Nothing brings people together quite like the joy of flowers. A spring flower bulb planting party is a fun way to make memories and grow some gorgeous cut flower planters for the summer. No matter your experience or background in gardening, add hosting a planting party to your calendar this year to bring you and your guests a summer full of joy. I have been attending a lot of tours lately at private gardens, and while the designs are completely different, they all have one thing in common: the garden is for entertaining. It’s certainly a privilege to have this type of space. My garden is still very new, and the plants are slowly going into the design that I created last year. Like all those other gardeners, my favourite thing about having a garden is hosting garden parties. I have designed my garden to be a welcoming place with lots of comfortable seating, fresh food growing, and lots and lots of flowers. To create more lushness in the summer months, I’ve been planting a lot of summer flowering bulbs in containers. Here’s why: I wanted vibrant flowers in pots that I could move around to fill in the spaces of the garden around the entertaining areas. I needed some extra growing space for summer cut flowers like calla lilies, dahlias, ranunculus, and freesia. Enter spring planted bulbs. Many are great in containers and make fabulous cut flowers. When planning my project, I realized that something was missing: friends! So, I bought a few extra supplies, sent out invites, and hosted a hosted a spring planting party. What a way to spend a spring afternoon! We had delicious garden-style food and drinks, and then planted our own little cutting garden in pots. There were lots of laughs and photo-worthy treats plus, everyone went home with a gorgeous planter of summer-flowering bulbs at the end of the evening. I’ve got lots of tips on how you can host your own planting party this spring, plus an extra special giveaway at the end of this post, so let’s dive in. Sponsored Content: A huge thank you to Flowerbulb.eu, who sponsored the party and provided us with plenty of bulbs for our pots. It is a great resource for all the information we needed to plant them. Summer flowering bulbs provide some of the most beautiful displays of colour, and they need to be planted now in the spring. More tips for summer flowering bulbs can be found at Flowerbulb.eu. My sample shows what the planter will look like when the summer flowering bulbs are in bloom. How to Host a Successful Planting Party I transformed the lawn in the middle of the garden into a planting station with a few tables and all the supplies for the party. Then I set the patio table on the deck with garden-themed food and drinks. Next, I will share my top tips for hosting a planting party. Start the night off with food and drinks. Prep Your Materials You don’t need many materials to host a spring planting party. The first thing I sourced was the plastic pots for the containers. I posted in my local free group for some, and I had a small collection myself. It’s easy to find inexpensive plastic pots that will last through the season. Your guests could even bring their own containers if they choose. Look for pots large enough to grow cutting flowers, a minimum of 10” diameter and 12” deep. Make sure the pots have drainage otherwise your bulbs will rot if sitting in water. Aprons and gardening gloves help keep guests’ clothes clean. You’ll also need to make or buy potting soil. Don’t use garden soil as it doesn’t have the right balance for a container garden. Garden soil is too heavy for smaller container gardens. A potting soil mix, whether you make it or buy a bag of soil meant for container gardening, will have a balance of materials that allow for air flow and water retention. I used my peat-free potting soil recipe. I made a batch and put it in a large bucket in the center of the table with a soil scoop. I also provided a soil knife with a ruler to measure planting depth. Prep your materials on a separate table out in the garden. Do a Demonstration Since everyone has different gardening backgrounds, it’s a good idea to demonstrate before planting. While growing summer bulbs in containers is relatively easy, we want to ensure everyone plants them right. As a result, the new gardeners were not intimidated at all. And the experienced gardeners are always game to get their hands into some soil. Rather than plant all the bulbs at once, you want to layer them. Each bulb has different planting depths. In my case, I planted the gladiolus callianthus 5 inches deep, the Dutch iris 4 inches deep, and the ranunculus and freesia two inches deep. Plant the bulbs as close together as possible without letting them touch. This will give you the best results possible. I also have tons of tips on planting bulbs in containers here. After