. cold. called for. March/April • 12” (30cm) April • 12” (30cm) Apri • 18” (45cm) £4.55 for 5 or £12.65 for 15 £3.50 £5.00 March/Apri • 10” (26cm) £2.00 for 10 michailovskyi 85-31 pontica 85-39 A striking small plant with a yellow Bell shaped fl owers (hardly showing band around the rim of the chunky the fl ared lip that you see in F. bell shaped fl ower, the remainder acmopetala) with green and brown We have a lovely being a reddish brown. These need markings. Shorter too and more well drained soil to persist in the suited to a bit of shade, seeding Early Flowering ground, otherwise growing them in freely where happy. a pot in some protection such as April/May • 9” (25cm) a bulb frame to keep them drier, £4.75 for 3 or £7.50 for 5 Pots Collection particularly in summer is advisable. Offered on page 65 March / April • 8” (20cm) £2.50 for 3 £13.75

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Gladiolus

Gladiolus The Bride Gladiolus Nymph Gladiolus Nathalie

Gladiolus Mirella 88-17 Pillar box red in fl ower with good The ‘named’ dwarf gladioli upright stems. Clean and bright. fl ower in the early summer. Short July • 30” (75cm) enough not to need staking, they £4.95 for 10 or £10.75 for 25 do not tower over the garden as do some of the larger forms. Nathalie 88-19 These named forms make particularly good cut fl owers Predominantly pink with the bottom too. They grow away early, and petals on each fl ower marked with this may result in the foliage a darker rose coloured fl ash, pretty being susceptible to severe late and easy to fi t into the summer frost, so mulching is a possible colours theme. requirement in cold gardens. July • 30” (75cm) Plant them in a sheltered site in £4.95 for 10 or £10.75 for 25 well-drained soil, 6” (15cm) deep, 4” (10cm) apart on a bed of sharp Nymph 88-11 sand. The winter dormant hybrid forms are also sold in the spring, White fl owered, but clearly marked Gladiolus byzantinus Gladiolus Mirella if yours is a cold garden buy them with loud pink and purple lipstick then instead, the voles are less kisses on the petals. Much less likely to get to them. formally upright, the bigger fl owers bending the stems this byzantinus 88-04 way and that, so they weave through surrounding plants with an Rich magenta coloured fl owers appealing informality. with white fl ashes. These are free May/June • 24” (60cm) fl owering plants with large strongly £4.80 for 10 or £10.50 for 25 coloured fl owers, the seed of which is probably infertile. They are lovely, X colvillii colourful cottage garden plants, but in leaf early in the year in cold The Bride 88-06 gardens (or in the north) they may Starry, tapered, gleaming white need a mulch over winter. There is fl owers tinged with green at the skulduggery about regarding what throat, a strong-growing favourite of is sold under this name. A poor ours and our customers. Do ensure Hyacinthoides relation to ours is G. byzantinus that the soil is well drained and if ssp. communis which is often you have failed before, try them passed off as the same plant. They again in deep pots protected from Hyacinthoides non scripta Hyacinthoides non scripta ALBA are like chalk and cheese. For sun the worst of the cold till spring and or slight shade. Plant 4” (10cm) then plant these out into your sunny apart. border. June • 24” (60cm) June • 18” (45cm) non scripta 125-10 non scripta £6.00 for 5 or 11.50 for 10 £4.80 for 10 or £10.50 for 25 The English Bluebell. Violet blue alba 125-12 nodding bells which glisten in Rarely wild populations of English Atom 88-18 damp shady glades. Always in Hyacinthoides Bluebells have white fl owered Dusty orange-red fl owers, demand for that perfect moment plants, it is from those that these each enriched by white piping, The family name that covers all in April when the woods turn blue. the varied ‘Bluebells’, in the past derive, they will stand out in a sea highlighting the petal shape Self-seeding, so increasing steadily listed by us within the Scilla. The of blue. particularly effective where the once established. Plant 4” (10cm) petals overlap one another. Best in true Scillas can still be found Apr/May 12” (30cm) under their own heading. deep and 4” (10cm) apart, working £6.50 for 3 well drained soils and in the sun. on 15 per sq. ft. July • 30” (75cm) Apr/May • 12” (30cm) £4.60 for 10 or £10.00 for 25 £4.50 for 10 or £10.50 for 25

28 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Hyacinthus multiflora Anastasia Hyacinthus

Hyacinthus woodstock Hyacinthus MISS SAIGON

Hyacinthus Multifl ora White

Hyacinthus Carnegie Hyacinthus delft blue Hyacinthus Gipsy Queen

Hyacinthus Gipsy Queen 86-36 multifl ora Neither yellow nor salmon, but The ‘prepared’ bulbs in the white 86-09 not pink either, though quite a Late Summer section (Page 6) Simply white when fully open but white ‘Roman’ hyacinths refreshing and less dominant colour are more suited to forcing for quite yellow in bud. Slighter and in the garden in the spring. very early indoor display. The much less rigid in appearance than £2.90 for 3 or £6.30 for 7 ones below can be potted for the ‘standard’ orientalis forms. use in the house, where they £6.60 for 3 or £14.25 for 7 will fl ower in Feb-March, but Miss Saigon 86-21 look equally magnifi cent in pots Richly violet purple in March and April or can be £2.90 for 3 or £6.30 for 7 ‘Roman’ planted directly into the garden. All are tremendously fragrant. Woodstock 86-17 hyacinths They prefer very well drained We have been asked repeatedly and sunny situations, reaching a Deep beetroot purple, one of the over the years to try and list these height of 12” (30cm). most dramatic. Some big pots planted up with Woodstock and sought after plants. These ‘wild’ Carnegie decorated Alan’s steps forms originating in southern Carnegie 86-12 one spring, they were much France went out of fashion as breeders produced more and Dense glossy white fl owered admired. spikes. £2.80 for 3 or £6.00 for 7 more sophisticated colours and £3.00 for 3 or £6.55 for 7 forms. We have a limited number multifl ora of white or blue fl owered bulbs Blue ‘Roman’ hyacinths Delft Blue 86-11 – with well-spaced narrow fl ared Anastasia 86-20 fl owers on multistemmed plants. Compact spikes of mid blue. Natural, unregimented and £2.90 for 3 or £6.30 for 7 The multifl ora forms are more slender, less dense and less simple, as well as fragrant. These White Roman soldierly in appearance, in effect do fl ower very early in their fi rst hyacinths 86-32 year, we think that they will ‘settle less dominating of the little fl owers £5.00 for 3 down’ to a more expected March/ with which they bloom so early, this April fl owering in subsequent is the prettiest deep blue with dark years. Blue Roman stems. £6.50 for 3 or £14.00 for 7 hyacinths 86-33 £5.00 for 3

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Ipheion Rolf Fiedler Ipheion Alberto Castillo Iris

Iris ApoLlo

Ipheion Froyle Mill

Ipheion Charlotte Bishop Ipheion These often start fl owering early with pretty star shaped unifl orum fl owers, but their main display Charlotte Iris gypsy beauty Iris Autumn Princess is reserved for late March and early April. They are easy in any Bishop 97-10 reasonably well drained soils A pretty pink fl owered form, dark and a moderately sunny site and pink on opening, fading gracefully Autumn though the leaves are burnt off in in the sun, vigorous and increasing. Iris x a heavy frost (with the associated March/April • 6” (15cm) Princess 99-09 smell) they seem to recover £3.50 for 5 hollandica Bronze coloured throughout, the in weeks. The named forms are These are hybrid forms of Iris name suggesting the autumnal better and more interesting than unifl orum Froyle xiphium that the fl orists use to hues that are brought to mind, but the species forms which are such good effect in the late spring they still perform in early summer widely available but tend to be Mill 97-08 and summer during their season. despite the suggestion of a much more invasive. Do not expect big Selected in Hampshire which But the bulbs are reasonably later fl owering. bulbs, most of these are naturally explains the name, with starry violet inexpensive and you could easily May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) small bulbed. fl owers, vigorous. grow your own? On their own roots £2.70 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 March/April • 6” (15cm) they are likely to last longer than Alberto £3.50 for 5 cut fl owers too! These would be planted 4-6” (10-15cm) apart in Gypsy Beauty 99-06 Castillo 97-09 Rolf Fiedler 97-06 sunny conditions and in lighter soils. The best Ipheion. Vigorous, with Tongues of yellow at the mouths of An intense powder blue and very white fl owers over grey green the falls contrast with the otherwise much more disc shaped fl owers Apollo 99-04 foliage. Longer stemmed, which violet purple colours in the rest on stronger more upright stems, The colour of free range egg yolks, places the fl owers well above the of the fl ower, resulting in an eye opening wide in the sun. It broad yellow falls (the lower part foliage and they pick well for small catching combination. increases freely for us, but in cold of the fl ower looking like a tongue) posies, but to prevent the longer May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) gardens any of those above will be and creamy white, even blue stems from fl opping you must plant £2.70 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 hardier. tinted, standards (the three upright them in full sun. They have grown March/April • 6” (15cm) parts) these have good contrasting abundantly so prices have dropped. £3.50 for 5 colours on sturdy plants. March/April • 9” (22cm) £4.50 for 10 May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) £2.70 for 5 or £7.50 for 15

30 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Iris Red Ember Iris Silvery Beauty Iris mont blanc Iris George

