erythronium revolutum p24 camassia leichtlinii p16 fritillaria meleagris p26 scilla autumnalis p6 erythonium white beauty Mail Order Catalogue p24 Autumn 2018 uvularia grandiflora Plants and bulbs to flower in the spring Telephone 01460 242177 www.avonbulbs.co.uk p58 ) only Orderssent (overUK free mainland £100 of P&P are Winners of… 30 Gold Medals at Chelsea in 31 years Avon bulbs contacts Email: Welcome to the Avon Bulbs [email protected] autumn Catalogue 2018 Web: www.avonbulbs.co.uk You will see references to being RHS Master Growers through Tel: 01460 242177 this catalogue. One nursery is 01460 249060 chosen by the RHS to be the Master Grower at each of the Burnt House Farm five major RHS shows. Our turn Mid Lambrook came at Malvern in early May South Petherton, © RHS where we presented a larger Somerset TA13 5HE than usual exhibit beneath big images provided by the RHS of the nursery and staff. The result was great and boosted what was an already good show for us. It was a major effort, but a successful one. We had already decided to take a year off from doing the Chelsea Flower Show and with those shows so close together were glad that we had. As it is, we have had a rare opportunity to do a lot more this spring Late without the preparation for Chelsea. We have split more plants at the ‘right’ time, seem to have temporarily got Availability on top of the weeds and hope to have a very busy time and Website at the Gardeners’ World event in June having been able The website now contains a great to prepare better for that. deal more information about all One of the points that we were trying to make at Malvern the bulbs we offer, their history © RHS was that the display was and provenance and more about grown from just the same bulbs that we supply to our the planting situations that suit customers. What you see is what you potentially should them, as well as a repeat of the be able to grow if bought from us. We do try always to planting instructions supplied provide the biggest and best bulbs to achieve this. with the bulbs. Wishing you good gardening If there is not enough information Chris Ireland-Jones here for your needs, do have a look there instead. We also mark bulbs as ‘Sold Out’ on the The Chelsea question: website when they become Sold Do better results from other shows replace Chelsea for us? They do go some Out, so if you are ordering later way to doing that but the jury is still out and we will have to make a decision this in the season and want to check summer on whether we return. Much has changed since (for us) the best days on availability you might like to of Chelsea some 10- 15 years ago. The winters are warmer (so chilling plants to exhibit in late May gets progressively more difficult), immediate orders that check the website. result from Chelsea have plummeted (as the Internet effect grows), the show is longer and more costly to do (London is very expensive), the TV coverage of Also if we have small numbers of exhibits in the marquee is so limited and patchy that its potential benefit has to be ‘special’ bulbs to sell we do tend discounted (and have you noticed, nurseries now no longer get mentioned in the straplines on TV even if their plants are being filmed?) Most importantly I suspect to offer them on the website – that the public who attend are in the main no longer such interested gardeners, check the Special Offers pages. it seems that a lot of the tickets are going to the ‘wrong sort of people’ for us!!. Chelsea is now an ‘Experience’ or a ‘Destination’ and a Social Event. We provide part of the spectacle but seemingly without much measurable benefit. ii Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Autumn 2018 Plants and Bulbs that mostly Late Summer 2018 flower in the autumn, soon after planting, Plants and bulbs to flower in the Autumn or else items that just prefer early We aim to deliver orders made from this section mid Aug to early September and will close planting. this section in mid September. Please use the order form at the end of this section. Amaryllis x amarygia parkeri alba Colchicum autumnale album Photo credit: GAP Images p Colchicum autumnale Amaryllis x tubergenii Acis X Amarygia Colchicum parkeri alba 56-10 autumnalis 106-10 Easy to grow in good, deep A hybrid between Amaryllis and moisture retentive soil, these Slender wiry green or russety Brunsvigia producing very large appear from their summer coloured stems, carrying delicate bulbs. Flowering with apple-white dormancy without their leaves Photo credit: GAP Images looking white papery