Hyacinth · Zhaoqing, Guangdong, China
When to sow hyacinths in Zhaoqing
Main outdoor window
15-29 Nov
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
29 January
In Zhaoqing, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Mar - 30 Apr
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 Zhaoqing
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
15-29 Nov
Four to six weeks before your first frost, so roots form before the ground cools.
In flower
1 Mar - 30 Apr
Hyacinths through the year
Against the frost risk in Zhaoqing
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 Zhaoqing instead of forwards from its start.
Zhaoqing sits in zone 10a, 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 332 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 Zhaoqing
Other flowers to time
Growing hyacinths in Zhaoqing
When should I plant hyacinths in Zhaoqing?
Aim for 15-29 Nov in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 7-21 Nov - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will hyacinths be ready to harvest in Zhaoqing?
Expect to start picking around 1 Mar - 30 Apr, 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.