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EUROPEAN FLOWER MARKET

GUIDEINCLUDES BULB GUIDE FROM

SARAH RAVEN

BLOOMING MARVELLOUS MARKETS

Most gardening enthusiasts know that there’s nowhere better to see and buy bulbs than at a flower market and Europe offers some of the very best varieties.

Holland, for example, has an incredible range of exotic bulbs on offer and is usually five years ahead of anywhere else, with the biggest range of colours, shapes and forms anywhere in the world. The bulbs are often excellent value too; produced in such abundance that a bag of Tulips or a hand-tied bunch often cost half what it would at home. Wherever you go, be it France, Belgium or Holland, the markets and florists are rich with possibilities.

• Ghent has the most amazing flower market every Sunday morning. It’s perfect to buy some beautiful plants and blooms, en-route back home

• Bruges Flower and Food Market runs every Wednesday, it is a small market, but well worth a visit.

• Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam is a historic botanical garden with rare plants and a butterfly house. And don’t forget th fantastic historic Tulip collection at Hortus Bulborum in Limmen (located an hour from Amsterdam). It’s one of my favourite places in the world in spring.

• Bloemenmarkt - The Floating Flower Market in Amsterdam. The market is unique, because all the merchandise is displayed on floating barges. This is a relic from the days when the flowers and plants sold at this market were shipped in by barges. Fresh flowers are still brought in every day but nowadays by vans!

• Utrecht in Holland also has a large flower market at Janskerkhof and at the Oudegracht with a huge range of different varieties to see.

• Flora Holland in Amsterdam is the famous auction house where millions of flowers are sold and distributed daily worldwide. It’s a real experience and well worth a visit.

• The Botanical Garden of Delft University of Technology has its origins in Holland’s colonial past and is a green paradise, boasting a wide variety of plants, trees, herbs and spices. It is open every day to visitors, for a minimal 2 Euros per person.

ONES NOT TO MISS

HOLLAND• Keukenhof in Holland - 20 March to 17 May • Leeuwarden Flower Market - 14 May • Noordwijk to Haarlem Flower parade - 25 to 26 April

BELGIUM • Groot-Bijgaarden (Grand-Bigard) - 3 April to 3 May• The Carpet of Flowers in Brussels - 13 to 16 August • Fleuramour flower exhibition in Alden Biesen - 25 to 28

September • Easter Sunday Flower Market - 5 April

FRANCE• Spring Show in Paris - 15 to 17 May • Spring Show in Paris - 15 to 18 October

SPAIN • St George’s Flower Markets in

Barcelona - 23 April

HIDDEN GEMS

This guide has been written for us by gardener, writer and television presenter, Sarah Raven. Read all about the wonderful flower markets you can visit within easy reach of our European ports in Amsterdam, Dunkirk, Calais and Newhaven. Sarah has also provided advice and guidance on when, how and where best to plant your bulbs.

“Gardens without bulbs are like the sea without its fish — they provide the colour and life.” Sarah Raven

No matter what part of Europe you’re off to, there are lots of markets on offer to tempt and delight. Here is our round–up of the best ones on offer this season:

THE BEST MARKETS ON OFFER THIS YEAR

SARAH ON EUROPEAN FLOWER MARKETS

TOP TIPVisiting Keukenhof in Holland?

Make sure you pick up armfuls

of magnificent Parrot Tulips and

sumptuous towering Amaryllis

in the brand new colour of

soft apple green. Also look out

for the black crimson variety,

an unusual and eye-catching

decoration at Christmas.

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• For the spring season, try Tulips. Tulips are the Oscar winners of every garden’s spring stage.

• Plant Alliums and Lilies too, as they help to pick up the colour baton once the tulips have performed.

• Cyclamen, Snowdrops, Scillas and Crocus are also good for spring, and help to bring us out of the colourless winter.

• Cheering perfumes of Hyacinths and Narcissi are also good options, as they’re nice to pick and bring inside.

FOR SPRING

• Try the large-flowered Gladioli like the almost black ‘Espresso’ or the sharp and beautiful green ‘Green Star’. Its scented cousin, the Acidanthera, is also a glamorous option for planting anytime after the last frost.

