Winter aconite · Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
When to sow winter aconites in Essen
Main outdoor window
30 Sep - 14 Oct
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
17 April
In Essen, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Feb - 31 Mar
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 Essen
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 tubers
30 Sep - 14 Oct
Four to six weeks before your first frost, so roots form before the ground cools.
In flower
1 Feb - 31 Mar
Winter aconites through the year
Against the frost risk in Essen
Why these dates
Plant dry tubers as early in autumn as you can get them, 5cm deep, after an overnight soak. Expect a proportion to fail regardless. The reliable method is to beg a clump from an established planting just after flowering and plant it in leaf.
Hardy to -30C and flowers in midwinter, opening whenever the temperature rises above about 10C and closing again. Needs cold winters and cool summers; useless in a hot climate.
Winter aconites 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 Essen instead of forwards from its start.
Essen sits in zone 8a, 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 208 days, against 100 to 150 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Nearby
Winter aconites in places close by
Also in Essen
Other flowers to time
Growing winter aconites in Essen
When should I plant winter aconites in Essen?
Aim for 30 Sep - 14 Oct in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 5-19 Sep - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will winter aconites be ready to harvest in Essen?
Expect to start picking around 1 Feb - 31 Mar, based on 100 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will winter aconites tolerate?
Hardy to -30C and flowers in midwinter, opening whenever the temperature rises above about 10C and closing again. Needs cold winters and cool summers; useless in a hot climate.