Iris king of the blues Iris lady beatrix stanley Iris Professor Blaauw Iris Gordon Iris latifolia Iris Professor The ‘English’ Iris, though reticulata Blaauw 99-08 strangely the plants are not native George 101-06 The ‘reticulata’ in the name The deepest of rich blues. with to England but to the Pyrenees. Solid, broad, plum-purple petals refers to the netted tunic around a yellow flash. You should really These were more popular plants with a yellow and white blotch, before the Dutch Iris (above) the bulb. They are derived from expect two flowers per stem, and at flowering time the leaves are became widely available. But they plants native to the Middle East undeveloped so it is easier to get will see the pregnant swelling of the and do best in well drained are still hugely useful though now your nose close for that glorious within the stems before they rather less well known. They are conditions with a warm dry scent. burst out. also hardier, later flowering and summer rest. They are not so May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) easy to keep going from year to Early February/March • 6” (15cm) very late to emerge, the foliage is £3.75 for 15 or £5.75 for 25 £2.70 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 rarely out of the ground till mid- year. It helps to plant them deeply March. (5”, 12cm). The best situation Red Ember 99-10 would be a raised bed in the sun Shades of russet seem to describe with well drained soil conditions, Gordon 101-20 King of the there you’ll be able to admire these, though they also have a Pale dove grey blue on the Blues 100-04 them up close, and smell the tinge of purple in some lights, it standards, the falls darker, each scented ones. 15 bulbs will nicely is an uncommon flower colour Midnight blue with a yellow and marked with orange and white. white ‘beard’. Both these two fill a 9” planter or pot for an early Earlier flowering. certainly but at the trial of these spring treat. bulbs at Wisley suggested this to forms are happier in heavier soils February/March • 6” (15cm) be a candidate for dusky stardom. that retain moisture, in sun or part £3.60 for 15 or £5.50 for 25 May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) shade, maybe even in light grass. histrioides £2.70 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 June/July • 14-20” (35-50cm) Lady Beatrix £5.00 for 5 Stanley 101-22 Silvery Beauty 99-11 Mont Blanc 100-05 A velvety rich blue with pale flecking Simply fresh and floaty this is White flowered with a fine yellow on the lips and with a yellow stripe probably my favourite with white and white ‘beard’. They should be down the length of the falls, and and pale violet flowers above leaves planted no less than 4” (10cm) scented of violets. Flowering before that show the silvery sheen implied apart. the leaves extend so they are not in the name. June/July • 14-20” (35-50cm) too evident at flowering time. May/June • 18-24” (45-60cm) £5.00 for 5 February/March • 6” (15cm) £2.70 for 5 or £7.50 for 15 £3.50 for 5

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 31 Iris Harmony

Iris Pixie Iris Pauline iris Marondera

Iris Katharine Hodgkin iris walter butt

Iris JS Dijt iris mary barnard Harmony 101-11 Intensely gentian blue flowers, each with a small yellow and white crest Pixie 101-23 Mary on the falls. The most popular of all Wide petalled, as is George but the the forms. Barnard 102-05 deepest of blues and scented. February/March • 6” (15cm) Darkest of all and a glossy marvel £3.60 for 15 or £5.50 for 25 February/March • 6” (15cm) £3.60 for 15 or £5.50 for 25 in the spring, with velvety purple blue flowers with white and golden J S Dijt 101-12 markings on the falls, the foliage A rich, velvety, reddish plum-purple Iris shorter and darker. Discovered by colour with a strong fragrance in E.B. Anderson near Algiers in 1962. warm sunlight. Later flowering than unguicularis Feb/March • 15” (32cm) most of the other forms. £6.50 February/March • 6” (15cm) (Stylosa) £3.60 for 15 or £5.50 for 25 A firm favourite for the winter Marondera 102-13 garden. They need a sunny Larger flowered and slightly darker iris unguicularis Katharine site and are often found to be than the species form and just as Hodgkin 101-07 growing on very poor soil, but tough as the others. from a garden they will perform better still in near the town of that name in An utterly distinct hybrid, raised by something half decent. Avoid Zimbabwe many moons ago. unguicularis 102-04 EB Anderson, predominantly yellow shearing off the untidy foliage Feb/March • 15” (32cm) The species plant with pale with blue and sea-green veining too much in the summer, rake out £6.00 mauve flowers and paler silvery and markings. Of them all this is the the dead leaves instead in the lilac standards. Tug firmly from early autumn and give the plant most persisting and perennial form the base of the furled flower buds some water and a liquid feed Walter Butt 102-06 in a gritty rich soil in a sunny site. to pull them out to take them as it is then that they make their Palest of pale ice blues with some February/March • 6” (15cm) into the house where the warmer £3.00 for 5 or £5.50 for 10 new roots and flower buds. New fine purple lining drawing ones divisions need careful planting attention to the fact that they are not temperatures will open the flowers Pauline 101-13 and firming in, regular watering white. Longer and paler leaved and quite quickly. In thick clumps till established and (if possible) with more upright foliage. The first beware sneaky slugs that are Dark velvety purple flowers with some protection in the first winter. form to flower and the most scented attracted to the flowers before they bright white highlights on the falls. too. unfurl. Mid-season flowering. Nov/Feb • 18” (45cm) Feb/Mar • 15” (32cm) February/March • 6” (15cm) £6.50 £5.00 £3.60 for 15 or £5.50 for 25

32 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 iris unguicularis alba

Iris tuberosa (Hermodactylus) lilium (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Lilium martagon Claude Shride

shaded – many lily fl owers will last longer in cooler shade. Plant at least 5” deep. If planting in the confi nement of pots, even more care is needed, particularly with regular watering. Lily beetle are problem in warmer parts. Readily seen as red and black beetles that eat any foliage of iris bucharica Iris Graminea the (which includes the Fritillaria) These beetles drop off and hide on the ground if you alarm them, but picking off the unguicularis tuberosa adults and cleaning the messy alba 102-11 (Hermodactylus) black ‘eggs’ off the foliage is All white fl owered except for the 103-10 moderately effective (and satisfi es yellow markings at the throat. a lust for retribution) although Translucent black and jade-green Provado used systematically Reportedly slightly less tough than fl owers on long rush-like leaves seems to reduce future its sisters but they have bloomed known as the Widow Iris, more generations more effectively. prodigiously this year. kindly it is also known in the Please Note: The dormancy of Feb/Mar • 15” (32cm) Mediterranean as Hermes’ fi nger these lilies means that there is £7.00 after the shape of the tubers. a cut-off date after which it is Requiring time to establish, plant in too late to order L. candidum Iris full sun in limier soil where it loves (which can also be ordered growing near heat absorbing sun- for Late Sumer despatch). The (other types) drenched paving out of too much martagon lilies, conversely, are wind. Do try and order early for usually not ready for despatch bucharica 103-09 early autumn planting or you could till mid-October so if you include them on your order it may affect Easy to grow in a sunny border, include some on a Late Summer the delivery time of your whole despite the fact that it originates order (see page 7). order (we try hard to save costs Lilium candidum from Central Asia, bright glossy April • 6” (15cm) and have your order all come at £4.50 for 10 leaves and with creamy white and once)… yellow fl owers. March/Apr • 12” (30cm) £3.00 for 3 Lilium candidum 107-14 martagon 107-15 Refi ned and generally smaller lilies Lilies would have to come The ‘Madonna Lily’, large loose graminea 103-06 near the top of any list of most scaled and slightly shaggy bulbs of (in stature and fl ower size) with this plant (often seen as a religious petals that refl ex strongly. Best in Grassy leaved with plum coloured gardeners favourite bulbs. For icon in early Christian paintings). dappled shade in nice soils on scented fl owers, appreciative of a stature, grace and perfume they Satin white fl owered with a delicious the limey side of the scale, the sun warmed soil. This was a stock are unbeatable, but to ensure longevity it helps to get a couple fragrance. They only need shallow purple petals variable in colour with that had become tired and is now of things right. Unless it says planting in a warmer sunny spot in darker speckling. They do seem much refreshed for being split up otherwise in the text below do poor soil (also available from the to sometimes take a while to settle and put into fresh ground, effort incorporate plenty of organic Late Summer Section, on page 7). in and there are reported cases of repayed. matter in the area to be planted, June • 36” (90cm) them taking a full year off before May/June 10” (25cm) having chosen a site that is of £5.00 or £13.00 for 3 £6.00 for 3 growing. good, probably rich soil, not June/July • 36” (90cm) too dry in summer, and possibly £4.50 or £12.00 for 3

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Lilium martagon Maianthemum var. kamtschaticum

Leucojum Gravetye Giant (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Lilium martagon Chameleon regale 107-04 Maianthemum bifolium Mathiasella Familiar and much loved. Ivory- bupleuroides Green Dream white trumpets, flushed with pink on their backs, providing great wafts of martagon Claude beautiful scent. Accommodating in Shride 107-41 most gardens, either in the borders Maianthemum Mathiasella Dark mahogany red selection of or large deep pots. Autumn planted A Mexican umbellifer which was the form above, which one should L. regale bulbs always seem to do bifolium 110-04 first described only in 1954. expect to be variable in their height better than spring planted ones. An unusual native of northern These are architectural plants and shade, these though should all With longer to root before they England. Plants with leaves that and seem to do well in full sun or be the same. flower that would be logical. look a bit like tiny Hostas. These part shade with green foliage in June/July • 36” (90cm) July • 36” (90cm) are plants of shade with ground spring, and in autumn pink and £7.00 £7.00 for 3 or £15.00 for 7 covering possibilities in nice leafy purple tints. The flowers seem damp dappled shade. They can to be sterile and last for months, martagon Leucojum form a dense matt. The leaves open initially vibrant green but coloured Chameleon 107-42 in the spring with a welcome fresh with purple later in the year. greenness growing from the small A paler form which makes the pink æstivum Gravetye wiry roots. The flowers are like small and purple spots more prominent, bupleuroides Giant 106-07 white plumes. and the paler colours stand out The Loddon Lily, also known as May • 4” (10cm) Green Dream 69-04 better in shade. Summer Snowflakes, with white, £4.30 for 5 An unfamiliar plant which looks to June/July • 36” (90cm) hanging, bell-shaped flowers have some of the characteristics £7.00 and hence often confused with bifolium var. of some other garden favourites - snowdrops (despite flowering later, kamtschaticum Hellebores, Angelica and maybe martagon but not really in summer). Clusters even Euphorbia, one can see how album 107-16 of large white bells, emerald-tipped, 110-05 these have become popular. Plants Apple white flowered with prominent hang from bare upright stems Much larger than the European from 9cm pots that ought to settle sulphur yellow stamens, beautiful above the glossy green daffodil-like form, these are native to the Pacific in this winter and flower in 2017. and refined plants, pamper them foliage. Particularly happy in damp, rim. A bright green foliage plant with May • 24” (60cm) £6.00 with a good leafmould rich soil – even winter-flooded, partly shaded shiny sculptured leaves and tassle- invariably better in shade where areas, but adaptable elsewhere. like white flowers. white stands out. Again sometimes Daffodil-like bulbs, planted 5” May • 12” (30cm) £4.30 for 5 slow to get going. (12cm) deep and 6” (15cm) apart. June/July • 36” (90cm) April/May • 18” (45cm) £5.50 or £14.50 for 3 £4.00 for 3 or £9.00 for 7

