The Bulb Expert: The world's best-selling book on bulbs (Expert books) [Paperback]

There are few more cheerful sights than spring-flowering crocuses heralding another season of hope and the pleasures of springtime colour in our gardens. Gardeners who are devotees of bulbs will have expectations of drifts of daffodils and "unsurpassed" tulips brightening even the darkest day. These three species plus the fragrant hyacinth make up what Dr Hessayon refers to as the "big four" that dominate the bulb scene. We are reminded that there is so much more, the learned Hessayon gives us the full story of the garden bulb--a fascinating story, would you believe it, from the "dawn of civilisation" up to your own garden?

The main purpose of this book is to reveal just how many different bulbs are available apart from the "big four", plants which are a joy to discover and which will brighten every season of the year. As with all the "Expert" titles this book is an easy read. It tells you in a most straightforward manner what to buy and where to buy it and then reveals, in an illustrated A to Z guide, hundreds of different species--a selection that is bound to intrigue and challenge you.

The largest section of the book is the provision of expert knowledge on a vast range of available plants, old favourites and new varieties. For those who only buy plants with pronounceable names, there is an idiot-proof pronouncing dictionary so that, within minutes, names from ACHIMENES to ZEPHYRANTHES will roll off your tongue like that of a learned botanist. If that sounds too intellectually challenging, Chapter 3 provides a back-to-basics straightforward description of how to grow bulbs--for the absolute beginner there is even an illustration of a spade and a hole!

A delightfully practical book packed full of interest and expert knowledge. --T W Falinska

A guide to year-round colour using indoor and outdoor bulbs.

The Bulb Expert shows you how to get the very best from your bulbs, both indoors and outdoors.From the ever-popular daffodils, tulips and crocuses to more unusual varieties, it offers tips on:

Choosing the right bulbs, with a complete A-Z.

How to plant, feed and grow bulbs.

Using bulbs in containers, beds and borders.

How to get colour all year round.

Dealing with bulb pests and diseases

A complete guide to year-round colour using indoor and outdoor bulbs.

* Comprehensive A-Z photographic listing of bulbs.

* Chapters on bulb use, pests and diseases and growing bulbs.

* There is even a pronounciation dictionary!

Dr David Hessayon initiated a major innovation in gardening publications in 1959 with the first of his Gardening Expert guides. These best-selling guides have had an unparalleled influence on gardening over the past 50 years. There are over 51 million copies in print. He was awarded the 1993 Gardening Book of the Year Award from the Garden Writers Guild and received the first-ever Lifetime Achievement 'Oscar' at the National British Book Awards. In 1999 he received a Guinness World Record Award as 'Britain's best-selling living author of the 1990s'. He lives in Essex, and has two daughters and four grandchildren.

The close association of human beings with bulbs dates back to prehistoric times, but the story continues to unfold. Not many years ago the main purpose for buying bulbs was to fill flower beds or to edge borders, but nowadays nearly half the bulbs we buy are planted in containers. These bulbs used to be bought loose from garden shops, High St stores etc. or in bags or sacks from mail order companies and nurseries – now most popular small bulbs are sold in colourful and informative prepacks.

So the Bulb Story continues to evolve, but the basic buying pattern has remained unchanged throughout this century. The main season for purchasing and planting remains the autumn months and three-quarters of all the bulbs we buy are spring-flowering ones. Gladioli, Dahlias and Lilies are bought by many later in the year for summer display, but the bulb scene is dominated by the big four – Narcissus, Tulip, Crocus and Hyacinth.

It seems surprising that such a wide and diverse group of plants should be dominated by just four genera – imagine if half our garden shrubs or half our herbaceous border plants were restricted to just four types! On reflection it is perhaps not so surprising. Crocuses with Snowdrops are the main heralds which tell us that spring is on the way, and no other plant provides such a splash of colour as the many varieties of Tulips and Narcissi on show during April and May.

Spring colour, then, is one of the reasons for this universal popularity, and so is their ease of cultivation – hardly anything can go wrong provided the soil is not waterlogged. All you have to do is dig a hole which is two or three times deeper than the bulb and then replace the soil after planting – there is nothing more to do until the floral display is over. No watering to worry about, no sap-sucking pests to worry about – just a great spring show.

Still, it isn’t quite as simple as that. The Daffodil or Tulip bulb you have bought will have its flowering quality already determined, and if it is healthy and sufficiently large then the skill of the gardener will have little effect. What happened in future years, however, does depend on following the rules outlined in Chapter 3. With proper care and cultivation these bulbs will improve and multiply over the years – with poor handling the stock may quick rapidly deteriorate.

The main purpose of this book is to reveal just how many different bulbs are available apart from the big four. Plants to bloom at any season of the year, plants as small as a mouse or as tall as a horse, plants for sandy soils and boggy patches, for beds, borders, grassland, pots, woodland, windowsills, cold greenhouses and heated conservatories. Some bulbs are tricky, but many of the Cinderella varieties are colourful and easy to grow – they are just waiting to be discovered.

The word bulb has been used several times on this page and it appears on the cover of this book, but it has no botanical significance. It is used to cover all the bulbous plants – those species of the plant world which produce fleshy storage organs. Included here are the true bulbs (see page 4) as well as corms, tubers. Rhizomes and tuberous roots which can be purchased in the dormant state for planting. The purpose of this store of moisture and nutrients is to tide the plant over its period of natural dormancy when the soil is dry or cold. This resting period may be in winter or summer, depending on the bulb in question.

On the following pages you will find the background to hundreds of different species and how to care for them, and it is necessary once again to plead for you to be a little more adventurous. A few bulbs are for the specialist and rather more need indoor protection, but even the smallest plot can have Puschkinia, Eranthis, Erythronium, Ipheion, Hardy Cyclamen and Leucojum alongside the Crocuses and Narcissi in the spring garden. Summer offers even more opportunities to try something different. The Lily varieties are rightly popular, but for something different you can try St. Bernard’s Lily, Spider Lily or the Delicate Lily. There is no need to stick to bowls of Hyacinth, Daffodil, Crocus and the giant Hippeastrum as your indoor bulbs – Chapter 2 describes scores of varieties which will grow in your conservatory or living room.

Look at the pictures in the A-Z guide, read the descriptions carefully and get to know a little more about this still largely-unexplored region of the plant world.