Embrace the damp: beautiful bulbs for for damper areas of the garden

Most gardens have damper areas. Perhaps the bottom of the garden collects water or a clay soil means the garden never seems to dry out. Rather than fighting the conditions, choose plants and bulbs that will actually enjoy the conditions.

1 - Make Camassia your starting point

Camassia leichtinii is a superb bulb for moisture retentive soil. Their tall stems carry starry flowers in blue, white and purple in late spring and early summer.
Deliberately design with the core flower colours of blue, purple, pink and white to create sophisticated combinations. Plant in drifts through borders and the lawn to create a naturalistic look and fee. The tall flowers give a strong vertical punctuation across the garden. Choose one or two colours and design with those.

Camassia naturalised in meadow grassland

2 - Variations in colour

Typically, Camassia leichtinii flowers are blue, soft purple to deep violet and white.

For deep blue: Camassia 'Blue Candle' provides a mid-sky blue candle like flower and reaches around 75cm to 1m in height. For a lighter blue use Camassia 'Blue Heaven.' Both thrive in full sun or partial shade as long as the soil retains moisture.
For a softer pink/purple: Camassia 'Pink Star' reaching to around 80cm. Weave it through a border or grasses to create a naturalistic look and feel.
For white: Camassia 'Alba' provides creamy-white flower unto 120cm in height. It is particularly useful for introducing light into a darker planting scheme and flowers from late spring to early summer.

Camassia - perfect for a naturalistic damp garden

3 - For something sculptural

Fritillaria meleagris (Snake's Head Fritillary) is one of the most beautiful bulbs for damp meadows. Its nodding purple flowers have an extraordinary chequered pattern. F. meleagris 'Alba' is a useful white species that adds contrast.

Camassia quamash is a slightly shorter species of Camassia which is useful to provide height variations across borders, and looks amazing naturalised in lawns and grass.

The summer snowflake Leucojum aestivum produces elegant white bells on strong stems which persist over many weeks, adding height and great impact. Plant alongside Camassia to create stunning combinations.

4 - Think like a meadow

The most beautiful damp planting rarely looks like a conventional border. Instead allow bulbs to move through grasses and perennials. Imagine creating a succession with Fritillaria meleagris appearing through meadow grass in spring, followed by blue and white Camassia following on. Damp loving perennials such as Iris siberica follow on through the summer.

5 - Understand your conditions

All these bulbs like moist, fertile, humus rich soil but, like other bulbs, permanently waterlogged soil is not good. You may need to adapt the soil with extra drainage if there is persistent water logging. That said, in most damp soils these bulbs will thrive.

Conclusion: Don't be afraid of the damp!

A naturally damp area can become one of the most beautiful features of your garden. Embrace the conditions, work with them, and you can create something really special.