34 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Muscari aucheri White Magic Muscari azureum

Muscari

Muscari aucheri Blue Magic

Muscari aucheri The ‘Grape Hyacinths’, and as the Blue Magic 111-20 name implies some are heavily Bright blue with white rims to the scented. All do well in the drier, mature fl owers. These colour forms Muscari botryoides album sunny conditions provided under are derived from the species which deciduous shrubs in the early is native to alpine turf in Turkey, they spring, with summer shade above will not be invasive here. and, part of the group of ‘Little April • 5” (12cm) botryoides Muscari macrocarpum Blue Jobs’, that create the mood £3.00 for 10 or £7.00 for 25 GOLDEN FRAGRANCE and the ‘chorus’ to the spring album 111-06 display. Some may be better A dwarf form, and not a thug; in warmer and more protected aucheri Ocean small fl owers like strings of neat situations (see the individual Magic 111-21 little pearls strung on pale stems. entries below). The common and Sea blue fl owers with pale tips Scented. weedy ‘ordinary’ Grape Hyacinth like white bubbles on the surf April • 6” (15cm) (M. armenaicum) is undoubtedly line, I suspect the source of the £3.15 for 10 or £7.40 for 25 best avoided - it gives the well inspiration for the name? behaved Muscari a bad name. April • 5” (12cm) macrocarpum Plant them 4” (10cm) deep and £4.00 for 10 or £9.40 for 25 2” (5cm) apart. Golden Fragrance aucheri White 111-10 azureum Magic 111-14 A selected form of M. macrocarpum, which is evidently more cold (pseudomuscari) The aucheri forms are less tolerant. Grow this where you can vigorous, (and by implication 111-15 enjoy its heavenly banana tinged not invasive) so suited to smaller Probably the easiest to grow and perfume, protected from excessive gardens. This selection has not at all invasive. Tightly packed frosts. Violet fl owers, turning yellow attractive pale green fl ower buds powder-blue fl owers, open at their as they age. They like a hot dry spot opening white, initially quite pointed tips. For a well-drained sink or for their summer rest. rockery or in light soils at the front but rounded when in full fl ower. April • 7” (18cm) of a spring border. April • 5” (12cm) £4.00 for 3 March • 5” (12cm) £4.50 for 10 or £10.75 for 25 £4.00 for 10 or £9.40 for 25

Muscari Ocean Magic

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Muscari Valerie Finnis Narcissus

Narcissus Minnow

The suggested fl owering month Narcissus should be used as a guide only – (Daffodils) annual variation can be great! The highlight of the April garden in a ‘normal’ year, though some Narcissus – earlier ones are often welcome and the last will fl ower in May. Protected Narcissus bath’s fl ame Do plant them really quite For indoor or very protected deeply with 4-6” (10-15cm) of situations. These are best suited soil over the biggest bulbs, to forcing in pots for indoor where they will remain cool and display with a huge scent. They NARCISSUS – moist in the spring and safe do need lots of light and only from gardening activity above protection from actual frost, so Garden them in the summer. Do not be nothing too warm. Some are Muscari muscarimi tempted to cut back or tidy the also available for even earlier varieties foliage after fl owering – this planting if you order from the Late period of replenishment of the Summer section. Bath’s Flame (3) 113-07 bulb’s starchy food reserves Pre 1913. A commonly grown muscarimi is critical to future fl owering. A Paperwhite Ziva form at the height of the Cornish (ambrosiacum) 111-11 liquid feed whilst the leaves are cut fl ower trade, raised by Rev. still green will benefi t clumps (8) 113-52 Outstandingly sweetly musk Engleheart. Long strong stems, in poorer soil, but generally Early to fl ower from being forced scented, a strong and lovely excellent for picking. Primrose feeding is unnecessary. I would (grown in warmer conditions for perfume from a creamy yellow yellow with an orange cup. suggest that you plant in groups early display). We work on about fl ower that fades to a gunmetal April • 20” (50cm) (and particularly any that you eight to ten weeks to fi rst bloom £5.50 for 3 blue-grey colour. A sunny scree bed ‘naturalise’) resulting in swathes from potting. White and multi- or a sheltered rockery may do. They of the same variety and not a headed with a huge perfume. Plant will need a warm sunny dry spot to jumbled crowd – the effect is them shallowly in the compost and thrive, but do it for the perfume. generally better. Most should in good light so they don’t get too April/May • 6” (15cm) clump up from being planted £4.00 for 3 about 4-6” (10-15cm) apart, tall. Not reliably hardy outside. Big further apart for more ‘relaxed’ bulbs. Valerie Finnis 111-18 planting. December/January • 15” (38cm) Divisions: The number in brackets £6.00 for 5 or £11.00 for 10 Tightly packed ropes of scented after the name represents the powder blue fl owers, best grown in type of fl ower expressed by the open sunny conditions. divisions within the Narcissus March • 7” (18cm) family: 1= trumpet , 2= large £2.50 for 5 or £7.00 for 15 cupped, 3= small cupped, 4= double fl owered, 5= triandrus Heights in the catalogue relate to the average forms, 6= cyclamineus types , 7= jonquilla forms, 8= tazetta height of the plant when it begins to fl ower, often forms , 9 = poeticus types, plants get taller after this. Open sunny situations 10= bulbocodium types, 12 = tend to reduce fl owering height, shade increases it. miscellaneous, 13= species and wild variants (more suitable for naturalising).

36 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Narcissus February Gold Narcissus lucifer Narcissus Martinette

Narcissus hawera Narcissus derringer Narcissus Elka

Derringer (7) 113-76 February Hawera (5) 113-38 Lucifer (2) 113-13 A fragrant mid-season daffodil with Gold (6) 113-09 Multiheaded, with small clear Pre 1890. One of the great old creamy yellow petals which fade to lemon-yellow flowers with prominent daffodils raised in Ireland, the Dating back to 1923. Early white at their tips with a short deep cups and inconspicuous narrow angelic outer petals milk white with flowering, but only in late February orange yellow cup. Sturdy and foliage. It is much happier in a drier a pale yellow centre highlighting the in very mild years. A long lasting upright. and sunnier site than many of its devilish orange rimmed cup. golden yellow garden favourite with March/April • 14” (35cm) cousins. Shorter and more wind April • 15” (40cm) slightly swept back petals and a £3.60 for 5 or £10.25 for 15 tolerant. Pack them in quite tightly £6.50 for 3 good stature, also good for pots for a mass of colour on a rockery. A or tubs. real favourite. Elka (1) 113-61 February/March • 12” (30cm) Martinette (8) 113-84 A perfectly proportioned miniature £4.20 for 10, £9.50 for 25 April • 10” (25cm) Brightly yellow flowered with several with a long pale cream trumpet and or £17.50 for 50 £5.75 for 10, £13.25 for 25 flowers on each stem, the small cup or £26.00 for 50 milk white perianth. It was named more deeply orange coloured and by Alec Gray, a Cornish flower they are enormously scented. grower and daffodil hybridiser of the March • 14” (35cm) 1940s and 50s. £3.00 for 5 or £8.30 for 15 March/April • 6” (15cm) £3.50 for 5

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Narcissus MITE Narcissus mrs langtry Narcissus oxford gold

Minnow (8) 113-51 moschatus (13) Mrs Langtry (2) Niveth (5) 113-85 Multi-headed, with many small 113-94 113-96 Glistening white with broad petals primrose yellow flowers, the small Palest creamy white with a head We seem to be out of step with behind a flared trumpet, pleasantly cup rather darker initially. One for that always seems downcast – the rest of the sellers of Narcissus. scented and nicely proportioned, more sunny conditions with better some describe it as swanlike? They This Is the form known and called an old variety dating back to 1931, drained soils, but one I wouldn’t be seem to prefer damper soil in more Mrs Langtry which we have sold another winner from the Backhouse without. shade than most, where they gleam as N. Elegance in the past, but the stable. March/April • 12” (30cm) naturally. drawings in the Lindley library seem April • 12” (30cm) £3.50 for 5 or £6.00 for 10 £3.00 for 10 or £6.90 for 25 April • 12” (30cm) to refute this, suggesting that Mrs £5.00 for 3 Langtry ought to be all white. But if Mite (6) 113-34 we sell them under a different name Oxford Gold (10) This is a charming small daffodil are we not adding to the confusion? 113-92 with a long narrow trumpet and April • 18” (45cm) A fab selected form of N. dainty proportions. The flowers are £5.00 for 3 bulbocodium with large butter all deep yellow and it flaunts its yellow blooms, quite early into cyclamineus parentage with sharply flower and scented with large swept perianth segments flying flowers. They will prefer a sunny well from the relatively long trumpet. drained soil. March • 9” (25cm) April • 6” (15cm) £3.50 or £10.00 for 3 £2.50 for 3

