Rob wrote:
Right , I know nothing about gardening , and nor to be honest , do I
want to . ( well , not too much anyway !!! )

I have a medium sized garden that is just grass in the middle , and
a 2 foot wide border of soil all around the outside .

All I want to do is chuck in some bulbs at about a foot apart all
the way around the outside so I have flowers and a nice bit of colour
there coming around June time and will last all summer .

I dont really want to be bothered actually buying ready grown plants
and
re - planting them . if I can help it , so are there any cheap ,
quick growing bulbs that I should plant now that will do my job .

A simple ,
" yes you want X amount of this Y type of bulb and plant
about Z distance apart and will give you Red flowers , in about xx
months time .

" yes you want X amount of this Y type of bulb and plant
about Z distance apart and will give you Blue flowers"

" yes you want X amount of this Y type of bulb and plant
about Z distance apart and will give you Yellow flowers"

Aha! The garden for the non-gardener! Nice challenge. Most bulbs are
one-trick ponies, so succession has to be considered. But, as Cath says,
you need only read the labels in the shop: it really is that simple, so
don't be anxious. On the whole, you have to plant bulbs a lot closer
than a foot apart, I'm afraid. This means that the initial outlay may be
greater than you hoped, but it's a lifetime investment, as Cath also
says. Best to plant in roughly-spaced natural-looking groups of the same
variety. One of this and one of that looks piddling. Your borders, at
two feet, are a bit narrow for my taste: not the easiest design to get
right. But don't worry: just do it, and tinker in a couple of years if
you feel like it. Don't even think about roses; and you haven't got room
for any kind of bluebell.

Empty space in between groups won't look too bad if the flowers look
happy, but you can fill with nepeta, thymus serpyllum (tiny, pink,
useful for cooking), geranium endressii (pink, self-seeds when happy),
pinks (smell and look good in summer, but have to be replaced every few
years. Wild primrose on shady side, cowslips on sunny side: will
eventually surprise you with very nice hybrid seedlings. Thrift (compact
cushiony plant; pink or white).

Stick some Michaelmas daisies at the back (red, white, mauve flowers in
autumn), maybe a clump of red-hot pokers (aka kniphofia: summer to
autumn, depending on variety. Read instructions.) at a corner. Group of
lavenders somewhere, ditto rosemary.

The following are the first plant-and-forget bulbs to come to mind:
..
Springish-flowering (you say you want summer only, but you may change
your mind on that next year, as a bare garden in spring is seriously
depressing): start off with snowdrops (can be fussy: put on the shady
side), crocus (I'd plant the colours separately for best effect, but
mixed are cheaper), daffodils (dirt cheap in bulk bags: big ones at back
with something in front, as they look sad in early summer. For those
narrow borders I'd actually spend more and get the little species ones:
mucho classy, and less summer scruff), chionodoxa (pale blue or dullish
pink), anemones (different kinds: read packets. Look for "blanda", as
the flower shape is non-bulb-like -- more like a daisy), scilla sibirica
(beautiful bright blue), dwarf iris, grape hyacinth (aka muscari: nice
blue).

Summer and later flowering: nerine (a bit pricey, but impressive, and
will multiply when happy; pink), tiger-lily and martagon lily
(tallish;orangey, white, crocosmia (aka montbretia: choose red or yellow
varieties if ordinary orange ones bore you), schizostylis ("Kaffir
lily", pink, red, late-flowering), iris (lots of colours; cheaper ones
likely to be hardier), camassia (may be a bit pricey; but tall; blue,
white), allium (yellow, white, purpley shades; some low, some tall),
kitchen chives (little balls of dusky purpley flowers, but you don't get
so many leaves for the kitchen if you leave them on).

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the above, but gardens do
differ. Of course there are plenty of other things, but I'm trying to be
soldier-proof.

--
Mike.