Fall Flower Bulbs
It is recommended to plant fall flower bulbs in the autumn before the first winter frosts.
Make sure that you are not going to put your bulbs into frozen ground. At the same time it is best that the weather is not likely to become warmer again – this can be difficult to predict sometimes.
Most varieties of bulbs that will turn into flowering plants in spring need a few weeks of very low temperatures, near freezing and even below-freezing, otherwise they will not perform as well during flowering.
The natural process of the cold in the winter months ensures that the plants will grow and flower well in the spring and summer of the following year. This is the reason why bulbs should be planted during the fall / autumn months in order that they receive that natural process of cooling off over the winter when they are already in the ground.
It is important to find the right location for your Fall Flower Bulbs. Light will play an important role in growth and development of the plants. Here are a few lists of fall bulbs with recommendations relating to the light conditions each type prefer.
Full Sun – Bulbs
- Foxtail Lily – full sun
- Sparaxis — full day sun
Full Sun to Partial Shade – Bulbs
- Calla Lily – full sun to partial shade
- Colchicum – not that fussy, can take both partial shade and full sun
- Foxglove – shade, part shade, sun
- Gladiolus – sunny planting location
- Hollyhock – full sun to partial shade
- Honey Lily – tolerates planting in sun or shade
- Sky Blue Lilly – sun or slight shade
- Spring Beauty – full sun and partial shade
- Stokes Aster – full sun or partial shade
- White Buttercups – full sun to partial shade
Partial Shade – Bulbs
- Camassia – partial shade
- Christmas Rose – partial shade
- English Bluebells – partial shade
- Fern – Hardy Mix – does not tend to tolerate direct sunlight, prefers partial shade
- Potentilla – partial shade
- Glory of the Snow – light shade
- Ranunculus – partial shade or indirect sunlight
- Snowdrop – partial shade
- Winter Aconite – partial shade, tolerates deeper shade if a soil is rich in humus
Shade – Bulbs
- Cyclamen – shade
- Dogtooth Violet – full to medium shade
- Dragon Arum – shaded parts of your garden
- Spanish Bluebells – shade, poor light conditions