Siberian squill · La Pintana, Santiago Metropolitan, Chile
When to sow siberian squills 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
Siberian squills through the year
Against the frost risk in La Pintana
Why these dates
Plant in early autumn, 7cm deep, in generous drifts - a handful of squills is invisible. Self-seeds freely once settled, so put them where spread is an advantage rather than a problem.
Hardy to about -35C, further north than almost any other spring bulb. Requires a genuinely cold winter and does not persist below zone 8.
Siberian squills 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 120 to 160 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 siberian squills in La Pintana
When should I plant siberian squills 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 siberian squills be ready to harvest in La Pintana?
Expect to start picking around 29 Aug - 28 Oct, based on 120 to 160 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will siberian squills tolerate?
Hardy to about -35C, further north than almost any other spring bulb. Requires a genuinely cold winter and does not persist below zone 8.