When to Plant Daffodil Bulbs: Fall Timing by Region, Depth and Dates for 16 Cities

Plant daffodils in fall. Where winters freeze, plant in the five weeks before your median first fall frost, once the soil has cooled to about 55°F (13°C), and leave two to three weeks of rooting time before the ground freezes. In Zones 8 and 9 the first frost does not set the date; the calendar does, and most of the South plants in October and November.

Daffodils ask less than most spring bulbs. They need no pre-chilling anywhere winters freeze, the bulbs are poisonous to the deer and rodents that strip other plantings, and well-placed clumps return for decades. In the warmest gardens, the choice of daffodil matters as much as the date: jonquils and tazettas come back every spring, while many big trumpet cultivars fade after their first bloom.

Daffodil planting dates by city

In Zones 3 to 7, each window opens five weeks before the city's median first fall frost and closes on that date. In Minneapolis, that lines up with Minnesota's mid-September to mid-October planting season. Fargo, Denver and Salt Lake City follow their regional months instead, and the Zone 8 and 9 cities follow their regional calendars.

Frost dates are medians from NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals for each city's main weather station; in half of years the first fall frost comes earlier than the date shown.

Anywhere else in Zones 3 to 7, count back five weeks from your median first fall frost to find the start. Begin once a soil thermometer reads 55°F (13°C) or less, and aim to finish by the frost date. That end date is a guide; the firmer limit is two to three weeks of rooting before the ground freezes. Across Minnesota and the northern Plains, where the ground freezes early, plan to finish in mid-October; in the Rockies and Intermountain West, follow the regional months below.

Why daffodils wait for cool soil and beat the freeze

A daffodil forms next spring's flower inside the bulb in the weeks after it blooms, but it needs a winter's cold before that flower stem can lengthen. Without enough chill, the flowers open close to the ground on very short stems. It also needs roots in place before the ground freezes. Fall planting gives it both: the bulb roots in cooling soil, then winter supplies the chill wherever the ground freezes.

Where winters freeze, the soil is your start signal: plant once the ground at bulb depth has cooled to about 55°F (13°C) or lower and is not frozen. In Zones 8 and 9 the calendar sets the date instead. In most of those gardens daffodils go in during October and November without waiting for soil below 60°F (16°C), the reading Southern gardens use for tulips and most other spring bulbs. Tulips in the warm South also need weeks of refrigeration first, covered in when to plant tulip bulbs.

The deadline is freeze-up. Aim for two to three weeks between planting and the day the ground locks up, so the bulbs can root first.

One reassurance for first-time planters: the flower inside a bulb you buy this fall formed before the bulb was sold, so its first spring depends mostly on the grower. Next year's flower is built in the six weeks after it blooms in your garden, which is why the leaves matter after flowering. Most daffodils are hardy as dormant bulbs in USDA Zones 3 through 8, and low-chill jonquils, tazettas and tested cultivars extend that into Zone 9; you can check your hardiness zone before choosing types.

When to plant daffodils by region

The colder the fall, the earlier the window opens; the milder the winter, the more the calendar and the choice of daffodil matter.

Fall planting months for daffodils by region; the warmer the region, the later the planting and the narrower the list of types that return.

In the Rockies and the Intermountain West, late September is the sweet spot. Bulbs set out after October may not root enough to flower evenly, and freeze-thaw cycles can heave them out of the ground.

West of the Cascades, cold is plentiful and drainage is the risk. Daffodils sitting in waterlogged soil develop basal rot, so plant on a slope, a raised bed or a berm wherever winter rain pools.

Texas gardens split their daffodils in two. Low-chill daffodils, jonquils, cluster-flowered narcissus and paperwhites go in from October into November, with October ideal in East Texas, and return every year as naturalized perennials. Some other narcissus need 6 to 10 weeks in the refrigerator, then go in during early to mid-December once nights have stayed below 50°F (10°C) for several weeks, and behave as annuals. Buy from mid-September through October so any chilling can start on time.

California's valleys plant in mid- to late November, once the nights and the soil have cooled, after refrigerating new bulbs for several weeks. Daffodils there also need a dry summer rest, since warm soil plus moisture rots the bulbs; tazettas are the exception and tolerate summer water.

Frost-free gardens in Zones 10 and 11, including much of Florida, are poor ground for most daffodils, which never get the cold they need to bloom. Tender paperwhites and other tazettas need no chill and are the practical choice there.

Daffodil types that suit your climate

Within a region, most daffodils share the same planting window. What changes with type is how well it returns where summers are long and hot.