38 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Narcissus Pipit Narcissus Rijnveld’s Narcissus segovia Early Sensation

Narcissus pumilus Narcissus sailboat

Pipit (7) 113-32 pumilus (13) 113-95 Rijnveld’s Early Sailboat (7) 113-89 Multiheaded with quite sharp pale A very unusual dwarf form, compact Sensation (1) 113-44 Pale and interesting with a pleasant lemon coloured fl owers initially yet simple looking with slightly Yellow throughout with a shorter perfume, it reminds me of N. Jenny these fade to a paler, creamier twisted petals and a slightly fl ared fl ared trumpet. So far not so which is very popular in the same colour from the centre of the fl ower trumpet, all in a bright yellow. It Is a unusual, but this variety’s real star colours but for which commercial as it evolves to a two tone maturity lovely thing, possibly related to the quality is that it really does fl ower in stocks are not healthy. – very pretty indeed. Tough enough double N. Rip van Winkle. the garden around New Year. It is March/April • 14” (35cm) £2.90 for 3 to plant in rough grass. March • 12” (30cm) going over when the main season £4.50 for 3 or £10.00 for 7 April • 12” (30cm) begins. A blast of spring in the £2.90 for 5 or £8.25 for 15 middle of winter. Segovia (3) 113-87 December/February • 10” (25cm) A fl attened pale lemon trumpet sits £4.80 for 5 or £12.90 for 15 squarely against the bright white Do see the Pale petals, the leaves are narrow and it would like a brighter spot in which and Interesting to grow. April • 6” (15cm) Daffodil Collection £3.20 for 5 or £6.00 for 9 Offered on page 65 £15.50

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Narcissus Sir Winston Churchill Narcissus snipe Narcissus Tete-a-tete

Silver Chimes Sir Winston Snipe (6) 113- 36 Sweetness (7) 113-24 (8) 113-41 Churchill (4) An early flowering dwarf Sturdy, bright yellow and deliciously A lovely multi-headed tazetta 113-97 cyclamineus hybrid with a long scented, with narrow foliage that pale cream trumpet that fades to does not get in the way, everything form which prefers to be planted Frilly white petals with splashes of match the reflexed outer perianth, a simple daffodil ought to be! somewhere slightly warmer and in sulphur yellow together provide a a handsome and well proportioned March • 14” (35cm) better drained soils. Broad leaved frothy and exuberant flower with beauty (not to be confused with N. £3.20 for 5 or £8.50 for 15 with pure white petals around a pale a huge scent. They are quite tall Jack Snipe). primrose scented cup. Big bulbs. and late flowering. Reliable, with February • 9” (25cm) April • 12” (30cm) several stems per bulb and each £3.90 for 5 or £11.00 for 15 £6.50 for 3 Tete-a-tete (12) 113-16 multiheaded. Widely grown since it was raised April • 18” (45cm) soon after WW2, but a very good £2.40 for 5 or £6.50 for 15 Stainless (2) 113- 98 Larger flowered with silvery white, and adaptable variety for all that, sometimes green tinged flowers. A initially very short when first in lovely foil for all the yellows. flower, extending in stem length Aprill • 16” (40cm) as it matures, long lasting in cool £4.00 for 5 conditions. Deep golden yellow and multi-headed. February/March • 6” (15cm) £3.60 for 10, £8.10 for 25, or £15.50 for 50

40 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Narcissus Topolino Narcissus toto Narcissus white lady

Narcissus thalia Narcissus W. P. Milner Narcissus Xit

Topolino (1) 113-54 Thalia (5) 113-42 W. P. Milner (1) 113-47 Xit (3) 113-33 Immediately recognizable from its Raised in 1916. A national treasure, Pre 1869, attributed to Henry (pronounced zit!) sturdy habit and grey-green foliage, refined and elegant, greeny-white, Backhouse’ breeding in Yorkshire A hybrid of N. wateri which this is a variety that predates the multi-flowered and scented. A well- and evidently named after William originates from the Atlas mountains. records of 1923 so it has stood known classy favourite. Pashley Milner his brother in law. Despite that we grow this in light the important test of time. Lemon March/April • 14” (35cm) Pale yellow, with swept-forward grass in Somerset shade where yellow trumpet and creamy pale £2.50 for 5, £6.80 for 15, petals, beyond which peeps the shy it flourishes. The small, flared, perianth on a short upright stem, it or £12.75 for 30 trumpet. Long lasting and good for greenish white cup encircled by the has poise, and looking quite like N. naturalising being smaller in stature. gorgeous white perianth. pseudonarcissus, it could be used Toto (12) 113-90 March/April • 9” (22cm) April • 6” (15cm) in the same way. Gorgeously pale and simple £3.70 for 5 or £10.00 for 15 £5.00 or £14.50 for 3 March/April • 8” (20cm) flowered and early enough to £2.45 for 5 or £6.90 for 15 overlap with the blue phase when White Lady (3) 113-65 the Muscari and Chionodoxa are Pre 1897. Another raised by Rev. at their best, the combination is Engleheart and famous as a cut wonderful. flower variety pre WW2, now sadly March/ April • 12” (30cm) rather more rare. White with a small £3.70 for 3 yellow cup, sweetly scented, a step sister to Seagull. April • 18” (45cm) £6.50 for 5

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Narcissus Naturalising forms

Wild Narcissus Pseudonarcissus on the Blackdown Hills.

Narcissus – lobularis obvallaris (13) poeticus Naturalising (pseudonarcissus) 113-30 recurvus (13) 113-28 (13) 113-31 The daffodil that grows wild in Wild in high alpine meadows in forms A dwarf form entirely suitable for South Wales is the Tenby daffodil, Europe and found in old gardens naturalising, they only make much this looks just like it with a neat and here. White with slightly swept These would be the fi rst choice tidy all yellow fl ower (though some back petals, highlighted by a of varieties to naturalise, to use smaller bulbs than many of the doubt as whether it is exactly the stubby, burgundy rimmed cup. The to create a wild effect, where others, and need time to establish. ‘Pheasant’s Eye’ daffodil, one of they might increase and multiply They do not always fl ower well in same plant). Perfect for planting the last to fl ower and deliciously gently on their own. But they their fi rst year, but in our experience into rough grass to provide ‘bomb- could equally well go into your will fi ll in the gaps between bulbs proof’ daffodils. fragrant too. Better in dappled borders, where they would need with fl owering seedlings within March • 9” (22cm) shade in grass, or in a cool border little attention. £2.40 for 5, £6.50 for 15, amongst other plants. about 8 years. Best in cooler, or £12.00 for 30 moisture retentive soils, in part May • 15” (35cm) £3.80 for 5, £10.25 for 15, shade. White petalled with a darker or £19.70 for 30 trumpet. March • 8” (20cm) £5.50 for 10 or £10.00 for 20

42 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Ornithogalum

Ornithogalum umbellatum Ornithogalum magnum

Ornithogalum nutans Ornithogalum pyrenaicum Paradisea lusitanica

Ornithogalum nutans 117-09 pyrenaicum 117-11 Paradisea Very pretty soft silvery grey-green Tall, slim, waving wands of starry The ‘Star of Bethlehem’ fl owers, bluebell-like in stature, pale green fl owers. A naturalised lusitanica 140-04 family. Silvery white and green fl owered and generally tough lasting when picked. They can be native in the area of Bath, and This species occurs naturally in and accommodating, many are grown in light shade. The foliage is hence called the ‘Bath Asparagus’. Northern Portugal and Spain in perfect for naturalising. naturally yellowing at fl owering time. Easy in well drained limey soil, damp meadows. Dormant as Preferring better-drained soils. Plant planted 12” (30cm) apart. thickened fl eshy roots looking a magnum 117-16 3” (8 cm) apart, 10-15 per square June • 18” (45cm) bit like those of an Agapanthus. In foot. £8.50 for 3 fl ower as an elegant spire of bright Unusual, with literally dozens of May • 9” (22cm) white fl owers providing impressive white fl owers circling from the £2.40 for 10, £5.40 for 25, umbellatum 117-13 uprights in the herbaceous border, bottom up a stiff stem as they open. or £10.00 for 50 A sun lover and excellent in thin and a great accompaniment to the Easy in any sunny, drier site. They grass. Ground hugging, and Alliums. Supplied as divisions, to be provide a great companion to some especially useful for carpeting a planted 4” (10cm) deep in moisture of the later fl owering Alliums. I am sunny bank with white in April with retentive soil in sun or part shade. experimenting with them in grass to grey-green leaves fl at to the soil. May/June • 36-48” (90-120cm) follow the taller Camassia. Plant about 4” (10cm) apart, 10 per £7.50 June • 24” (60cm) £5.30 for 3 square foot. April/May • 4” (10cm) £4.25 for 10, or £9.60 for 25

