Buying Spring bulbs in bulk

Good evening,

I’d like to plant up a few borders with tulips and am looking to buy now. Can anyone recommend a good place to buy from in bulk please? Not serious bulk but 100 or 200

I’d specifically like some tulips.

Many thanks,

Ed

 

J Parkers Wholesale J Parker Dutch Bulbs (Wholesale) Ltd. (B2B)
I have not bought from this site but I have from the ordinary J Parkers.

 

Thank you.


I have some purple sensation alliums and just bought 200 tulips which I’d like to plant in the border. I have lasagne planted some pots with different bulbs and looking to do the same with the purple sensation alliums and may floweing Tulips what sort of density should I plant for each bulb etc?

Any help is much appreciated.
Ed

 

Peter Nyssen is a good site with a wide range.
https://www.peternyssen.com

 

I agree with @CarolineL - Nyssens are excellent @machtucker. Farmer Gracy is also good, but they can be expensive. Broadleigh Bulbs are another good company. I wouldn't use, or trust, Parkers or any of their associates apart from for seeds, but I know some people find them ok.

One thing I would say is - those alliums flower around, and through May, so if you're using tulips in a pot with them, that probably won't work well. The tulips will be blocked out by the alliums. Better to keep the tulips with something much earlier flowering, or on their own. Tulips are fussier as to their needs anyway.

 

I would also plant the alliums and tulips in separate pots as the allium foliage can be tall and untidy. I experimented with lasagne planting one year, it was messy. I now only use small bulbs together with tulips, like Iris reticulata which flower early and don't obstruct the tulips.

 

Jacques Amand international, huge range small and large numbers available, usual and unusual bulbs available. If you are anywhere near Stanmore in N London well worth a personal visit, doesn't look much from outside essentially a warehouse. They do mail order too if you can't get there.

 

I was impressed by the quality of some zantedischias and dahlias I ordered from Bulbi earlier this year. This is a Dutch wholesaler with a UK online shop open to individual buyers - the order was shipped directly from the Netherlands as I recall, but turned up quickly and with no customs or other issues.

PS Jacques Amand looks well worth visiting @Allotment Boy, I'm the wrong side of London but will have to make a special trip up there some time!

 

Thanks for the advice. I bought some Tulips 'Menton', which seem to be quite tall and they flower quite late I think. I was planning to plant them in a border with the Alliums but taking your advice re clashing with the Purple Sensation I will plant separately.

p.s. @Clare G I bought them from Bulbi so hopefully they are OK.

 

@Clare G - They supply most by mail order, no problem if you can't get there.

 

That's a lovely site/supplier @Allotment Boy . Oh no...there goes the bank balance again...
I'm not keen on the lasagne thing either @Plantminded. Rarely works well. I only do it with very early small bulbs, like those retic. Irises with tulips, or crocus with later narcissus, or something similar, and never more than 2 types of bulb.
I've also done square/rectangular containers with one side done differently from the other so that they can be turned round, but I much prefer separate pots that I can move around.

 

I planted Tulipa Menton a few years ago, and they were lovely - bright, stately with a good sheen.

 

Well I have already planted up some pots in Lasagne fashion so we will wait and see. It's a learning game so can always change things up next year. Based on your advice though I'm going to plant up one area with Allium 'Purple Sensation' and another with the 'Menton' Tulips.

On another note I'm looking for a bulb planter tool, can anyone recommend one that will be suitable to plant at different depths? Alliums, tulips, etc?

 

I just use a standard bulb planting trowel @machtucker . They're readily available in GCs etc.
The 'digging' part is longer and narrower than a standard trowel so it accomodates most sizes of bulbs. I've had mine for at least 20 years, and I use it for planting everything [small pots] not just for bulbs.
I can't remember what make it is, and the handle's pretty knackered now, but the rest of it is like new.

Mine looks quite like this but without the serrated edge.
https://www.amazon.com/Worth-Garden-Serrated-Transplanter-Stainless/dp/B0CLXNW945

There's full length ones too, with a handle like a spade or fork, and the head is circular and usually serrated, but they're mostly for planting into grass as you need to remove a big plug of soil and it's often much tougher to create a hole.

 

Well I bought a bulb planter which seems to work very well. I've planted about 100 or so Tulips and some Purple Sensation Alliums too. We will see what comes up.