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Harbingers Of Spring In Flower-boxes

Flower bulbs are ideally suited for planting in flower-boxes and pots. They will give your balcony or terrace a colourful spring look. Consider using tulips (e.g. double and single early tulips, Triumph, greigii and kaufmanniana), hyacinths, narcissi, grape hyacinths, Anemone blanda, Chionodoxa, botanical iris varieties, Puschkinia, Scilla, snowdrops and crocuses. Flower bulbs can be planted in virtually all types of flower-boxes, as long as there is good drainage (e.g. good drainage can be obtained by placing potsherds over drainages holes about 1 cm in diameter). It goes without saying that the flower-boxes must have sufficient depth. You can plant the bulbs closer together than you usually would in the garden. Flower bulbs can be used extremely well in combination with other plants and greenery. You can even plant flower bulbs in two or three layers, so that the flowering period is considerably extended (see illustration). Water them regularly and remove wilted flowers. In order to protect the flower bulbs against severe frost in winter, the flower-boxes can best be covered temporarily, e.g. with paper. But you can also move them to a frost-free area, but not to a heated location where temperatures rise above 13 degrees celsius.