Planting Guide

For tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and more

In the Fall – Plant your bulbs!

Step 1:

Once you receive your bulbs, open the packaging for air circulation and store at room temperature away from ripening fruit.

Step 2:

Wait to plant until there have been a few frosts. A good rule of thumb is to wait until after Thanksgiving. Planting can be done until the ground is frozen, which usually isn’t until December or later.

Step 3:

Dig holes or trenches the appropriate depth for what bulbs you are planting. Choose a sunny, well draining, dry spot with loose soil.

Step 4:

Add a slow release fertilizer meant for bulbs or 15 to 25 ml of bone meal. Do not use lawn fertilizer. It may burn the roots and encourage leaf growth rather than blooms.

Step 5:

Plant the bulbs with the appropriate spacing, pointy side up. Cover with soil.

Step 6:

Water the bulbs once to trigger root growth.

Full sun, deeper planting, and planting the bulbs further apart will encourage your bulbs to come back year after year. See our Perennializing Guide for more info.

Tip: if you have lots of squirrels in your area, plant your bulbs on the deeper end of their planting depth range!

Planting Depth

Tulips, daffodils, large alliums
6-8 inches deep

Hyacinths and smaller alliums
4-6 inches deep

Grape Hyacinth, crocus, and scilla
2-3 inches deep

Bulb Spacing

Tulips, daffodils, hyacinths and alliums
4-6 inches apart

Grape Hyacinth, crocus, and scilla
3-6 inches apart

Tip: if the squirrels or bunnies keep biting off the bloom, plant late varieties so that the squirrels and bunnies have more food options when the bulbs are in bloom!

In the spring – Enjoy the blooms!

Enjoy the blooms in your garden and avoid the temptation to use them as cut flowers. Bulbs need the energy produced by the leaves and stem to re-energize the bulb.

If you are using your bulbs for cut-flowers, expect that you will need to replace your bulbs. The amount of energy in the bulb decreases when the leaves are removed meaning it won’t have enough energy to bloom in future years or it will bloom with smaller flowers.

After blooming, remove the dying bloom to discourage a seed pod from developing which will encourage more energy to go to the bulb.