Fall Bulbs and Seeds

Fall is for Planting! Thanksgiving week is traditionally a great week for planting certain things in this hardiness zone, like bulbs and some flower seeds. Because in NC (at least in the piedmont and on the coast) it often doesn’t get really cold until January, planting around Thanksgiving can provide about 5-6 weeks of root growth before the hard freezes come. You don’t need to purchase pre-chilled bulbs if you plant during the fall, but it won’t hurt if you do, as long as you plant late enough in the season. If you plant pre-chilled bulbs too early, they may try to grow and bloom too soon, and be killed when the weather gets colder.

A few great bulbs to plant in the fall are:

Crocus

Daffodil/Narcissus

Muscari/Grape Hyacinth

Tulip

Hyacinth

Snowflake/Leucojum

Star Flower

Make sure you are planting the root side down, and growing point up. A good rule of thumb is to plant bulbs two to three times as deep as they are tall, so a 2-inch bulb would be planted 4-6 inches deep.

Some great places to find bulbs are Brent and Becky's Bulbs or your local garden center.

Wildflower Seeds

You can also direct-sow wildflower mixes or poppy seeds at Thanksgiving. These flower seeds need to be chilled by the cold, and don’t transplant well if you try to start them indoors, so sowing directly in the spot where you want them to grow is both the best and the easiest option. Make sure to prepare the soil by raking away any leaves or loose debris, loosening the top layer of soil by tilling, hoeing, or just raking if the soil is loose enough, then smooth out the surface with a hard rake. Mix the seeds with sand in a 1:4 ratio to make it easier to spread the seeds evenly, then sprinkle a very thin layer of soil or compost on top (no more than 1/8 of an inch!). Water lightly, and then leave it until spring! It’s ok if leaves cover up the bed over winter. When temps get above 55 degrees in the spring, you can remove any leaves to expose the dormant seeds to light. Try to remove weeds that come up, but make sure you know which plants are weeds and which are young flowers.

For great resources to learn more about wildflowers and to buy seed mixes, try American Meadows or Prairie Nursery.