bells. They trumpets with a huge perfume to flower in the autumn – hence p were thought to be autumn arranged all around a green stem. their common name of ‘naked Acis autumnalis flowering forms of the snowflake Sept/Oct • 20” (50cm) ladies’. A pointer to the end of family but are now in a distinct £8.75 summer, their bright flowers last group of their own, ideal for a incredibly well considering their trough or container that stays X Amarine apparent fragility. The leaves autumnale 73-05 drier. Plant the bulbs (only the size tubergenii 56-11 appear in the early spring. Softly, satin-sheened in mauve. of large peas) 3” (7.5cm) deep, They need planting 3” (8cm) They naturalise most effectively Unusual hybrids between Amaryllis nearly touching. deep - perhaps a little more for either in sun or partial shade where and Nerines. Bright cerise pink Aug/Sept • 9” (22cm) ones with bigger bulbs – and 6” they often produce several flowers flowered like Nerines but more like (15cm) apart. They will naturalise £8.00 for 5 from each corm. An easy British Amaryllis in that they are winter effectively, but the mower will native known as Meadow Saffron, growing, so protection is needed have to be restrained until the Wychwood Forest has thousands from severe frosts. leaves wither away in June. Amaryllis flowering each autumn. Sept/Oct • 15” (38cm) Please order early – after the end Amaryllis (and their hybrids) £4.50 each of September they seem to flower Sept • 6” (15cm) are winter growing, hence with regardless of the conditions. £12.00 for 3 exposed leaves in winter they do need to be planted in a sheltered autumnale site where they are likely not RHS Perfect for Pollinators. to be chilled below about -4°C. album 73-06 A cool conservatory should The RHS Perfect for Pollinators mark is only The white-flowered form of the be fine, with the pots moved given to plants that support pollinating insects in species above, although some outside in the early spring. A gardens. Bees, butterflies, moths, hoverflies and are pinkish-white. They tolerate summer baking in dry conditions many others visit flowers to feed on nectar and full sun but are especially useful ‘ripens and primes’ the bulbs for pollen; while doing so they transfer pollen and in some shade in damper, but not flowering. In favoured spots one increase seed set and fruit development. Find waterlogged conditions. may be possible to grow them out more at rhs.org.uk/plants Sept • 6” (15cm) successfully outside. £12.00 for 3 Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 1 Photo credit: GAP Images p Colchicum speciosum album Cyclamen coum Cyclamen coum roseum Photo credit: GAP Images Photo credit: GAP Images Photo credit: GAP Images p p p Colchicum SPECIOSum Colchicum Waterlily Cyclamen coum silver leaf Cyclamen coum album speciosum 73-15 The best of the larger forms for Cyclamen most gardens, and it spreads and These are all hardy, tough and naturalises effectively. Stronger perennial and once established stemmed (and later flowering) than C. will seed about. If you can plant autumnale with longer flower stems them early (as a consequence and more richly coloured with thicker, of ordering from this section) rounded, rosy pink-lilac petals. these Cyclamen will arrive Sept/Oct • 8” (20cm) ‘properly’ dormant and ready to £12.00 for 3 pop in and awake in their new circumstances. You may order them also from the Autumn speciosum section, but by then there will album 73-16 probably be some growth visible Gorgeous shimmering goblets in on them. These are all seed pure white. A very special plant raised in the UK. which could be the highlight of a Cyclamen coum dark pinks carefully chosen planting scheme in fertile soil, ideally where it is not SPRING too dark in the spring, but they FLOWERING could help brighten up a shady coum album 51-118 Plants we list which corner in the autumn. At the end of have received the RHS FORMS White flowered, but even the white Commendation ‘Award the 19th Century the famous firm of ones have a dark pink ‘nose’. of Garden Merit’ are Backhouse in Yorkshire were selling £14.00 for 3 now tagged with them for 5 Guineas each! Worth coum 51-116 the trophy symbol. every penny now! Space does not allow us to add In their first or second flowering coum dark pink 51-131 the hardiness rating – please be Sept/Oct • 8” (20cm) season these were not graded for Tubers that have been selected for aware the award applies to the £6.00 each or £17.00 for 3 ease of cultivation, excellence and colour in the spring so may be white their dark pink flowers.