Spring is a wonderful time of year for fresh flowers, particularly bulb flowers. The following pages will help you choose your fresh cut flowers or potted flowering bulbs at your local flower retailers; it will hopefully give you some interesting information and useful care tips along the way!

Winter and Spring bring a wonderful array of flowering bulbs to choose from. The earliest-appearing ones will have been forced to induce early flowering - this involves careful manipulation of temperature and light levels to bring on the plant by several weeks. Forced bulbs are often sold dry, in early Autumn, so that people can try this at home. The bulbs come in different types - some may be corms (like cyclamen) which look different, but are similar to bulbs in their function.

Amaryllis, Cyclamen, Daffodils & Narcissi, Freesia, Hyacinths, Tulips.
(Click on the pictures opposite for more information)

Purple, white, or yellow cup-shaped flowers on short stems, followed by narrow grass-like leaves. Potted only.

Small purple-blue cones of tightly-packed flowers, with a slight musk scent. Usually cut flowers.

Large three-pointed flowerheads of blue, purple or yellow in proportion to their short stems. Potted only.