Bulbs You Can Still Plant in November (And What to Do If You Are Late)

November is the month when gardeners assume the window has closed. It has not. In most of the country the ground is still workable, soil temperatures are still falling rather than frozen, and bulbs planted now will root before the hard frosts arrive.

What changes in November is not whether you can plant, but what is worth planting, and how much you should adjust your expectations.

Still worth planting in November

• Tulips — the most forgiving late option. They can go in until the ground freezes solid, and late planting actually reduces the risk of foliage emerging into a cold snap.
• Alliums — ornamental onions are tough and late-tolerant. They flower in late spring and early summer, so a November planting still gives them a full rooting period.
• Hyacinths — fine in the ground in most zones in November, and ideal for indoor forcing if you would rather have scent in January than in April.
• Crocus — small bulbs that root quickly. Late November is the practical limit, but they will still make it.
• Daffodils — workable in November in zones 5 to 8. They need more rooting time than tulips, so plant them in the first half of the month rather than the last week.

What to leave until next year

Anything that needs a long, cool rooting period before it flowers — most lilies and anything you would normally plant in September — is better held over than forced in late.

Also skip bulbs that are already showing green tips. Once a bulb has broken dormancy in the bag, planting it into cold, wet ground in November usually rots it.

How to plant late

1. Plant deeper than usual. Go to the bottom of the recommended range, or an inch deeper. Deeper soil stays warmer for longer and insulates against a sudden freeze.
2. Work quickly and in dry weather. Do not plant into waterlogged ground — wait for a dry spell, even if that pushes you into December.
3. Water once, then stop. The soil is usually already moist in November. Overwatering newly planted bulbs in cold soil is how they rot.
4. Mulch after the ground freezes, not before. Mulching warm soil keeps it warm and encourages premature top growth.
5. Mark the spots. Late plantings are the ones people forget, and a November-planted tulip bed is invisible until March.

If your ground is already frozen

You still have two options, and both work.

Pot them. Plant bulbs in containers of fresh compost, water once, and keep the pots somewhere cold but frost-free — an unheated garage, a shed, against a north wall. They will root slowly through winter and can be moved out in early spring.

Chill them in the fridge. For tulips and hyacinths in warm climates, a paper bag in the vegetable drawer for six to ten weeks gives the cold period they need. Keep them away from ripening fruit, which releases ethylene and can spoil the bulbs.

The November job most people miss

If you want flowers indoors in the middle of winter, November is the month to start amaryllis and prepared hyacinths.

Amaryllis bulbs bought now and potted within a few weeks will flower in January. Hyacinths prepared for forcing need about ten weeks of cold, so a November start puts them in bloom around late January too.

That is a far better use of a November afternoon than trying to force one more tulip into frozen clay.

A short November checklist

• Plant tulips and alliums while the ground is workable
• Get daffodils in during the first half of the month
• Pot amaryllis and prepared hyacinths for indoor winter bloom
• Mulch existing beds only after the ground freezes
• Lift and store dahlias and cannas after the first hard frost
• Clean and store tools before the rush of spring

Planning for next year while you are out there

Late autumn is also the best time to look honestly at the border and write down what failed. Bulbs that came up blind, a patch that stayed waterlogged all winter, a corner that never gets enough sun — all of it is obvious now and completely forgotten by March.

Make two lists: what to move, and what to add. Then match the additions to the light you actually have rather than the light you wish you had. A tulip bed in four hours of winter sun will always disappoint, no matter how good the bulbs are.

Ready to start

Our fall bulb collection still has tulips, daffodils, alliums and crocuses ready to ship, and the amaryllis collection is the fastest route to flowers indoors in January.

For the details on each, our guides to planting tulips, planting daffodils, growing alliums and growing crocus cover depth, spacing and aftercare in full.

Every order ships with our 30-day arrive-alive guarantee.

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