Ready, steady, go!

The time to plant spring flowers has finally arrived, and this offers great opportunities for the coming period. Even for people without a garden, but with a terrace or balcony (like me), a wonderful time is now starting. It has always been remarkable that flowers - often associated with lush large gardens - can bring that same feeling of joy to a modest balcony. I always do my best to get the early varieties to flower as early as possible and to let the later varieties continue to flower as long as possible. With flower pots you have a little more influence on what your flowers do than in the garden, so it always feels extra good when what you want to happen happens.

Another advantage of flower pots is of course that you can still move them: this way you can always put the types that you like best in full view. Small pots can be placed on garden tables, large pots often look nice in front of the window, because the flower then comes out above the frame and you can see them from the inside. I have a total of 200 pots on my roof terrace. Those 200 pots also contain so many different types and mixtures, and some of them have been on the roof terrace for a number of years through all kinds of weather and always come back faithfully. There are enough types that do not need any extra protection when it comes to the weather.

I use all sorts of pots myself, as long as they have a hole at the bottom to drain excess water. This is actually the most I do for some flowers, and it is precisely with those varieties that I actually do not pay that much attention that I am so happy. It then feels a bit like they really come back for me.

The flowers that were my first bloomers this year are Iris reticulata and Eranthis. I planted them years ago in a pot with some other perennials in it and every year I am amazed that all those flowers become beautiful at the same time.

The first bloomers of this year: Iris reticulata and Eranthis

I really like to plant flowers in pots that already have trees, perennials, or grasses in them. In my opinion, the flowers stand out even better because of that extra green. I have another type of crate here in which I planted this Daffodil. It is in front of my kitchen window, and I am always happy with it. This is Narcissus bulbcodium . I got it from Carlos a few years ago and it is still one of my favorite Daffodils. It may look fragile, but this is a tough Daffodil, and it is often already blooming in February.

I often plant the small bulbs of Crocus tommasinianus in small groups, so that the pot gets nice tufts of crocuses. These flowers are also there early in the spring.

' Snow Glory ' and Muscari ' Mountain Lady ' have been favourites of mine for years

I also have a lot of Daffodils. This is another example of a species that has been coming back for several years in a row. It also happens to be in a pot with Irises. This is the Narcis Thalia .

Tulip “ Marilyn ”, a tulip that blooms fantastically for weeks!

Experience has taught me personally that you shouldn't put so much effort into choosing which tulips to pot. There is always a lot of wind on my roof terrace, but the tulips I plant are often still more than half a metre tall. Because they are often close together in a pot, they catch each other's wind and support each other a little. I have not found any broken stems or pots so far, so I hope that will remain the case this year. I usually only plant in November, and only cover the top layer of soil with leaves that I can remove from my roof. I actually never get extra material for the winter. I do protect the larger pots with nets so that the tulips are not eaten by squirrels: they are actually my biggest enemies. They try to bury nuts in the pots and then dig up all the tulips.

A sweet looking squirrel who unfortunately thinks tulip bulbs and nuts go together.

The pots in which I plant my showpieces are actually always pots containing a certain type of mix. In Jacqueline van der Kloet's book I learned a good method to achieve a layered effect in a mixture: the late, large flowers should be planted at the bottom, the early ones should be planted a bit higher. She gives a lot of details and examples of this method in her book, a real recommendation as far as I'm concerned. I have several white tulips here, double and single mixed together, accompanied by white and blue Anemones. The whole thing is a real eye-catcher for a good two months.

It all depends on good mixing: Tulips and Anemone blanda “White Splendor” and “ Blue Shades ”

This is the same pot, but three weeks later. The double white tulips also smell wonderful!

Alliums are my favorite late spring bloomers. I have a nice little one in the picture here, Allium neapolitanum. I also have Allium sphaerocephalin and Giganteum in pots, but I will show those another time: I think they were in last week's newsletter, the Big Five .

Today I feel like Carlos often does, I think: I could go on and on about the different pots I am proud of this year and make this email the length of a novel, but I will restrain myself. I want to remind you once again that anything goes when it comes to combining, and you have already won the moment you can enjoy the first early bloomers.

My bulbs for this year have arrived! I wish you much planting happiness for this year, and send you my warmest regards from my roof terrace.

Kind regards from Germany,

Claudia Gölz

PS: Are you also following us on Facebook? and Instagram ? My colleagues post the most beautiful pictures there!