the demonstration, everyone quickly dove into potting their own container. Plant Summer-Flowering Bulbs Not all of my friends are gardeners. While some have a lot of experience, others were fairly new to digging in the dirt. To make the planting simple, I picked up two bags of mixed bulbs labelled as both “cutting flowers” and “grow in containers”. This included: Assorted Dutch iris Assorted freesia single Gladiolus Callianthus Assorted ranunculus I also picked up some calla lily rhizomes and dahlia tubers specifically labelled for containers. This is what the container could look like in summer if you choose calla lilies, dahlias, and ranunculus. I like including a variety of bulbs so you have different colours, stem lengths, and blooming times for a really robust summer display of flowers. I also love that these bulbs double as cut flowers—you can cut some and bring them inside to arrange in vases or give them away to spread the joy. Keep your different types of bulbs separated since they each have different planting depths. If you can’t find bags of mixed bulbs, choose from this list of summer flowering bulbs which do great in containers. (Note: summer flowering bulbs is an umbrella term, but they can technically be bulbs, tubers, corms, and rhizomes.) Pick the varieties that you love, just be sure to read the growing and planting instructions and choose those that will be appropriate for container growing. A few annuals help to top the planter while we wait for the bulbs to grow and bloom. Top With Flowering Annuals I purchased a few trays of current flowering annuals (marigolds, violas, and pansies) to top the container gardens with while the bulbs were preparing to grow. You can plant them right at the top to decorate, and the bulbs will happily come up through the gaps in the summer. Look for inexpensive basket stuffers that come in cell packs. Serve Garden-Themed Food We can’t forget the food! I served garden-themed snacks on my deck to get the party started.The menu was simple: little sandwiches with ham, cheese, apple, and homegrown sprouts, salads in pretty glassware, and everything decorated with fruit and edible flowers. I took one large plate and then a smaller one, putting a small herb vase in between the two to make my own DIY tiered dessert stand. On it, we had colourful macarons, mini cupcakes, and edible flowers as garnishes. I displayed the food on vintage plates that I got from a garage sale. Make a Signature Cocktail What is a garden party without some gartending? One of the guests created a rosemary paloma as our signature cocktail for the evening. Here’s how you can make it! Rosemary Simple Syrup 1 cup water 1 cup white sugar ¼ cup rosemary leaves Bring the ingredients to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Simmer for two minutes, then remove from heat and allow it to cool and infuse for thirty minutes before straining. Rosemary Paloma 2 ounces tequila (optional) 2 ounces fresh grapefruit juice, plus slices for garnish 2 ounces sparkling water ¼ ounce rosemary simple syrup Mix all ingredients in a glass of ice and garnish with a sprig of fresh rosemary and a nice sized chunk of pink grapefruit. It was as yummy as it looked—absolutely everyone loved the cocktail. It’s very easy to make it a mocktail by leaving out the tequila, as it tasted just as good without it. I have more garden-inspired cocktails in this post, as well as mocktail ideas that you can serve at your own spring planting party. Ask for Help When it comes to hosting, I’m a firm believer that you don’t have to do it all. One of my friends brought the cupcakes and macarons while another brought the cocktail. I put together the activity and a guest came over early to help make the little sandwiches. A few of my planting party guests! Bulb Giveaway! To host your own planting party, I’ve partnered with Flowerbulb.eu to give away a $100 gift certificate so you and your guests can stock up on summer flowering bulbs! To enter, leave a comment below letting us know which bulbs you would buy with $100. This contest is open to US residents only. Contest closes May 23, 2025 at 11:59 PM, where the winner will be chosen using a random number generator. You can even use the gift certificate to host your own planting party! The end result? Growing summer flowering bulbs in containers is a simple and fun activity to host during a garden party. This way, you can add a beautiful display of cut flowers to your deck, porch, patio, or balcony. You’ll experience a great deal of joy not only from the flowers themselves but also from getting your hands in the soil and planting alongside friends. More Tips for Growing Summer Flowering Bulbs A city girl who learned to garden and it changed everything. Author, artist, Master Gardener. Better living through plants. Source link
