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Hi all,i've got a few handful of bulbs to plant and wondered if they will multiply on their own or will i need to buy more?

Species include,snakes head fritilary,bluebells,wild tulips,wild daffodils,snowdrops and lesser celandine.The soil is adequate enough and i know how deep to plant them but i'm not sure about their spreading habit.Will i have to dig them up at a later stage to split and seperate them?

Any advice would be helpful. Thanks.


Are these unplanted bulbs or bulbs in pots cos if you're in the northern hemisphere they should have been planted out in the ground from September to November or in pots and then kept cool and dark until the first shoots showed.

Frits, bluebells and snowdrops in particular don't like drying out and may not work now but, assuming they're viable, they will slowly spread by offsets and self seeding.  How quickly they do it depends on how happy they are and it' seasy enough to divide up any clumps that become congested in a few years time if you do it in teh green once the flowers have faded.

The only one I would have thought coul dget invasive is the lesser celandine.

As suggested the celandine will not need any encouraging to spread. It can be invasive but if you are happy to have it grow in a wild area then you should be ok. It tends to die away after flowering and rweturns the following Spring.

All the rest will eventually spread either by seed or by splitting but that will take at least a couple of years for the clumps to build up enough for you to split them up. If you want more any quicker then buy in bunches in the green in Spring after they have flowered. Fritts are in the nurseries in flower now. you can also grow your own from seed. Mine are in their third year and I will probably plant them out this year into the garden.

Woodgreen wonderboy

I don't think spreading will be much of a problem. i have some of these plants in the grass outside of my backdoor which allows me to see and enjoy them without going outside in the bad weather. Good idea to start in pots, get one year's enjoyment out of them in greenhouse or whereever, and then plant out when flower goes over. Bulbs straight in ground could lead to losses. Go for it.

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