Guide to Growing Bulbs in Your Garden

Bulbs, rhizomes, corms, and tubers (usually commonly grouped together as “bulbs”) make wonderful additions to the garden.

About Bulbs

Bulbs are generally categorized as hardy vs. tender:

• Hardy Bulbs: These bulbs respond to winter’s chill to produce flowers in spring or summer.

• Tender Bulbs: These bulbs generally don’t like freezing weather and are dug up and stored indoors over the winter or (if they’re hardy in your area) grown outdoors year-round.

As with other garden plants, you can push the limits of your hardiness zone by protecting your bulb beds with a thick layer of mulch. If winter hardiness is a concern, look for cultivars specifically bred to be cold tolerant. The zones below serve as a general guide, but new varieties are constantly being developed that bend the rules!

Bulb Growing Guide

Here’s a handy guide to the winter hardiness, planting season, and bloom season for some common landscape bulbs.

Further Reading

• Planting Bulbs
• Spring Bulb Planting Depths
• Hardy vs. Tender Bulbs