Why bulbs and fruit trees make such good companions

Fruit trees are late to leaf. An apple may not be in full leaf until mid-May, and plums and pears are only a little ahead of it. That leaves a long window from January through to April when the ground beneath the branches is bare, light reaches it, and nothing much is happening overhead. Spring bulbs evolved for exactly that window. They push up, flower, set seed and die back before the canopy closes over them.

The second half of the arrangement matters just as much. Once a bulb's foliage has yellowed, the bulb is dormant and wants nothing from you — no watering, no feeding. That suits an orchard, where you rarely irrigate and where the tree itself will be drawing on whatever moisture the soil holds through summer. Underplanting with bulbs is one of the few ways to add colour to a fruit garden without adding a summer watering regime.

Read the ground before you order anything

The main variable is light. A tree on the south side of a border will cast shade for much of the day, while one on the eastern edge may only shade the ground in the afternoon. Watch the patch you intend to plant through a bright day in February and note how many hours of direct sun it actually gets.

Soil matters next. Bulbs rot in waterlogged ground, so if your orchard sits on clay that stays wet through winter, either plant on a slight ridge or stick to the tougher narcissus and snowdrop types. Then check for roots. Fork over a small square of soil a metre out from the trunk and see how dense the tree's feeding roots are. If the ground is a mat of fibrous root, forget digging and plan around containers or bulb planters instead.

Grass is the quiet problem. Long, competing grass will starve small bulbs such as crocus and winter aconite. Either keep bulbs in defined rings around the trees, or mow the grass short from autumn until the bulbs emerge so they have a head start.

Bulbs that cope with shade and a dry summer

Choose plants that accept shade while in growth and tolerate a parched July. These are the reliable performers in a UK orchard:

• Narcissus — the backbone of any orchard planting. 'February Gold' for the earliest colour, 'Thalia' for elegant white, 'Actaea' for a late scented option. The native Narcissus pseudonarcissus naturalises beautifully in rough grass.
• Galanthus (snowdrops) — happiest in damp shade and quite content under old apple trees. Buy them in the green if you can, and split established clumps every few years.
• Eranthis hyemalis — winter aconite, flowering from late January. It resents disturbance, so plant tubers fresh and leave them alone.
• Crocus tommasinianus — far less tempting to squirrels than the big Dutch crocus, and it seeds itself about obligingly.
• Cyclamen coum — the best bulb for genuinely dry shade under mature trees. Plant the tubers just below the surface and mulch with leafmould.
• Fritillaria meleagris — snake's head fritillary, for the damper end of the orchard where grass stays green longer.
• Muscari and Anemone blanda — cheap, tolerant, and they spread into generous drifts within a few seasons.
• Camassia and Allium — for the May handover, when the fruit blossom is out and the early bulbs have gone.

Hybrid tulips are worth a mention only so you can decide against them. Most need lifting and repeat flowering is unreliable, which is a lot of work in a grass orchard. Species tulips such as Tulipa turkestanica are a better bet if you want tulip colour.

Planting depth, spacing and protecting your work

The rule of thumb is to plant at two to three times the bulb's own height. That means daffodils at 10–15cm, snowdrops at about 8cm, crocus at 7–8cm and cyclamen tubers barely covered. Deeper planting also discourages mice and squirrels, which is why firm, well-trodden soil over the top is worth the effort.

With living roots in the way, use a bulb planter or a narrow trowel and work between the roots rather than slicing through them. Cherries and plums are especially shallow-rooted, so keep disturbance to a minimum and never dig in a wide circle right up against the trunk. Space large narcissi 10–15cm apart; small bulbs can go closer, at 5–8cm.

To get a natural look, tip a handful of bulbs from a bucket and plant them where they land, in odd-numbered groups rather than neat rows. Mark the drifts with short canes so you know where not to tread. Where squirrels are a nuisance, lay a sheet of chicken wire just below the surface over the planted area and lift it once shoots appear. Daffodils, snowdrops and cyclamen are distasteful to most rodents, so lean on those if the problem is severe.

Mowing through the bulb year

Bulb foliage needs roughly six weeks after flowering to feed the bulb for next season. Cut it early and you get leaves with no flowers the following spring. In a meadow-style orchard, leave the drifts uncut until the foliage has yellowed and flopped — usually late June or early July — then mow and clear the cuttings.

Mown paths threading between the drifts make the whole thing look intentional rather than neglected, and they give you somewhere dry to walk while the bulbs are at their best.

Pulling the planting together

Think in succession, so something is always in flower. Snowdrops and aconites carry January and February, crocus and early narcissi take March, the main daffodil flush arrives in April, and fritillaries, bluebells and camassia bridge into the fruit blossom in May.

Restrict yourself to two or three colours and repeat them. White and cream lift a shaded corner better than anything else, and pale yellows read well against fresh grass. Finally, match the scale to the tree: broad, generous drifts suit a mature Bramley, while a young cordon or stepover is better served by a tight ribbon of crocus along its base.