January Garden Guide

Here’s to a new year of flourishing gardens! With the right plants and proper care, your garden can transform into a blissful oasis brimming with vibrant blooms. Remember: your garden will only look as good as the time you spend yelling at weeds and occasionally whispering sweet nothings to your plants. Dive into 2025 with Hadeco Bulbs’ January Garden Guide and let’s make your garden the envy of the neighbourhood.

Who should garden? 

Gardening is for the visionaries, the adventurers, and anyone who doesn’t mind getting their hands a little dirty. A green thumb, you say? We call your bluff. Don’t buy into the myth of the “green thumb.” That’s just something people say to scare off the competition. The truth? Anyone can garden. Yes, even you, Gerald, who managed to kill a cactus.

Still unsure? Consider this your sign. Grab a friend (or bribe them with tea and biscuits), head outside, and make a day of it. Pro-tip: nothing says “bonding” like fighting over who gets to use the trowel first.

When it comes to bulbs, here’s what to do in the garden in January in South Africa. 

Which bulbs are flowering 

Gardens everywhere are showing off like a peacock at a talent show. A dizzying array of summer bulbs are in flower, filling gardens around us with spectacular beauty and fragrance. Here’s the scoop on what is in bloom.

Agapanthus 

Alstroemeria 

Ammocharis coranica

Begonia

Boophone 

Canna

Crocosmia 

Cyrtanthus (evergreen)

Dahlia

Dierama

Dietes grandiflora 

Eucomis (pineapple lily)

Galtonia 

Gladiolus

Gloriosa (flame lily)

Haemanthus 

Hemerocallis (daylily)

Hippeastrum (amaryllis)

Hymenocallis (spider lily)

Hypoxis

Kniphofia

Lilium

Polianthes (tuberose)

Scadoxus 

Tigridia (one day lily)

Watsonia (evergreen)

Zantedeschia (arum or calla lily)

Zephyranthes (rain lily)

While it may feel like flower sabotage, snipping your dahlias is actually a clever gardening hack—it encourages them to bloom even more profusely. Think of it as tough love for your flowers. So, go ahead, channel your inner florist, and fill your vases, jars, and random teapots with dahlia magic. Turn your home’s nooks and crannies into a gallery of nature’s finest masterpieces.

Give your bulbs the VIP treatment by topping up your compost and laying down a generous blanket of mulch. It’s like a spa day for your plants—keeping them hydrated, well-fed, and utterly pampered. Bonus hack: plant summer annuals around your bulbs for a two-for-one deal on garden glamour. Not only do they act like a living mulch, but they also keep your garden bursting with colour and pizzazz.

When to feed 

Just remember, that after flowering they need consistent feeding (think every week or two) of bulb food to ensure they are well-nourished to produce the next round of blooms the following season. 

Which bulbs to lift 

You can lift or leave your winter growing bulbs in the ground. Some varieties that you can lift, if you haven’t already are:

Narcissus (daffodils) - although they are just as happy to stay in the ground

Ornithogalum

If you have potted Cyclamen you can move them to your garage or a tool room. Otherwise, you can sink the pots into a cool, shady position in the garden. Give them a bit of water every 10 days to keep the soil slightly moist.

What to plant

This month the top bulb to plant is Amaryllis belladonna, otherwise known as the naked ladies or ‘March lily’ due to the time when they flower. These gorgeous and indigenous bulbs are easy to love, as they are to plant.

• A. belladonna should be planted with their necks at soil level, not submerged under the soil.

• You’ll get your best results growing the bulbs in full sun, in moist, well-draining soil, although they will tolerate some light shade.

• Plant them out about 10cm apart so they don’t get lonely!

• Wherever you’re planting them, make sure that the soil doesn’t get waterlogged.

• If you do need to transplant them, do it in autumn after the plant has finished flowering and just as the leaves start emerging.

• In a frost prone area, or areas that regularly hit below 2°C, plant them in front of a south facing wall, or in a pot that is placed in a sheltered area.

Where to plant bulbs? 

Big garden? Plant bulbs. Small balcony? Plant bulbs. Mysterious patch of land where nothing grows? You guessed it—plant bulbs. Rockeries, borders, containers—bulbs don’t discriminate, but they do shine in terracotta. Get creative! Your garden, your rules.

Why garden with bulbs? 

Bulbs offer perennial beauty, and seasonal interest. Flowering at specific times of the year ensures you always have something exciting in bloom. Bulbs offer colour, fragrance and unique beauty to the garden and sometimes even food! Yes, many things we eat are also bulbs, such as waterblommetjies, onions, ginger, garlic, artichokes, and turmeric. No, we don’t recommend nibbling on your decorative lilies (you’ve been warned).

May the month ahead sprinkle your garden with beauty, transformation, and just the right amount of dirt under your nails. Cheers to a Happy NEW Year and even happier plants!