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Polygonatum

Polygonatum Betberg

Polygonatum x hybridum 37-04 A natural hybrid between P. The ‘Solomon’s Seal’ family. multifl orum and P. odoratum. These are hardy perennials that grow in most situations, Graceful arching stems with preferring the more moisture pendant jade-green and ivory retentive heavier soil types. They fl owers. Increases slowly to will mostly grow rather taller in form a thicket, taller in shade – a Polygonatum odoratum Flora Pena the shade. Their only problem is wonderful screen in dampish soil. their appeal to the Gooseberry And cut stems enhance any fl ower Saw Fly caterpillar and an eye arrangement very well, and last. needs to be kept on them for May/June • 24-36” (60-90cm) Sanguinaria quick action in May when they £6.00 for 3 or £12.00 for 7 are active. There is now an canadensis 124-04 ‘organic’ nematode spray for use Bone hardy plants from North against these caterpillars from odoratum America which love the same Nemasys. fl ore plenO 37-12 conditions as Erythroniums, Trilliums and Uvularia in humus Betberg 37-16 The rare double fl owered form, from rich shade where the rhizomes a nice patch that we have taken The name of a village in the Black will increase slowly. The emerging years to build up, they deserve Forest near Laufen where these stems come up clasped in a single quick purchasing! They are slow were found. The stems and leaves leaf with red fl ower stems, from growing but well worth it. are dark chocolate brown whilst which they get their ‘common’ May • 18” (45cm) they emerge and those contrast £6.50 name, the ‘Bloodroot’. Simple white with the white fl owers wonderfully fl owers in April. well. Later in the season the brown April 6” (15cm) turns more olive. Very desirable £6.00 and quite slow to increase, but we release a few every year. April/May • 24-30” (50-75cm) £15.00

sanguinaria canadensis

44 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Scilla mischtschenkoana (tubergeniana)

Scilla

Scilla peruviana

Scilla litardierei 125-32 Scilla bifolia Hardy and quite easy to grow in The blue Scillas are part of that sun or part shade, deriving from the group of blue fl owered plants such as Muscari and Chionodoxa limestone mountains of Dalmatia peruviana 125-11 that enhance and embellish the and introduced here in 1827. Slightly grape hyacinth like in bud Suffering from an unfortunate spring display created by the confusion when they fi rst arrived bigger bulbs. These are often they open properly with dark tipped which led to their unlikely name not individually star performers, stamens. (they are of Mediterranean but they are the unmissable and April/May 10” (25cm) necessary chorus, supporting £2.50 for 3 origin) the low broad, fl eshy, near the prima donnas, you shouldn’t evergreen leaved plants produce be without them. Their preferred mischtschenkoana a big architectural fl ower head situations do vary widely. of bright blue fl owers, especially (tubergeniana) dramatic in bud. Easy in good soil 125-17 but they must be in full light and bifolia 125-05 The earliest pale-blue gem. planted deeply, they also do fl ower Seemingly ignores winter cold and better in the spring following a An easy dwarf species with starry fl owers at the same time as the warm summer. purple-blue fl owers over waxy Cyclamen coum and the winter May /June • 10” (25cm) leaves. Naturalises under shrubs aconites - far earlier than one might £4.00 or £10.50 for 3 or in light grass in summer shade expect; very hardy, suitable for where the massed heads really rockery or garden. create an early purple haze, siberica 125-14 Feb • 4” (10cm) Bone hardy, these hail from the fl owering with the anemones and £4.30 for 10 early daffodils. Small bulbs that you Black Sea area. The Prussian- need to be generous with, plant blue fl owers piercing through the them 2-3” (5-8 cm) apart, 15 per cold ground ahead of their leaves, square foot. especially happy on sandy soils in Feb/Mar • 6” (15cm) summer shade. £4.00 for 10, £9.00 for 25, Mar/Apr • 6” (15cm) or £17.00 for 50 £2.25 for 10 or £5.00 for 25

Scilla litardierei

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 45 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Triteleia corrina Triteleia Rudy Tulipa batalinii Bronze Charm

Triteleia tulips

Triteleia silver queen Tulipa Bakeri Lilac Wonder

Rudy 68-07 planted quite close together. The Triteleia Species TULIPS quantity in the fi rst price break for The same shape and stance as T. Long lasting early summer The species types tend to have each item would be suitable for a fl owering bulbs, also known in Corrina but white fl owered with a small bulbs, typically about the 5-6” (12cm) pot or an equivalent the past as Brodiæa but now broad violet blue stripe down the size of an almond. They are area of garden. more accurately Triteleia. They centre of each petal. Very eye- particularly grown for their bright come from north-west America. catching and ‘different’ with a long bold colours in late April and bakeri Lilac So often we are told that they vase life for when your patch has early May and for the fact that in look like miniature Agapanthus, really got going. the right conditions some persist Wonder 131-53 to which they are unconnected. June • 18” (45cm) and increase better than the Silvery pink with a yellow eye in their Their papery fl owers are a lasting £4.00 for 5 or £10.00 for 15 bigger hybrid forms. In villages centre, the fl owers are held above pleasure, with up to 25 fl owers nearby there are various forms broad deep green and glossy per stem. Plant in well-drained Silver Queen 68-13 growing and spreading. They are leaves. A dependable sun loving soil – in good light, 4” (10cm) sun lovers and don’t want it too Tinged purple in bud the many selection of the species. deep and 2” (5cm) apart. wet, particularly in the summer fl owers open white with a slight Late April/early May • 6” (15cm) when the bulbs are resting and £2.80 for 10 or £6.30 for 25 Corrina 68-06 creaminess. Easy In sunny bright where they are happy they will conditions with strong wiry stems settle in and survive, increasing A dark fl owered form, creating a we fi nd these invaluable on our over the years. They are an batalinii Bronze haze of deep blue when viewed summer displays. attraction for mice and squirrels Charm 131-08 from a distance. Wiry stemmed and June • 18” (45cm) looking for the high levels of the The colour of ripe peaches, with a deep blue that anticipates the £2.50 for 5 or £7.00 for 15 carbohydrates that they contain, more bronzing in warmer years. Agapanthus season to come. if that might be a problem there Pale grey green leaved. A really June • 18” (45cm) is mention (under the Crocus endearing small with poise and £2.60 for 15 or £4.00 for 25 heading) of a way of keeping character. Gravelly soils or a well- them protected and the same drained rockery would be perfect. applies here. They should be Late April/early May • 10” (25cm) £2.85 for 5 or £8.00 for 15

46 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Tulipa batalinii honky tonk Tulipa clusiana peppermintstick Tulipa Little Beauty

Tulipa linifolia Tulipa Little Princess Tulipa humilis Persian pearl Tulipa sprengeri

batalinii humilis Persian Little Beauty 131-27 sprengeri 131-35 Honky Tonk 131-03 Pearl 131-12 Shockingly bright crimson pink A scarlet flowered species originally Flame shaped pale yellow petals The species T. humilis comes from flowers which open wide in the sun found in NE Turkey, now presumed above grey green foliage with wavy Turkey and eastwards, all the family to reveal white and blue centres. lost to that area. Easy to initially edges. The T. batalinii group are has low leaves nearly flat to the A bit of a startling surprise. For a grow from seed though the closely related to the red flowered ground. They need full sunlight to sunny well drained site again. seedlings resent disturbance till T. linifolia types, and may be stay compact. Deep magenta rose April • 5” (12cm) full grown, consequently the Dutch £3.00 for 10 or £7.00 for 25 botanically indistinguishable. coloured flowers with silvery backed bulb trade do not grow them, so Late April/early May • 10” (25cm) petals. there is very limited availability. £2.50 for 5 or £7.00 for 15 April • 4” (10cm) Little Despite this they are one of the few £4.25 for 10 or £10.00 for 25 Princess 131-05 tulips that will persist and naturalise clusiana in gardens, generally in light shade. linifolia 131-26 Fiery coppery orange coloured About the size of a still legless Peppermintstick flowers, goblet shaped before tadpole, these small bulbs will A crimson- red flowered tough low 131-02 opening fully in the sun, the flowers flower next spring. growing small tulip with red margins are on short stems so pretty The furled petals look like a stick May-June • 15” (38cm) to the wavy edged leaves suitable resilient, a really crackingly good £5.00 each of edible rock, when open they for any sunny well drained garden dwarf tulip for a sunny spot. are ivory white with a dark eye, the site. April • 5” (12cm) backs of the petals strongly cerise May • 6” (15cm) £3.10 for 10 or £7.25 for 25 pink. All the clusiana forms have £3.00 for 10, £6.75 for 25, reasonably large flowers on quite £12.50 for 50 slender stems so plant them where they are a bit sheltered from the wind. April • 10” (25cm) £2.65 for 5 or £5.00 for 10

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 47 Tulipa sylvestris Tulipa tarda Tulipa turkestanica

EARLY Tulips (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Library) GAP Image (Credit: (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa urumiensis Tulipa whittallii Tulipa corona Tulipa early harvest sylvestris 131-37 turkestanica whittallii 131-42 Corona 131-141 Easy to grow, and possibly the only 131-134 Several contacts over the past Warm yellow over most of the petal one that will tolerate some shade. Ivory and cream coloured in fl ower 12 months from members of the with a red blotch In the throat, the We have some that have persisted with dark anthers contrasting to the extended Whittall family have stems are short and the fl owers and increased happily under an petals, greenish on their backs. It encouraged me to list their favourite open widely in bright sunlight so do Amelanchier for 10 years or so, Is widespread in its natural range tulip! Named by an eminent not plant them too close together. fl owering intermittently as seems to from SE Europe through to Iran and forebear, these are a gorgeous Use them with one of the purple be their nature, I am not sure why. Russia. They need bright conditions bronzy orange with a dark centre. Dutch crocus ? The fl owers are sulphur yellow and out of too much wind. The leaves are longer than on Mar/Apr • 9” (22cm) fragrant. April • 7” (20 cm) many of the dwarf forms, but not £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 April • 12” (30cm) £2.50 for 10, £5.50 for 25 obtrusively so, and they should or £25.00 for 50 £3.00 for 5 or £8.50 for 15 persist in the sunny conditions of a urumiensis 131-40 raised bed or rockery. Early tarda 131-38 April • 12” (30 cm) Bright yellow low growing dwarf £2.50 for 3, £7.25 for 10 Harvest 131-22 A perennial performer with multiple bulbs (not unlike T. tarda but without Richly multi-coloured in red, orange fl owers produced from each the white edge to the petal), these and gold with yellow edges and bulb, all crammed together and are also tinged in bronze . Kaufmanniana large mottled leaves. overlapping and honey scented April • 7” (20 cm) Mar/Apr • 9” (22cm) In golden yellow, edged in white. £3.50 for 10, £8.00 for 25 Tulips £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 Pretty, fat shiny, bulbs to plant in a or £25.00 for 50 sunny site. Easy and persisting. (Group 12) Early fl owering, April • 5” (12cm) typically February or March with £2.50 for 10, £5.50 for 25, large fl owers on reasonably short or £10.50 for 50 stems. Very suitable planted on the rockery or in containers by the front door to greet your friends and the warm early sunshine. Plant them about 5” (12cm) apart as the fl owers open widely in the sun. Possibly combine them with a suitably coloured Crocus vernus (Dutch crocus) these make a great fl owering duo.