FOR SPRING / SUMMER

• Whether you have sun, shade or a windy coastal back garden, you can’t go wrong with Narcissi – they’ll grow anywhere and still be flowering away in twenty years time. Choose a multi-headed variety such as ‘Silver Chimes’ or ‘Geranium’ and you’ve got long-lasting cut flowers too.

FOR ALL CLIMATES, INCLUDING HARSH COASTAL TERRAINS

• Tulips and Daffodils are an obvious choice for sunny spots, and are the perfect companion to wallflowers.

• When selecting varieties, choose those that match sunny colours – such as oranges, pinks and purples.

FOR SUN AND INLAND

• You can brighten shady patches with shade-tolerant bulbs such as Aconites and Snowdrops for January and February.

• Follow with the large-flowered Anemone blanda ‘White Spendour’ or ‘Blue Shades’ and Narcissi for March and April.

• Finish with Bluebells in late April and May.

• White varieties of Tulips, such as the early ‘Purissima’ and later ‘White Triumphator’ and ‘Spring Green’ all thrive in partial shade too.

FOR SHADE

SARAH’S ADVICE ON WHEN TO PLANT

MARCH TO JUNE

• Plant bulbs such as Gladioli, Freesias and Acidantheras now, allowing 10cm between each bulb. Dahlias should also be planted now, allowing 75cm between bulbs.

SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER

• Except for Tulips, spring-flowering bulbs such as Daffodils are best planted in September or October into holes twice the depth of the bulb.

• The first to do are Narcissi. These benefit and flower better from getting their roots down and well established before the

demands of flowering. They’ll grow anywhere and will still be flowering away in twenty years time.

• Bluebells, Aconites and Snowdrops should also be planted during this time.

NOVEMBER

• Tulips go in later and deeper than any other spring bulbs. Deeper planting means your bulbs are more likely to flower year after year. And don’t worry about the cold temperatures either – this helps to wipe out viral and fungal diseases that lurk in the soil.

SARAH’S ADVICE ON WHAT BULBS TO PICK

Once you’ve had an opportunity to gather your favourite bulbs at a flower market, it’s time to get ready for the planting stage. Not sure where to start? Here are my top tips for success:

• For smaller bulbs like Fritillaries, Crocus and Snowdrops, you dig the holes with a trowel and then plant.

• For larger bulbs like Narcissi and Camassia, a bulb planter is the quickest and easiest thing. It acts like a corer, removing a cylinder of soil.

SARAH’S ADVICE ON HOW TO PLANT BULBS

A grassy lawn is a perfect backdrop to small bulbs particularly around the edges where the grass tends to be a little longer. For planting either:

• Use a bulb planter and pop them in one by one, or

• Peel back the turf, loosen the soil beneath if compacted, add some grit and the scatter the bulbs before covering them back over with a section of turf.

SARAH’S ADVICE ON HOW TO PLANT IN GRASS

• Bulbs are also perfect plants for pots – so they’re fantastic even if you don’t have a garden.

• For best results, create a ‘bulb lasagne’, by planting the largest and latest flowering bulbs at the lowest level (with at least six inches of soil/compost below the bottom of the bulb), and the early flowering, smaller bulbs on top. Planting this way will ensure you will have different varieties of bulbs flowering one after another.

SARAH’S ADVICE ON HOW TO PLANT BULBS IN POTS

DFDS Seaways operates up to 44 sailings a day between Dover and France on its Dover-Dunkirk and Dover-Calais routes, two daily sailings between Newcastle and Amsterdam and four daily sailings between Newhaven and Dieppe, making it the perfect gateway to Europe.

Getting there

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TOP TIPOn heavy soil, add a little grit

or spent compost to the newly

dug hole, drop in the bulb and

move on to the next. As you cut

the second hole, this dislodges

the first core of soil still sitting

in the bulb planter, which can

then be placed over your first

bulb.

TOP TIPIf you’re planting in grass,

do not cut the grass and bulb foliage until the bulb leaves have turned yellow. It’s also

important not to add any fertiliser to the grass. If the

soil is very poor you can use a sprinkling of potash.

TOP TIPNot sure on what to use for your lasagne? Then try early Tulips – such as ‘Prinses Irene’ and ‘Couleur Cardinal’ varieties – with a layer of crocus on top.