Mr Bulbs, Johnny Walkers, of Taylors Bulbs is a natural when it comes to enthusing passion for spring flowering bulbs. After this years success he has now won 15 consecutive Gold Medals at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and now he is passing on his hints and tips about bulb planting to millions of Garden Centre Customers via Garden Radio during September.
Johnny’s really got a bee in his bonnet about planting bulbs in containers this year. “That’s the way everybody, whatever size of garden they have can make the most of bulbs.”
“Lasagne planting is the best way to describe my favourite method of container planting. Closely planted layers of bulbs to give successions of colour are sure to be a success.”
“This year you can plant a container to give striking colour contrasts by using tulip Queen of Night at the bottom, white daffodil Sailboat in the middle and Bulb of the Year, crocus Ruby Giant at the top.”
But fragrance on the patio and by the back door is the way spring bulbs give Johnny the greatest pleasure. “My favourite thing about Hyacinths is the fragrance.” He has to have Hyacinths in his garden; “I always have a container at the back door, as I go in and out every day, absolutely wonderful.”
And which new bulb does Johnny think will be a new bestseller by the end of the season? “Hemisphere is an interesting development in the tulip world because it comes in different colours, its pink, its cream. So you get a mass of different colours from one variety.” Early indications from the Bestsellers charts data are proving Johnny right; this week Hemisphere is the second highest placed tulip variety at No 10 in the Autumn Bulbs chart.