48 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Tulipa cape cod tulipa Exotic Emperor Tulipa Orange Emperor (with Purissima behind)

Tulipa Red Riding Hood tulipa flaming purissima tulipa Juan Tulipa Purissima

Greigii Tulips Fosteriana Flaming Orange (Group 14) Late March and Early (Group 13) Earlier flowering than Purissima 131-71 Emperor 131-72 April flowering with wonderfully the main Tulip display, large Creamy-white initially, but becoming Long petalled flowers in pale marked leaves. These are equally flowered on sturdy stems and increasingly pink as the flower orange with green at the base, great for planters as those above, available in lovely pastel colours. ages, feathering gracefully towards good for bold contrast and a great or could be used in the borders They need planting about 5” the edges of the petals, stronger combination planted with Purissima to give them an early ‘lift’. They (12cm) apart and are equally red within the flower. Very pretty below. Follow them with Ballerina to need a sunny and well drained suitable for containers or borders. indeed. continue the orange theme. site ideally planted about 4-5” Mar/Apr • 14” (35cm) Mar/Apr • 16” (40cm) (10-12cm) apart. Exotic £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 £5.00 for 10, £11.25 for 25 or £24.00 for 50 or £21.00 for 50 Cape Cod 131-113 Emperor 131-100 In flower somewhat rose-like with Bright yellow with broad red bands Juan 131-124 Purissima 131-16 the double petalled white flowers through the petals both without and I was taken by these tulips when Opening a pale primrose yellow, clasped by intriguing green . within. visiting Harlow Carr where a huge they turn through creamy shades Where we have seen it in gardens Mar/Apr • 9” (22cm) tub of them was being admired by to pure white and opening in late it has persisted for years on thin £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 all that passed by. Bigger flowered March sunshine revealing dramatic or £23.00 for 50 stoney soil. and even more vibrant than Orange mascara black anthers. Strong April • 18” (45cm) stemmed over bright green leaves, £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 Emperor with yellow to the base of Mar/Apr • 18” (45cm) Red Riding Hood or £25.00 for 50 the otherwise orange flower. The darkly striped leaves are especially £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 131-18 or £23.00 for 50 handsome. Glossy bright red flowers, the colour Mar/Apr • 14” (35cm) of newly painted pillar boxes, with £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 attractively mottled leaves. Very or £24.00 for 50 suitable for containers. Lovely in April for that spring zing! April • 8” (20cm) £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 or £23.00 for 50

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 49 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa Abu Hassan Tulipa apricot Beauty Tulipa Blue Ribbon

Mid Season Tulips (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa annie schilder Tulipa calgary Tulipa calgary Flames

MID SEASON Abu Hassan 131-61 Apricot Beauty Calgary 131-48 Rich terracotta red fl owers on sturdy 131-125 Very short and compact with white TULIPS stems, each edged in gold. It really Pale apricot pink with a fi ne edge fl owers that are brilliant in exposed These Triumph (Group 3) and has an earthy Eastern feel to it. The that is more orange and scented. conditions, shrugging off any wind Darwin (Group 4) tulips all have russet and yellow of wallfl owers in One of the earliest of the taller and rain. roughly the same fl owering particular combine with the colours tulips. April • 9” (22cm) £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 season - we used to say mid to perfectly. April • 18” (45cm) or £24.00 for 50 late April and early May, but in April • 18” (45cm) £7.00 for 10, £16.50 for 25, our fi ckle climate this is just a £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, or £31.00 for 50 Princess Irene, Evening Breeze guide, some years they are early or £23.00 for 50 Light and Dreamy as they are both or purple hyacinths and others later. These would With Gavota, West Point or early flowering. be planted about 5” apart. Very Jan Reus Calgary Flames suited to the open garden in Blue Ribbon 131-67 131-136 borders, or in containers. Some Annie Schilder 131-135 Deep raspberry, but with a There is a group of Calgary forms, suggested tulip combinations Warm rose orange when in bud the that look good together for this lilac tinge; bold, vibrant, broad this has a prominent yellow fl ush to fl ower opens and pales to a lighter shouldered tulips with good the outer petals, we fi nd them very purpose are offered under each shade with some yellow at the entry. substance. useful at the shows as with such petal edges, the fl owers broad and April • 18” (45cm) short stems they do not fl op over bowl shaped with a lovely perfume. £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, during the show, so at the front Dating back to the 1920s this one or £24.00 for 50 of borders or close to the edge in Tres Chic or Ballade that has been around a while. big pots these could provide your April • 18” (45cm) show? £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 or £23.00 for 50 April • 9” (22cm) £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 Ballerina provides a different shape, or £24.00 for 50 Suggested planting but Paul Scherer works well too companions Roughly the same height Princess Irene, Orange Princess or Calgary would work well.

50 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Tulipa Couleur Cardinal Tulipa evening breeze Tulipa hemisphere

Tulipa Gavota Tulipa Grand Perfection Tulipa Havran Tulipa jan reus

Couleur Gavota 131-29 Havran 131-57 Jan Reus 131-62 Cardinal 131-126 Flowers deep fire brick red, quite With a grape like bloom on the Deep purple with petals that Richly red in colour with a darker pointed in bud, opening to show deep plum purple petals this is shimmer in the sun atop a dark more plum coloured marking on the a broad deep yellow inner edge to a good dark tulip which will be in strong stem that adds to the outer petals, famously scented and the petal, lovely with wallflowers or flower well before Queen of the impact. They combine with just long lasting, first named in 1845. against old brickwork. Night (which could follow it to about everything, especially the April 14” (35cm) April • 15” (40cm) continue your dark theme?). acid green foliage of emerging £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 April • 18” (45cm) Euphorbia maybe. or £23.00 for 50 or £25.00 for 50 £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 April • 18” (45cm) Paul Scherer, Evening Breeze or Tres Chic, Ballerina and Abu Hassan or £23.00 for 50 £5.25 for 10, 12.25 for 25 Shirley. Rem’s Favourite, Pink Diamond and or £23.00 for 50 Grand Daytona China Pink, Abu Hassan or nearly Evening Breeze everything else Perfection 131-123 Hemisphere 131-137 131-118 Rather like the tulips illustrated in There are few tulips quite like this, Just perfect for planters where you the paintings by the Dutch Masters although Shirley is another. These might need a shorter tulip. Pretty, at the height of the Tulip mania change colour as the flowers age and upright and weather proof. these have broad flashes of red mature so the whole effect is subtly April • 12” (30cm) over what is initially quite a creamy variable with mottled colours, freckling £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 yellow background, but this turns and faint stripes. Each flower develops or £25.00 for 50 white for a stronger contrast. Calgary, Unique de France or white April 18” (45cm) at a slightly different rate so the effect Hyacinths £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 Is less formal with a range of colours or £24.00 for 50 from warm white through to raspberry. Elegant Lady, Angels Wish or Sanne April • 18” (45cm) £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 or £23.00 for 50 Rem’s Favourite would look lovely with them, as would Daytona.

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 51 Tulipa Princess Irene Tulipa Shirley

Tulipa Paul Scherer Tulipa Rem’s favourite Tulipa SLAWA

Paul Princess Rem’s Slawa 131-138 Scherer 131-107 Irene 131-10 Favourite 131-84 First seen under rather artificial Strong stemmed, with slightly grey A surprising mix of earthy White with raspberry streaks, lighting at a trade show In Holland green foliage contrasting with marmalade and purples, but absolutely perfect in combination these looked purple and brown the exceptionally dark flowers. unlikely as it seems they work with the pink and white apple which alerted me to something a Registered in 2000, a rival for the brilliantly together. Add in a huge blossom that is out at the same bit unusual. In the light of day the Queen of the Night scent and the combination is time. A few of these tulips go a long flowers are mainly a purple hue with April • 18” (45cm) always very popular. Always short way. a pinkish or coppery edge, which £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 stemmed. April • 18” (45cm) turns more silvery as they age. April/May • 24” (60cm) or £23.00 for 50 April • 15” (38cm) £7.00 for 10, £16.50 for 25, £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25 Daytona, Shirley or Pink Diamond £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 or £31.00 for 50 or £23.00 for 50 or £24.00 for 50 Any white or purple tulips I think something quieter, like Try it with Calgary Flame for a low Elegant Lady or Blue Ribbon duo, or maybe with Its double Shirley 131-56 perhaps. flowered cousin Orange Princess Great fun and ever-changing. Pale creamy white throughout to begin with, then with a purple margin to See the Ruby Tulip each petal and gradually darkening till suffused purple all over. Collection April/May • 24” (60cm) £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, Offered on page 62 or £23.00 for 50 Whites, purples and especially Cummins.

