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Welcome to the  Clare Bulb Company website.
Last updated
July 2010

The Clare Bulb Company specialises in spring bulbs for the gardener with the larger garden who may want to buy bulbs in bulk. However, our prices are exceptionally competitive for smaller quantities as well.
We concentrate on the more common bulbs, the ones which we know will grow  well in most gardens. 
We show the heights of each variety,  when they flower, and offer useful tips. Click here for an example. These are linked to each variety shown in the price-list.
We also offer growing advice, also linked to the pricelist. Click here for an example. 
Bulbs are purchased from leading Dutch and English growers, from people we know, and whose quality is second to none.
We only sell bulbs, (and nothing else), and have done so for  36 years. Until now we have been best known in East Anglia, but the internet now allows us to offer our exceptional quality and low prices to anyone who wants a garden full of spring colour.

(If you scroll down to the bottom of this page you will find sample pictures of some of the bulbs we sell, mostly growing in our own award-winning garden). 

Ordering via our "On-Line" shopping basket:

We have just created an on-line ordering facility. The products we are offering for 2010 are now listed, and can be ordered now, although dispatch will not take place until September. Note: There is a wider choice of ordering quantities in the "off-line" price-list, (see below), especially for larger quantities, i.e. 250's, 500's and 1000's.

Click here
  for the On-Line Shopping basket.

Please note that we have configured the shopping basket to avoid the necessity for customers to pay for bulbs at the time they are ordered. This is because it is our policy only to process cards, or present cheques, after the bulbs have been packed, which will not be until September. We will contact you regarding your preferred payment method after receiving your order.

Alternatively, ordering bulbs "Off-line" is simplicity itself. (Please use this method for larger quantities). 

Either 
print off the Spring Flowering Bulbs Price-list  on your PC printer, fill it in, and post it to us, with a cheque or with your debit-card details. (Please note we prefer debit card as opposed to credit card, this being due to very high cost charged to small companies such as ourselves for processing credit cards). 

Or  having looked at our price-list, make a note of what you want and then either phone or email us with your order, and we will do the rest. 

NB: We do not recommend sending full debit card details by email, unless the number and security code are sent on separate emails, at separate times. A better option is for the details to be either sent by post, as for example when the order itself is posted, or by telephone. Payment by cheque avoids all security issues. All debit card information is treated in a manner which conforms with the requirements of the Data Protection Act. Click here for our terms and conditions of trading under the consumer protection act.

"In the Green" Snowdrops and English Bluebells These are available in the early spring.  Click here for full information.

Bulb Sizes: Our low prices are not at the expense of the size of the bulbs. Our daffodils and narcissus are all "Top size", as growers call them, which means daffodils are 14/16 cms in diameter,  tulips are generally 11/12's, crocuses 7/8's, prepared hyacinths 15/16's, and so on.  Bigger bulbs give better flowers. N.B. Often the special offers found in newspapers and elsewhere are for smaller size bulbs than we offer. 

Bulb Quality: Unlike many bulb companies our experienced team pack all our orders by hand, not only visually inspecting each and every bulb to ensure it meets our exacting standards, but gently squeezing each bulb (other than those sold by weight), to ensure it is firm to the touch, a sure sign of vigour.  You may be assured that nothing is put in the bag unless we are confident it will flower.

Other information:  Click here  for further ordering details, more about us, where we are, our trading policy and consumer protection policy, a flowering time guide, with heights and depths for planting bulbs, suggested combinations, and other useful facts. 

Just who are The Clare Bulb Company? Formed on 24th August 1974, the Clare Bulb Co is a family business run by Jane and Andy Bone in Clare, Suffolk. If you wish to know more about the business, and the team running it, click here.

Visiting Clare:  We operate a retail shop at our premises in Clare between Sept 1st and early November. We open on weekdays, excepting Wednesdays, and we open on Saturdays, and most Sunday afternoons. It is best to telephone before a weekend visit, to be on the safe side.  Click here for a map of where you can find Clare, and click here for our location in Clare, (we are on the main road, so very easy to find).

Riverside House:  Since our garden holds the prize for the best garden in Suffolk in the one acre category it is worth a look as well. If you would like to see how it looks, click here

Norris, our black Labrador: Click here for page one of a book for the children. I created it for our grandchildren and their friends. It tells the story in pictures of Norris's first year as a puppy. He was the first puppy from the first litter we bred, (and is now eight years old). 

Frequently Asked Questions: Click here to view answers.

The pictures below show some examples of the bulbs we sell, mostly flowering in our garden. 

      Daffodils and Narcissus, in one of our borders.

Mixed tulips in one of our borders, April 2009

  A selection of our narcissus in a vase

  

             Scented Actaea, (also known as Pheasant Eye)

Crocuses

Allium Gladiator, plus some grandsons

 Tulip Abu Hassan

 

Red Georgette (Inferno), in an urn

Mount Hood

       Tete a Tete, in February 

 

Dwarf iris Reticulata Viridiflora tulip Spring Green      Mixed garden hyacinths

Allium Schubertii

 

One of our tulip borders in April 2009

Dried Allium heads     Tulip Groenland

 

     Naturalised Cyclamen Neopolitanum

Imperial lily Lutea

     Camassia, (also available in white)

 

   Daffodils and Narcissus       Dwarf iris (Harmony)

Blue Anemone Blanda 

Scilla after naturalising

 

             Muscari by our river

The Clare Bulb Co green oak bridge (designed and constructed by Andy Bone in July 2006), which connects us to Essex.

     Allium Globemaster

 

            Allium Purple Sensation

English bluebells in Badby Wood

Tulip Pink Diamond

 

Snowdrops, "in the green", awaiting dispatch to customers

 Tulip Queen of the Night

Fritillaria Meleagris, the so-called Snakeshead Lily

 

Indoor Paperwhite Dutch Iris     Anemones

Dicheloslemma

Clare Bulb Company, Riverside House, Clare, Suffolk, CO10 8NS 
     Tel / fax 01787 277441    e-mail:  sales@clare-bulbs.co.uk