p33 p51 p38 p10 Mail Order Catalogue Spring 2019 p54 Plants and bulbs to flower in the summer and snowdrops p42 www.avonbulbs.co.uk Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 1 Winners of… 30 Gold Medals at Chelsea in 31 years (1987 – 2017) Welcome to the Avon Bulbs spring Catalogue 2019 You will see (from the back cover) that our Events list for February 2019 is more extensive than ever. Ten different events, some of which are over two days (over Avon bulbs what are only four weekends in February) in four different countries which will test our organisation! If you are going to any of these events do remember that contacts we can bring orders for snowdrops, made in advance with us, to collect there. Email: Hopefully we will see a good number of our snowdrop fancying customers somewhere during that month. There is a range of snowdrops that we shall be [email protected] taking to these events that are not listed in this catalogue as there are often only Web: a few of each, but we do like to have things up our sleeves to surprise you with! www.avonbulbs.co.uk A year ago I wrote in my introduction that we would not be attending the Chelsea Flower Show in 2018 after 30 years of continual involvement. That decision Tel: did not prove catastrophic and we managed to provide better displays and do 01460 242177 more business at the other flower shows as a result, consequently we have not applied to exhibit at Chelsea in 2019 either. Times are changing and with that we 01460 249060 too have to try to adapt and change. One cannot however avoid wondering what effect the current political upheaval Burnt House Farm will have on us and life in general. We rely very little on other suppliers for what Mid Lambrook we list in this catalogue. All the special snowdrops and the majority of the bulbs South Petherton are grown here so all the usual determinants such as supply, transit times, Somerset phytosanitary certificates, CITES documentation and exchange rates are still all TA13 5HE known factors. My next catalogue, written and priced up post Brexit when many of these will still be unknown concerns me much more. Chris IRELAND JONES Galanthus Art Nouveau Galanthus Bill Bishop Galanthus Galanthus Galanthus Gloria Fieldgate Suberb Galanthus George Elwes Galanthus Comet Galanthus S Arnott Galanthus John Gray Galanthus Lowick Galanthus Melanie Broughton Galanthus Ding Dong Galanthus Greenfinch Galanthus Midwinter Galanthus Moortown Mighty Galanthus Atkinsii Galanthus Gerard Parker Galanthus Gloria Galanthus Galanthus Fieldgate Suberb Galanthus George Elwes Galanthus Bill Bishop Galanthus Art Nouveau Galanthus Acton Pigot No 3 Galanthus Comet Galanthus Lowick Galanthus John Gray Galanthus Alan’s Treat Galanthus Galanthus Greenfinch Melanie Broughton Galanthus S Arnott Galanthus Angelique Galanthus Midwinter Galanthus Augustus Galanthus Bertram Anderson Galanthus Big Boy Galanthus Ding Dong Galanthus Gerard Parker Galanthus Big Eyes Galanthus Atkinsii Galanthus Blewbury Tart Galanthus Blonde Inge Galanthus Moortown Mighty Galanthus Caryl Barron Galanthus Dragonfly Galanthus Imbolc Galanthus Imbolc Galanthus EA Bowles Galanthus Diggory Galanthus Diggory Galanthus Ecusson d’Or Galanthus Fenstead End Galanthus Fieldgate Prelude Galanthus Flocon de Neige Galanthus Fuzz Galanthus Galadriel Galanthus Irish Green Galanthus Chedworth Galanthus Lapwing Galanthus Godfrey Owen Galanthus Spindlestone Surprise Galanthus Gravity Galanthus Green Brush glorious galanthus Galanthus Green Comet www.avonbulbs.co.uk | Tel: 01460 242 177 | Email: [email protected] Galanthus Green Tear Galanthus Grumpy Galanthus Magnet Galanthus Highdown Galanthus Jessica Galanthus Lady Elphinstone Galanthus Midas Galanthus Long John Silver Galanthus Veronica Cross Galanthus Louise Ann Bromley ‘Glorious Galanthus’ A2 Poster 666-80 Galanthus Trumps Galanthus Matthew Bishop Galanthus Three Ships Galanthus Philippe Andre Meyer Galanthus Wasp Galanthus South Hayes A2 in size (4 times A4!) and double sided so you can choose to see either a more formal Galanthus Miss Adventure Galanthus Lapwing Galanthus Moya’s Green Galanthus Naughton Galanthus Percy Picton Galanthus Galanthus Pieces of Eight array of all the wide variation in form that is displayed by snowdrops, or a more varied and Rosemary Burnham Galanthus Straffan Galanthus Phil Cornish Galanthus St Anne’s Galanthus Spindlestone Surprise Galanthus scharlockii expansive array of less formal shots. Or when you need a change you Galanthuscan Chedworthturn it over! No Galanthus Starling Galanthus Spindlebush Greentip Galanthus Sutton Courtenay Galanthus Greenish Galanthus Angelina Galanthus Trimmer Galanthus Trinity varieties are duplicated so it may even help you identify ones of yours for which labels have Galanthus Polar Bear Galanthus Irish Green Galanthus Trym become lost! All the photos are named. Supplied in a