52 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 mid-late Tulips Tulipa Whispering Dream Tulipa Rococo

Tulipa White Parrot Tulipa Black Parrot

PARROT TULIPS Rococo 131-127 Earlier than most other Parrot tulips (Group 10) Exuberance is the with short stems, these are velvety greatest strength within this red and crimped, very suitable for Tulipa Unique De France group, with fl owers that seem to be overfl owing with frilled or pots. fl uted petals. Dramatic, whether April • 12” (30cm) in the pantomime sense or as a £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 or £24.00 for 50 dark thespian tragedy, there is Unique de Whispering Jan Reus, Paul Scherer or White one for any mood you wish to Parrot for vivid contrast France 131-121 Dream 131-132 evoke. Wonderful for a fantastical Scarlet red fl owered, one of the What is initially quite subtle pink fl ower arrangement. Big and deepest coloured tulips but the edging to a creamy petal diffuses heavy headed, best in good White Parrot 131-64 most striking difference lies in the steadily till the top is all pink above light and in some breeze which Large fl owered, the whole head leaves, they are bright green and a creamy white base, it was greatly will shake the rain from the bursting full of crimped petals, very waxy, quite different from any admired and lasted a very long time multitudinous petals. like clouds of egg white about to other tulip foliage and great with in fl ower this spring. If Elegant Lady become meringue, the outermost the fl owers. Good for the garden or is a bit too subtle this should do the ones with a tinge of creamy green. containers. trick? Black Parrot 131-17 April/May • 18” (45cm) April 16” (40cm) April • 16” (40cm) The unopen fl ower buds seem to £7.00 for 10, £16.50 for 25, £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25 be clutched in a green fi ngered or £31.00 for 50 or £23.00 for 50 or £25.00 for 50 grip after which the dark chocolate Great with pretty much everything! Outstanding on it’s own. Sanne worked well at Chelsea, Tres purple petals seem to erupt in a Chic or Pink Diamond cockscomb of frilled excess, a dark favourite indeed. April/May • 20” (50cm) £7.00 for 10, £16.50 for 25 or £31.00 for 50 Suggested planting With oranges, pinks or white, and companions Spring Green

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 53 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: tulipa pink diamond Tulipa queen of night (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa Maureen Tulipa Recreado Tulipa Angel’s Wish

SINGLE LATE Maureen 131-128 Queen of Night 131-58 Recreado 131-83 Late fl owering with single egg The darkest delight, and justifi ably Simply bold and dramatic, with a (Group 5) These have simple one of our best sellers. Though not deep purple wine coloured fl ower elegant cup or goblet shaped shaped fl owers atop tall stems, the over a strong stem with greyish fl owers and longer stems. fl owers fading gently from creamy quite black, certainly as dark as any white to a more ivory hue. other tulip, the hue deepest in direct leaves. April/May • 24” (60cm) sunlight. April • 18” (45cm) Angel’s Wish 131-32 £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, April/May • 24” (60cm) £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, White with a dash of cream, simple or £33.00 for 50 £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, or £24.00 for 50 and broad petalled, a great foil for Merlot is nearly as tall and they will or £24.00 for 50 Wonderful with pretty much anything some of the stronger colours. flower together Oranges, purples, pinks and greens April/May • 20” (50cm) £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25 Pink Diamond 131-91 or £24.00 for 50 £19.75 Pale pink, with quite rounded With Redshine, Shirley or Bulldog fl owers. Simple, quite short and very pretty. Do see the White April • 15” (38cm) £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, Tulip Collection or £23.00 for 50 Recreado, Havran or White Offered on page 62 Triumphator

54 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Lily Flowered Tulips (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa Ballerina Tulipa Ballade Tulipa Burgundy

Tulipa Merlot Tulipa Elegant Lady Tulipa China Pink

LILY FLOWERED Ballade 131-81 Burgundy 131-96 Elegant Lady 131-78 A clear white hem edges and Elegantly poised in a purplish hue Displaying a sort of porcelain TULIPS enhances the shape of the of deep lilac, this variety has a more femininity the muted colours blend (Group 6) Characterised by their sinuously dusky ruby-coloured waisted shape with more pointed together seamlessly. Pale ivory longer stems and that refi ned petals, exaggerating their vase-like petals than some in the group. yellow with pale pink edging. Cool ‘hour glass’ shape to the fl ower, silhouette. Opening wide when it April/May • 18”(45cm) and refi ned, one to choose for a waisted when in bud and opening warms up. £7.00 for 10, £16.50 for 25, more subtle display. or £31.00 for 50 up in the sun with pointed tips. April/May • 18” (45cm) April/May • 24” (60cm) Obviously Ballerina, Rem’s Favourite They are great in fl ower borders, £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, or Queen of the Night and in tall containers which seem or £23.00 for 50 or £24.00 for 50 to exaggerate the stem length. Purples, pinks and whites China Pink, West Point and Greenland Ballerina 131-65 China Pink 131-59 Soft tangerine coloured fl owers, A favourite amongst this group, Merlot 131-130 one of my favourites, particularly deep pink fl owers over a much Very tall, but the colour is a because it is so scented in the sun. leafi er plant. Earlier to fl ower and tremendously attractive glistening The colour, combines perfectly with not quite as tall as its cousins. wine colour. all the leafy greens, altogether very April • 14-16” (35-40cm) April/May • 28” (65cm) eye-catching with a heady perfume. £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, £7.00 for 10, £16.50 for 25, or £25.00 for 50 or £31.00 for 50 April/May • 20” (50cm) £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, Angelique, Pink Diamond or Queen Maureen should contrast perfectly or £24.00 for 50 of the Night Purples, purple-blacks and pale yellow Suggested planting companions

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 55 Fringed Tulips (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa Redshine Tulipa White Triumphator Tulipa bulldog

Tulipa sanne Tulipa Trés Chic Tulipa Cummins Tulipa daytona

Red Shine 131-47 Trés Chic 131-66 FRINGED TULIPS Cummins 131-88 Glistening deep vermilion red, Creamy white, fading to white, with Lilac-purple with a wide fringe of (Group 7) First popular in the almost opalescent as a ruby tiffany very pointed petals on short stems seemingly frosted white frills around fl orist shops these are fringed lamp, not one for the faint hearted which should be more weather by frills along the edges of each petal. Thick, lustrous and but then these are showy tulips resilient, a tulip that lives up to its the petals, they are not just lasting fl owers with style and class. doing what they do best! name. frivolous though, they provide a Always admired wherever we show April/May • 18” (45cm) April/May • 12” (30cm) contemporary twist. them with long lasting blooms. £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, Good for cut fl ower. or £24.00 for 50 or £24.00 for 50 April/May • 15” (38cm) Spring Green, Trés Chic or White Any of the coloured tulips with a Bulldog 131-101 £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, Triumphator different silhouette Strong stemmed and darkly purple or £33.00 for 50 except at the base of the fl ower Shirley, Bleu Aimable or Havran Sanne 131-122 White Triumphator which is paler, the fringed edge More pale apricot pink than yellow, 131-46 similarly dark Daytona 131-95 with the tips slightly paler, soft April/May 18” (45cm) Creamy white, and sometimes A superb and perennial favourite, £7.00 for 10, £16.50 for 25, and feminine with a good poise. useful in so many ways – for or £31.00 for 50 tinged with green but edged in a The colour would be perfect for a dramatic contrast, for peaceful Daytona, China Pink or White Parrot sparkling frosted fringe. A cracking terracotta planter? separation of more noisy colours - tulip that looks as though it has just April/May • 18” (45cm) or just for itself, simple and serene, been drawn from the ice bucket, £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, but not so typically lily fl owered in one of the most popular at Chelsea or £25.00 for 50 its shape. where it helps in our ‘colour control’. Elegant Lady or White Triumphator April/May • 20” (50cm) April/May • 15” (38cm) £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 Safe as houses, goes with Cummins, Red Shine or anything everything! Suggested planting else! companions

56 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 viridifl ora Tulips (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa Greenland Tulipa fl aming spring Green Tulipa Spring Green

double petalled Tulips

Tulipa Angelique Tulipa Blue Diamond Tulipa Black Hero

VIRIDIFLORA Greenland 131-44 DOUBLE Black Hero 131-80 A subtle combination with pink and Tall, dark and clean stemmed with TULIPS green coloured fl owers shot with PETALLED smaller, tight shiny petalled heads (Group 8) Multi-coloured with cream, the effect is calming and TULIPS in deep chocolate purple. vertical colour banding, some of unfussy and the colours are easy to April/May • 26” (65cm) these exhibit complicated colour mix with any pink or green coloured (Group 11) Also known as the £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, or £33.00 for 50 patterning, like an artist’s mixing combinations. Paeony fl owered forms. These Spring Green, Ballerina or Flaming palette. In the borders they April/May • 18” (45cm) tend to be late fl owering with Spring Green provide great opportunities to £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, rounded fl ower shapes, fi lled with create subtle combinations. or £23.00 for 50 deep layers of petals. West Point, Flaming Spring Green or Blue Diamond 131-79 Flaming Spring Elegant Lady Angelique 131-24 Big sumptuous rounded bowl Often multi-headed, the heads fi lled shaped fl owers in a rich ruby Green 131-97 Spring Green 131-51 colour. A blue blooded colour that Spring Green (as described below) with ruffl ed petals in delicate pink Pale apple white petals marked shades, genuinely paeony-like from goes with anything, but also looks with the addition of deep red with a wispy green brush stroke on great alone. staining from the base, these will a distance, somewhat shorter in their backs of each petal. Ideal for stature than most. Late fl owering April/May • 24” (60cm) certainly get noticed. £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, separating strong colours in the beauties for borders as well as cut April/May • 18” (45cm) border or for fl ower arranging. One or £23.00 for 50 £8.00 for 10, £18.00 for 25, fl ower. Greenland, Ballade, West Point or of the all-time favourites. or £34.00 for 50 April/May • 16” (40cm) Shirley April/May • 18” (45cm) Spring Green, Greenland and £5.50 for 10, £12.75 for 25, £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, Redshine or £24.00 for 50 or £25.00 for 50 China Pink or Mount Tacoma With everything, and they all look better for it!

