When to sow hyacinths in Birmingham

Why these dates

Plant four to six weeks before the first autumn frost, 12cm deep. For flowers indoors at midwinter, pot prepared bulbs in early autumn and give them ten weeks somewhere dark and around 9C before bringing them into warmth - rushing that cold period is the usual reason a forced hyacinth flowers down inside its leaves.

Hardy to about -25C in the ground. Requires roughly thirteen weeks below 9C, so it is one of the first bulbs to fail in a mild winter. The bulbs irritate skin; handle them with gloves.

Hyacinths are anchored to the first autumn frost rather than the last spring one, so the planting window on this page counts backwards from the end of the season in Birmingham instead of forwards from its start.

Birmingham sits in zone 9a, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

The median frost-free season here is 211 days, against 150 to 200 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.

See every crop timed for Birmingham →