How can I get the sea of muscari effect I saw at Keukenhof Gardens in Holland this spring?
I’m looking to cover a space around a garden bench of about 3m square. It is bright but not very sunny. I am not interested if it’s wildly expensive or if I’ll have to lift the bulbs annually. Keukenhof’s impressive ‘Blue River’ is surprisingly easy and cheap to emulate. Muscari bulbs naturalise well, meaning they come back year after year and gradually bulk up. They would need lifting and splitting only every few years. They are also dirt-cheap – for example, Gee Tee Bulbs (shop.gee-tee.co.uk) sells 100 Muscari armeniacum bulbs for £3 (they recommend planting 150 per square metre). Your problem, though, will be your chosen spot’s lack of sunshine, because muscari thrive and flower best in full sun. They will still grow and bloom, but perhaps not quite with the flower power you envisage. One of our borders contains an established snowberry shrub which, despite my best endeavours, seems to become more rampant each year. What is the best way to keep the brute in check, or to get rid of i
