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The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Bulbs: The art and science to grow your own bulbs (Volume 5)
The new Kew guide to planting and cultivating bulbs features 12 easy and inspiring projects, detailed information on 66 of the most important species to grow, accompanied by Kew's beautiful botanical illustrations.
With expert advice from Kew bulb expert Richard Wilford and the Kew Gardens team , this is the ultimate companion to growing and planting with bulbs.
In this book Richard Wilford shows the key differences between bulbs, corms and tubers , he explains the importance of planting times and techniques , he explains simple methods for propagation, as well as planting instructions for growing in borders, within grassy areas or in containers. He identifies the most popular flowering times and provides bulbs of interest all year round.
He presents all the important bulbs, from winter snowdrops , crocuses , cyclamen , hyacinths , irises ; spring daffodils , tulips , snowflakes , lily-of-the-valley ; summer alliums , lilies , agapanthus , foxtail lily ; as well as autumn snowflakes , colchicum , cyclamen and amaryllis .
The 12 special projects are broad and attractive. They Bulb problems and pests are easily handled in the troubleshooting section , and a handy checklist of what to do, when guides growers throughout the year.
The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Bulbs is part of the Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing series and is accompanied by Growing Herbs, Growing House Plants, Growing Vegetables, Growing Orchids and Growing Fruit.
The only book you'll need to grow more than 66 species, beautifully, practically, successfully.
With expert advice from Kew bulb expert Richard Wilford and the Kew Gardens team , this is the ultimate companion to growing and planting with bulbs.
In this book Richard Wilford shows the key differences between bulbs, corms and tubers , he explains the importance of planting times and techniques , he explains simple methods for propagation, as well as planting instructions for growing in borders, within grassy areas or in containers. He identifies the most popular flowering times and provides bulbs of interest all year round.
He presents all the important bulbs, from winter snowdrops , crocuses , cyclamen , hyacinths , irises ; spring daffodils , tulips , snowflakes , lily-of-the-valley ; summer alliums , lilies , agapanthus , foxtail lily ; as well as autumn snowflakes , colchicum , cyclamen and amaryllis .
The 12 special projects are broad and attractive. They Bulb problems and pests are easily handled in the troubleshooting section , and a handy checklist of what to do, when guides growers throughout the year.
The Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing Bulbs is part of the Kew Gardener's Guide to Growing series and is accompanied by Growing Herbs, Growing House Plants, Growing Vegetables, Growing Orchids and Growing Fruit.
The only book you'll need to grow more than 66 species, beautifully, practically, successfully.
- GenresGardeningNonfiction
144 pages, Hardcover
Published September 3, 2019
13 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 13, 2025
A pretty little book with bulb info pages arranged alphabetically by Latin names, interspersed with some 2-page spreads for a few fun bulb projects.
I didn't think a UK publication would have too many difficulties to transfer ideas for US gardening, but the RHS hardiness zones are completely opposite of USDA (like their zone 1 is like our 10 and 6 is like..3?) so on every bulb page, the zone indication had me lost as there was no chart provided in the book. About half of the bulbs were tender species from places like South Africa - interesting if you're a botany nerd snugging with a library book on a sick day, but not very useful to normal home gardeners. I still learned a few things about crocus corm multiplication and tulip variety timing, so ✔️
I was hoping that a Kew definitive bulb book would tell me the secret of regrowing hybrid tulip bulbs, as they did have a few bulb propagation tips here and there. But - Noo, just the same advice to 'replace them every year'. My curiosity is unsatisfied...
I didn't think a UK publication would have too many difficulties to transfer ideas for US gardening, but the RHS hardiness zones are completely opposite of USDA (like their zone 1 is like our 10 and 6 is like..3?) so on every bulb page, the zone indication had me lost as there was no chart provided in the book. About half of the bulbs were tender species from places like South Africa - interesting if you're a botany nerd snugging with a library book on a sick day, but not very useful to normal home gardeners. I still learned a few things about crocus corm multiplication and tulip variety timing, so ✔️
I was hoping that a Kew definitive bulb book would tell me the secret of regrowing hybrid tulip bulbs, as they did have a few bulb propagation tips here and there. But - Noo, just the same advice to 'replace them every year'. My curiosity is unsatisfied...
Displaying 1 of 1 review