Floral Carpet Shade Collection - 40 bulbs

An assortment of 40 small bulbs selected for their ability to flower from late winter to spring in shaded areas of the garden that are often unattractive at this time of year. Once planted in slightly cool soil, they will multiply and faithfully return each year without any maintenance. All are hardy.

This Floral Carpet Shade Collection consists of:

10 Greater Snowdrops - Galanthus elwesii: a botanical species that stands 20 cm (8 in) tall, distinguished from the classic snowdrop by the delicacy of its white, trailing flowers with long petals, as well as its larger and wider leaves. It blooms in February. It is a faithful plant and easy to grow in cool soil, and it self-seeds spontaneously.

15 Winter Aconites - Eranthis hyemalis: this charming, prolific tuberous perennial illuminates the garden with its small, star-shaped bright yellow flowers. They bloom almost at ground level from February, before the appearance of foliage, at the same time as snowdrops. Winter Aconites spread spontaneously as a carpet.

15 Cos Island Cyclamen - Cyclamen coum: this resistant species is one of the easiest to grow. The plant bears pink flowers in winter, adorned with a small purple spot at the base, 10 cm (4 in) above the ground. Its small, round foliage, dark green with varying shades of silver-grey marbling, appears in autumn and persists until late spring before disappearing and entering dormancy in summer. The tubers are sensitive to excessive humidity, both in winter and summer.

The bulbs are packed and labelled separately.

They are among the first flowers to appear in spring, along with Crocus chrysanthus and Christmas roses, with which they can be mixed in a sunny spot. To extend the flowering period of your bed or rockery, also consider blue anemones and hepaticas, for example. To enjoy a double flowering, add some Naples cyclamens that bloom in autumn. All these small bulbs will thrive in a cool rockery, in the company of trailing bugles or an easy-to-grow fern called Blechnum penna-marina: these perennials will occupy the space without smothering the bulbs when their foliage disappears.