Hyacinth · La Pintana, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile
When to sow hyacinths in La Pintana
Main outdoor window
25 Apr - 9 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
14 September
In La Pintana, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
29 Aug - 28 Oct
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in La Pintana
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant the bulbs
25 Apr - 9 May
Four to six weeks before your first frost, so roots form before the ground cools.
In flower
29 Aug - 28 Oct
Hyacinths through the year
Against the frost risk in La Pintana
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 La Pintana instead of forwards from its start.
La Pintana sits in zone 9b, 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 265 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.
Also in La Pintana
Other flowers to time
Growing hyacinths in La Pintana
When should I plant hyacinths in La Pintana?
Aim for 25 Apr - 9 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 8-22 Apr - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will hyacinths be ready to harvest in La Pintana?
Expect to start picking around 29 Aug - 28 Oct, based on 150 to 200 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will hyacinths tolerate?
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.