Planting Spring Flowering Bulbs

Plan for your garden in spring. Autumn is the time to plant your spring flowering bulbs.

When to Plant

• Plant spring-flowering bulbs, such as daffodils, freesias, bluebells, crocus, and hyacinths, preferably by the end of April.
• Plant tulips in May.
• Place tulip bulbs in paper bags and chill them in the fridge, away from vegetables, for 4-6 weeks before planting. This should also be done with other bulbs if you are in a warmer part of New Zealand.
• Plant hardy summer-flowering bulbs, such as lilies, alliums and crocosmia, in April and May.

Check Your Bulbs are Healthy

• Bulbs should be plump and undamaged.
• Reject any that are mouldy or soft.

Where to Plant

• Plant spring flowering bulbs in a sunny, well-draining location.
• Planted under deciduous trees they will bloom before the trees are in leaf.
• Plant bulbs in pots for spring colour on your deck or anywhere you want it.

How to Plant

• Add good well-rotted compost to the areas where bulbs are to be planted.
• Generally, dig holes to plant the bulbs about twice as deep as the bulb width but check the recommended depth on the label.
• Bulbs must be planted the right way up; pointy end up, the basal plate that may have dried roots should be down.
• Add fertiliser to the soil and mix before planting the bulb, cover and firm down.
• Cover with mulch to keep weeds suppressed and conserve moisture.
• Bulbs look best in mass plantings; plant them in groups spaced 10-15 cm apart, or closer in pots.

Bulb Plant Care

• Bulbs do not need much care but keep weeds down around them.
• Give them some potassium (K) fertiliser or potash to encourage flowering.
• But do not add too much nitrogen (N) which would encourage leaf growth at the expense of flowers.
• Water if required when they start to emerge.
• Dead head spent flowers regularly.
• At the end of the flowering season leave the foliage to die down completely so the bulb can gather energy and prepare for next year.
• Hyacinths and tulip bulbs are best dug out and stored in a cool dry place for re-planting next autumn.

Daffodils can be left to naturalise in the ground for about 4 years before they become too crowded. If this happens, dig them out in summer dormancy, split them, store them in a cool dry place and plant again in autumn.