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 57 (Credit: GAP Image Library) GAP Image (Credit: Tulipa Orange princess Tulipa La Belle Epoque Tulipa uncle tom

Uvularia grandiflora pallida uvularia grandiflora la belle Orange Princess uvularia grandiflora Epoque 131-104 131-140 Bombproof but quite slow 133-05 Pinkish, or even tea rose coloured, I was tempted to list this alongside growing woodland plants of N. Known as the Merrybells in the turning more apricot as the flowers the favourite Princess Irene, it Is America needing cool leaf-mould eastern USA. Deep yellow flowers develop, a more subtle colour that after all a double form of that tulip. rich soils in part shade. Quite hanging from arching stems. Soft goes well with the pinks and lilacs But being a double this is where it slow growing but established foliaged and completely resistant to that are often prevalent in tulips. falls and If you love the single form clumps are quietly impressive, our coldest weather. April/May • 18” (45cm) you will recognise the similarity and but easy to achieve in time in Apr • 12” (30cm) £7.50 for 10, £17.50 for 25, perhaps be tempted to try them? the right conditions, brilliant £5.00 or £33.00 for 50 I find the encircling green tipped with other choice shade plants Blue Diamond, Ballade or Sanne petals rather appealing. like Trilliums, Sanguinaria and grandiflora April/May • 16” (40cm) Erythronium. £5.25 for 10, £12.25 for 25, pallida 133-06 or £23.00 for 50 A paler form which growing here seems also a bit shorter and earlier. The books do not differentiate Uncle Tom 131-106 them, but this is certainly a different Dark red, late flowering gems that clone from that above. Recherche are neither too big, nor too tall. A and choice. fitting finale to the Tulip season? April • 10” (25cm) April/May • 18” (45cm) £5.00 £5.75 for 10, £13.50 for 25, or £25.00 for 50 Red Shine, Mount Tacoma or Blue Suggested planting Diamond. companions

58 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 Ordering from Avon Bulbs

This catalogue covers the period May 2016 to December 2016. It costs £2. Please retain our acknowledgement Prices are given at the end of each plant description; prices are for a single bulb or plant unless stated otherwise. 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 Please list acceptable alternatives reference number. All plants and bulbs are offered subject to availability. Stocks we anticipate being Delivery may be weather affected 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 despatch ‘Autumn’ orders through from mid September to early November of alternative bulbs that might be acceptable helps greatly. dependant on the prevailing conditions, the ‘Late Summer’ orders between late August and mid September. Payment Delivery can be tailored to your needs Please order by post and send your payment with your order with cheques made out to Avon Bulbs Ltd. “Not To Exceed” (NTE) cheques are a convenient and safe We use the Post Offi ce (Royal Mail) for smaller parcels, Interlink Express for way to allow for slight variations in your order — particularly useful for late orders larger parcels. Both organisations now allow us to specify Safe Place Leaving where availability is less certain, after 1 September. Make the cheque out as usual Instructions and if these are provided no signature on delivery is required, the and sign it but do not date it or complete the value in words or in fi gures. At the top delivery will be made following those instructions. If you do not specify a Safe of the cheque write “Not to exceed £X”, where X is a round number of pounds that Place you will have to sign for the parcel or arrange a redelivery on receipt of their is likely to be enough. Once your order has been sent, we complete the date and card. If you might be away during our delivery season, please tell us – we can fi t amounts to match the amount invoiced (and supplied), bank the cheque and your around most dates. account is settled. Completed cheques (ie not NTE cheques) are banked as orders Providing us with your email address means that you will receive an email from are accepted. us confi rming despatch of your parcel, and a further email from Interlink Express (if your parcel is bigger) confi rming the expected delivery date and time slot of Paying by card: points to note one hour. We normally debit your account when bulbs are despatched, not when your order is If you wish to collect your order please either advise us of the intended date or received, so do try to ensure that your card does not expire before the date when we allow us to suggest one. will need to draw from the account. Please raise problems immediately Please allow for p&p While we try to ensure everything is correctly named and labelled, errors do occur The contribution towards packing and delivery is £4.95 per order (mainland UK). It occasion ally. If we seem to have made a mistake please tell us as soon as possible; is likely that for larger orders this will be exceeded by the costs to ourselves. You will late complaints are very diffi cult to deal with in the same reason if stocks are limited. however receive an acknowledgment, individual planting instructions for all items, a Regret tably, the bulbs we sell cannot be abso lutely guaranteed to fl ower and thrive, strong box and further catalogues from us whilst you continue to order. For customers nature is fi ckle sometimes and we cannot be responsible for its vagaries, or even with addresses outside the UK mainland (Channel Isles, Northern Ireland, Isles of poor gardening. Wight, Man, Shetlands etc.) we will probably need to add a surcharge dependant on Data Protection Act: We do keep computerised records with your name and address the weight of the parcel and your location, this sometimes takes the cost of a parcel (or details for our own and the parcel carrier’s use only. 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 and Switzerland. The minimum postal cost for non UK orders is £10.00.

Five year Diaries! This remarkable diary really is a real memory builder! As you fi ll 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 fi lms 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 59 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: 10

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 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 onion 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 or Switzerland please add £2.50 P&P

60 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 More seeds from Avon Bulbs 777-013 777-014

777-018 777-019 777-xxx Double Black Double Lilac Papaver somniferum 777-012 Fully double fl ower heads of various colours. June fl owering 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 fl ower 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 fl owering species tulip, now A hardy annual from the Hardy biennial fl owering April to early unknown in the wild. Red fl owered, Mediterranean growing to 12-14” May with wonderful chocolate leaves often verdigris marked on the outside (30-45cm) fl owering for much of and lilac fl owers, 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 fl owers in pink, mauve and white. persist with translucent discs that can years to fl ower, but avoid disturbance Easy to grow and especially useful be used in dried arrangements. in the area. Once fl owering will self for providing colourful ground cover seed. Bulbs fl ower when grape sized in poorer soils. or larger. Double Pink Blackcurrant Fizz

777-002 777-006 777-xxx

Glove sizing: If unsure this is a guide – fi nger to wrist, or right round the palm, whichever the larger measure – under 8” we think the Small (7) size is likely to fi t best, over 8” our Medium (10) may be better. Average seed contents: 15 Average seed contents: 25 Average seed contents: 20 Maxifl ex Anthriscus sylvestris Gladiolus tristis Allium cernuum Gardening Gloves ‘Ravenswing’ (Black Cow Parsley) A beautiful South African species that Claret pink fl owered plants of More and more people now garden in gloves. fl owers in April/May in Britain with reasonably well drained locations in These are hard wearing and comfortable wonderful pale straw coloured fl owers 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 fi nely 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 fl owering 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 fi ts nearly white fl owers 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 fl owers are good for benefi cial 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 £4.50 each spread 50cm. of the winter when they will cope with fl ower from seed, some will fl ower in temperatures down to -3ºC. their 2nd year (sent on their own please add £3.00 postage).

669 - 01 Maxifl ex gloves (Medium) £4.50 669 - 02 Maxifl ex gloves (Small) £4.50

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

Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 61 2016 Collections

Couleur Cardinal Recreado Exotic Emperor Daytona

Ruby Collection White Collection

Bulldog Havran White Triumphator Tres Chic

£20.50 £19.75

W by h u it R Colour e Themed or Seasonal Tulip 999-311 Collections. 999-312 10 of each of 4 varieties for planting in pots or the garden. a P Ideal as Gifts. e i ls nk e Ch

£19.25 £19.00

Whispering Dream Blue Ribbon Sanne Princess Irene

Pink Collection Chelsea Collection

Pink Diamond Sanne Havran Angelique

999-313 999-310

62 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 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) 5.75/10 2 11.50

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 63 Office use only: Mail Order for Autumn 2016 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 (least favoured) account.

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Please fold this sheet into a smaller envelope to avoid postal surcharges

64 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2016 2016 Collections

Thalia White Lady Crocus Yalta Iris Harmony

x5 x5 x10 x15

Pale & Interesting Collection Bulbs for Early Flowering Pots

Moschatus Poeticus recurvus Narcissus Topolino Hyacinthus Woodstock

£15.50 £13.75

x5 x15

ting Ea es rl r y te P n o x3 I Themed t x3 Collections s & of Bulbs for 999-317 e 999-316 l autumn planting

a in pots or the P

L garden. i t t Ideal as x10 le s x3 B Gifts m u lu li e Al Bulbs

x10 x3

£13.50 £23.50

Anemone blanda Blue Camassia esculenta Gladiator Pinball Wizard

Little Blue Bulbs Collection Alliums Collection

x10 x10 x10 x5 x3

Muscari azureum Scilla bifolia Scilla siberica hollandicum Powder Puff

999-314 999-315 If undelivered please return to sender: Avon Bulbs Burnt House Farm Mid Lambrook South Petherton Somerset TA13 5HE

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