If you want tulips, daffodils, and crocus next spring, fall is the only time to plant them. Spring bulbs need a long, cold winter in the ground to trigger their bloom, so they go in now, sit through the freeze, and reward you with the first colour of the year while the rest of the garden is still brown. Here is how to do it, wherever in Canada you garden.
When to plant spring bulbs
The rule is the same everywhere: plant after the soil has cooled but before the ground freezes solid, so the bulbs grow roots without sprouting tops. Timing by region:
- Prairies and colder zones (Zone 2-4): late September into October.
- Ontario, Quebec, the Maritimes (Zone 4-6): October into early November.
- Mild coastal BC (Zone 7-8): November, even into December.
A good signal: once nighttime temperatures are consistently in the single digits, it is bulb time. Not sure how much season you have left? Your local first-frost date is a decent guide to when the ground will start to lock up.
Which bulbs to plant
- Crocus and snowdrops bloom first, often pushing up through the last snow.
- Daffodils and narcissus are the easiest and most reliable, and squirrels leave them alone (they are toxic to rodents).
- Tulips are the showstoppers, but squirrels love them; more on that below.
- Alliums (ornamental onion) bloom later, into early summer, and pollinators adore them.
- Hyacinth, muscari, and scilla fill in the early-spring gaps.
For the longest show, plant a mix that blooms in sequence: crocus, then daffodils, then tulips, then alliums.
How deep and which way up
The standard rule is to plant a bulb two to three times as deep as it is tall. For most tulips and daffodils that means about 6 inches deep; small bulbs like crocus go 3 to 4 inches. In colder zones, err on the deeper side for winter protection.
- Pointy-end up, flat root-end down. If you cannot tell, plant it on its side; it will right itself.
- Spacing: a few inches apart. Bulbs look best planted in generous clumps, not lonely rows.
- Drainage matters. Bulbs rot in soggy ground. On heavy clay, work in some compost or plant in a raised bed.
Keeping the squirrels out
Squirrels will dig up freshly planted tulips and crocus, partly for the bulb and partly because they cannot resist freshly dug soil. A few things that help:
- Lay chicken wire or hardware cloth over the planting area, pinned down, and remove it in spring (or leave it buried; shoots grow through).
- Plant daffodils and alliums among the tulips; both are rodent-resistant and seem to put squirrels off the whole bed.
- Tamp the soil down firmly and water it in, so it does not look freshly dug.
After planting
Water the bulbs in once, then leave them. A couple of inches of mulch after the ground starts to freeze helps in cold zones. In spring, let the foliage yellow and die back naturally after blooming; that is the bulb recharging for next year. Cut it back only once it has gone brown.
Ten minutes with a trowel this fall buys you the first flowers of spring. Few things in the garden pay off so well for so little.