What You Need To Know To Plant Bulbs
Flower bulbs give you a riot of spring color just months after you plant them. Put tulip, daffodil or hyacinth bulbs in the garden in the fall and you’ll have glorious blooms the following spring. You need only wait one season for a flower show in your yard.
Plant bulbs for fast flowers
The trick is planting the bulbs at the right time, and that’s in the fall or early winter, depending on which USDA hardiness zone you live in. In warmer climates, you'll plant them late in the fall, while in cooler climates you'll put them in the ground in early fall.
Bulbs need a chill to bloom
Flower bulbs need to be planted when your soil has cooled down to around 60 degrees and nighttime temperatures are between 40 and 50 degrees. A good rule of thumb is to plant your flower bulbs after the first light frost and about six weeks before your first hard freeze. This is because flower bulbs need two to three months of chilly temperatures to set flowers.
When do you plant tulips, hyacinths and daffodils?
- In the coolest climates, zones 1 through 3, plant bulbs in September or October. In zones 4 and 5, plant bulbs between late September and early November.
- In zones 6 and 7, plant bulbs between October and mid-December.
- If you live in USDA zones 8 to 10, you’ll need to buy prechilled bulbs because your winter won’t be long enough or cold enough to make bulbs bloom.
Tulip
Tulips are the quintessential spring flower. Their bucket-shaped blooms come in a rainbow of colors. They need full sun and well-drained soil, but since tulips bloom in the spring before most trees leaf out, you should have plenty of sun-drenched spots to grow them. Tulips also do well in containers, so you can grow them in a pot on your patio or deck if space is tight. Tulips aren’t great about coming back in the years after that first bloom. Some people dig up tulip bulbs after they bloom and store them in a cool, dark spot until it’s time to replant them in the fall. But most gardeners just plant new bulbs each fall.
All flower bulbs are prone to rot, so be sure to plant them in well-drained soil.
Daffodil
Like tulips, daffodils are one of the essential spring flowers. These cheerful yellow blooms emerge from the gray winter landscape in late winter, a promise that spring is near. Daffodil is the common name for a flower family that comes in dozens of species. Jonquils and narcissus are two of the most widely grown species of daffodils. They’re popular because deer and rodents won’t eat the bulbs, they come back year after year, and so they’ll multiply and spread through a bed with little help from you. Plant them in a location with full sun and well-drained soil and you’ll get years of spring blooms. What’s not to love?
Put a layer of mulch over your bulbs in late fall to protect them from winter’s cold.
Hyacinth
Hyacinths are one of the easiest spring-blooming bulbs to grow. You can grow them indoors as well as outdoors in the garden. Hyacinths are small, but they pack a big punch of color and fragrance. Because of their compact size, hyacinths are a good choice for growing in containers. To grow outdoors, plant the bulbs in well-drained soil in a sunny location in late fall. To grow hyacinths indoors, put pre-chilled bulbs in a pot of soil or a forcing vase and place the container in a cool, dark spot like a storage or laundry room. Keep moist for 10 weeks, or until roots and shoots appear. Move to a sunny windowsill to let the bulb finish blooming. Hyacinths planted outdoors and left in the ground after they bloom will come back and they’ll multiply, making more bulbs and flowers in your garden.
Put a layer of compost over your bulbs after they bloom to feed them throughout the year. This helps them come back again and again with spring flowers.
Crocus
Crocus bloom early, late winter to early spring, bringing the color you crave after a long, bleak winter. They bloom in a range of bright colors including purple, lavender, blue, orange, yellow and cream. Crocus likes cool weather and will only grow in zones 3 to 8, so check your climate zone before planting crocus. Plant crocus bulbs in well-drained soil in a spot that gets partial to full sun. They thrive in sandy soil and rock gardens. Crocus will spread and multiply in an area over the years, which means you get more flowers. It also means you may have to thin them out every few years to prevent overcrowding. Crowded crocus bulbs will stop blooming, so dig up some bulbs and share them with your gardening friends.
Leave the leaves on crocus and other bulbs after the bloom is gone. Resist the urge to prune then and let the foliage die back naturally. Those leaves keep soaking up sun and manufacturing plant food that will recharge the bulb for next year’s bloom.
Iris
Named for the Greek goddess of the rainbow, iris flowers bring a range of color to your spring garden. They come in a range of sizes from dwarf varieties that grow just 6 inches tall and are perfect for containers to tall, bearded varieties that reach a regal 4 feet tall and can be the star of your garden. Some are native to North America, like Louisiana irises, while others are domesticated and bred from a blend of plant lines, like Dutch hybrids. Plant iris bulbs where they’ll get at least a half-day of full sun. Most irises bloom in the spring, but some varieties bloom in early summer. There are reblooming varieties that bloom in the spring and the fall. Irises come back year after year, and they spread and multiply. So you may need to thin them over few years to keep them from getting too crowded to bloom.
Apply fertilizer a month before bloom time to give them the energy they need for their spring show.
Allium
Also known as ornamental onion, allium brings dramatic, globe-shaped blooms to your spring garden. Mix these perennials in with shrubs, fountain grass, or other bulbed flowers because they go with many garden styles and play well with other plants. Allium also comes back year after year. Since they are perennials, they will be an integral part of your garden design for years. Alliums are great cut flowers, too. They range in height from 1 foot tall to over 3 feet tall, and their flowers are usually purplish-pink. Alliums bloom in late spring to early summer, kicking in just as your tulips, hyacinths and earlier bloomers are winding down. Plant them in full sun, in well-drained soil.
Don’t water bulbs in the summer because they’re dormant and could rot.
What Can You Plant With Your Bulbs and Shrubs?
Lowe's takes the guesswork out of companion planting and landscape design with Grow Together information provided on plants in its garden centers. Look for Grow Together tags to get suggestions for plants that need similar growing conditions and look good planted together. They're great for newbie gardeners, because they're like having your own personal garden designer and horticulturist.