cardboard wrap so as to avoid any Galanthus Trymming Galanthus Trympostor Galanthus Tubby Merlin Galanthus Sentinel Galanthus Walrus Galanthus viridapice creases and so posted separately. Galanthus Welsh Whiskers Galanthus Troyanus Collectors Snowdrops Galanthus Wendy’s Gold glorious galanthus www.avonbulbs.co.uk | Tel: 01460 242 177 | Email: [email protected] These cost £5.00 when posted to UK addresses. www.avonbulbs.co.uk | Tel: 01460 242 177 | Email: [email protected] 2 Avon Bulbs Mail Order Catalogue Spring 2019 Galanthus Magnet Galanthus Trumps Galanthus Philippe Andre Meyer Galanthus Midas Galanthus South Hayes Galanthus Veronica Cross Galanthus Three Ships Galanthus Wasp Galanthus Rosemary Burnham Galanthus scharlockii Galanthus Straffan Galanthus Pieces of Eight Galanthus Polar Bear Galanthus Angelina Galanthus Greenish Galanthus Troyanus Galanthus viridapice Galanthus Sentinel Sign Up to our Newsletter We send out a newsletter once a month (no more!) alerting you to any events we might be attending or awards we might have won, sales at the nursery, seasonal special offers on the website, comments on items in the gardening press, hints and tips which we hope might be useful. All you need to do is register your email address on the website, and you can unsubscribe at any time. If you do receive but never read the Five Year newsletter do Unsubscribe, we do not want to fill your Diaries! Inbox unnecessarily! This remarkable diary really is New Unused a real memory Snowdrop Pots builder! As you fill one We recycle and entry you cannot help but look reuse the pots in which the back to what you wrote on the same day snowdrops have in past years. Keeping a record year on been grown, but year of the weather for the day can really we do get asked help you understand your garden and its for pots by keen microclimate, as well as remind you of your Galanthophiles gardening successes and lessons to learn. who might be But you can also include films you saw, growing their books you read, how much jam you made, own snowdrops who called for a chat or came to dinner, what to sell or give you ate, what the grandchildren told you, the away. We try not to encourage the growing of snowdrops in pots long list is endless! term, but of all the pots we have used over the years Finished in a wipe clean cover and spiral these seem the most suitable for single snowdrop bulbs. bound with botanical illustrations by Susan They are 9cm square and 12.5cm deep with good Olgilvy marking the start of each month. 6” drainage holes and of a robust construction and only wide (15 cm) and just over 9” deep (23.5 available in black! cm) and weighing 770g these are provided Sent with any order they will not incur additional postage in a purpose made delivery sleeve and can charges, sent alone please allow £3.00 be posted at any time (they make great Christmas presents) but can be started at 668-01 Snowdrop Pots £2.50 for 10 any time of year. Unique to ourselves and not available elsewhere. £17.50 including P&P (within UK) Additional EU postage £6.00 Insect friendly Plants we list which have received the Plants RHS Commendation ‘Award of Garden Merit’ are now tagged with the trophy We believe the plants where we have highlighted symbol. Space does not allow us to add the name in yellow to be particularly beneficial to the hardiness rating – please be aware the award pollinating insects such as bees, butterflies, moths applies to the ease of cultivation, excellence and and hover flies. constitution, but not necessarily hardiness. Tel: 01460 242 177 • Email: [email protected] • Website: www.avonbulbs.co.uk Avon Bulbs 3 Moortown Phil Cornish Philippe Andre Mayer These are the Crown Jewels of the winter garden - the number of cultivars and interest in new forms of Galanthus continues to grow year on year. All these are propagated and grown on the nursery, a very labour intensive process which is reflected in the price - and many are strictly limited in their availability and sold on a first-come-first-served basis. Very occasionally mistakes do happen, in the process of growing these plants over the COLLECTOR’S SNOWDROPS past 3 or 4 years or when potting dormant snowdrops which all look alike, but if this South Hayes Pieces of Eight happens these will be rectified. All are flowering size and will either be in flower or will have flowered when we send them, having been carefully knocked out of the pots in which they have been individually grown for the past five months with their root systems intact and carefully packaged along with their label. Plant them out immediately unless the ground is frozen, water them in and protect them from the most severe weather till they have recovered. Numbers in brackets after the price refer to the page number for a more detailed description in the snowdrop ‘bible’, “Snowdrops” by Matt Bishop, Aaron Davis and John Grimshaw.