Equipment: Bulb planter with long handle, and hand held planting trowel
When to plant:
- Daffodils: late summer/early fall
- Tulips: late fall or the beginning of winter
- Lilies: between fall and early spring (Lilium candidum must be planted in the fall.)
- Gladiolus corms: early spring or mid-spring (stagger planting over several weeks to extend the display of blooms.)
- Colchicum corms: late summer
Planting depth:
- Plant bulbs in holes three times their height (2.5" bulb, 6" deep).
- Lilies about 4 times the height of the bulb
- Cover with soil and add layer of leaf mold on top.
Madonna Lily (Lilium candidum)-just below the surface
- Plant bulbs with their tips pointed up and base down.
Spacing bulbs:
- In containers, close but not touching
- In beds, in groups or clumps
- Small bulbs about 2" apart
- Large bulbs about 6" apart
- Lilies about 10" apart
Lorene Arnold, Smith County Master Gardner
Texas Cooperative Extension
Annual & Perennial Flowers Index
Gardening Tips For Northeast Texas Index
East Texas Piney Woods Gardening Home Page