Multi-layered bulb pot

Last Autumn on Gardeners' World, Monty looked at getting a succession of flowers in a container by planting multiple layers of different bulbs. Seemed like a great plan to me. We inherited a few weedy pots with the house & the largest of these would be ideal for experimenting with this technique.

Then, I just happened to be mooching around a local supermarket when I spotted some Spring bulb offers. Little boxes of all sorts of things. I checked the flowering dates on the packets & picked 4 that would flower in sequence, if all went to plan.

2 for £5? I'll take 4 :D

*Edit* An eagle-eyed reader has pointed out that I haven't explained the planting arrangement. Sorry.

I thought I'd taken photos of the planting up but no. I may've hallucinated that bit. Deffo losing the plot.

Anyhoo: the bulbs' boxes suggested different planting depths. IIRC I put them in 3 layers: tulips on the bottom; then a middle layer of 2 types & a top layer of 1. I tried to place the bulbs so they weren't directly over each other, so the stems of the lower ones wouldn't displace the higher ones. As they were all due to flower separately, I placed them evenly around the pot, so it didn't look lopsided.

Sprout!

They're ALIVE!

Cut to... Spring & from the kitchen window we can see some shoots. Yay! They haven't all died horribly due to overcrowding. A good start.

First flowers up were the mini Iris:

Little irises...irii?

What absolute gems.

They all came out blue, not mixed as it said on the box, but I'm not complaining - they were beautiful.

The daffs also made a show but I forgot to take a photo. Sorry. The box says miniature, but that must refer to the flower head as these had long long necks. A nice surprise was that they were double headed, a bit like the Tete a tetes I bought the other year.

At the mo, these gorgeous tulips have just done over:

Golden globes

They should call this one Fruit Salad

I've not seen this type before, with circle after circle of petals. Stunning.

& we still have the honeybells to go. No sign of their flower heads just yet but the box says May-June so it may be Midsummer before we see them up here.

Thus far it's been a great show in front of the kitchen window, so I'm declaring the multi-bulb pot experiment a success :)