Daffodil groups by how reliably they return where summers are hot.

In the warmest Southern gardens, build plantings on jonquils such as Trevithian, Quail and Sweetness, and on tazettas such as Erlicheer, Geranium and Avalanche. Tazettas are the best daffodils for naturalizing where summers are hot and winters mild. A few, including Grand Soleil d'Or and the Chinese sacred lily, are hardy only along the coast in South Carolina.

Poet's narcissus, also called pheasant's eye, closes the season and tolerates damper ground than most daffodils; Actaea is a reliable poeticus cultivar. The Lent lily and Campernelle are species daffodils that grow reliably in the Carolinas.

Large-flowered cultivars need the most care in choosing where winters are mild, since many trumpets, doubles and late types decline after a single season. The large-cupped Carlton and Ice Follies, along with Mount Hood, Barrett Browning, Fortune and Saint Patrick's Day, have proved themselves as Southern perennials.

Bloom date follows climate and cultivar. Daffodils open more than two weeks earlier in Zone 9 than in Zone 7, and mixing early, midseason and late cultivars spreads one fall planting across many weeks of spring.

How to plant daffodil bulbs

Plant standard bulbs 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) deep and 3 to 6 inches (8 to 15 cm) apart, in a sunny bed that never holds standing water.

Depth and spacing

Measure depth to the base of the bulb, not its tip; 6 to 8 inches works out to about three times the height of a standard bulb. Recommendations run from 3 inches (8 cm) in parts of the South to a full 8 inches (20 cm) elsewhere. In cold regions, deeper is the safer error, because shallow bulbs are lifted by freeze-thaw cycles.

Soil shifts the number. Go 1 to 2 inches (2.5 to 5 cm) deeper in sandy soil and the same amount shallower in heavy clay. Miniatures such as Tete-a-Tete need only about 2 inches (5 cm) of soil over them.

Spacing is a trade between a full first spring and a longer interval before dividing. Bulbs set only 2 or 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) apart, or 10 to 12 per square foot (about 110 to 130 per square meter), make a dense block at once. Because each bulb splits into new bulbs every year or two, that block crowds sooner than a planting at 6 inches (15 cm). For combinations with other bulbs and perennials, see designing with spring bulbs.

Step by step

1. Buy early and keep the bulbs cool. Buy in late summer and hold the bulbs at 60 to 65°F (16 to 18°C) until planting. Storage above 70°F (21°C) can damage the flower bud, and ethylene from apples and other ripening fruit can stop bulbs from blooming, so keep them out of the fruit drawer and the kitchen bowl.
2. Choose sun and drainage. Give daffodils at least six hours of sun while their leaves are up; half a day is the minimum for flowers. They do well under deciduous trees, which leaf out after bloom, but not under evergreens. Avoid any spot where water stands in winter, and build a raised bed or berm on wet ground.
3. Check the soil or the calendar. In Zones 3 to 7, push a soil thermometer to the depth the bulbs will sit and read it on several mornings. Plant once it holds at about 55°F (13°C) or lower, as long as the ground is not frozen. Farther south, plant on your regional dates.
4. Dig to depth and set the bulbs. Dig the hole or the whole bed to depth, work phosphorus or a low-nitrogen bulb fertilizer into the bottom, and set each bulb pointed end up. Plant in clusters rather than single rows, which look thin from across a yard.
5. Water once. Backfill and soak the bed to settle the soil around the bulbs. After that, leave it alone unless the fall turns very dry; dormant bulbs prefer dry ground to wet.
6. Mulch. Spread 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) of shredded leaves, wood mulch or straw. In cold regions, wait until the ground freezes and then apply 3 inches (8 cm) to stop freeze-thaw heaving.

Planting late, and bulbs that missed the window

The goal is a few weeks of root growth before freeze-up, but a late bulb still belongs in the ground. Most bulbs can be planted for as long as the soil can be dug and is not frozen; in Georgia the season runs through late December. The cost of planting late is a weaker first spring: late planting is a common cause of poor bloom that year, and bulbs with few roots are easier for freeze-thaw cycles to heave.

If you can still dig to full depth, plant that day and mulch as soon as the ground freezes. A short root season beats a winter in the bag.

If the ground freezes with bulbs still unplanted, pot them instead. Use containers with drainage holes, keep them at about 40°F (4°C) for 8 to 12 weeks, then bring them into a bright room to flower. Forced bulbs seldom flower well when planted out afterward, so treat them as a one-season display.

When a late frost hits daffodils in bloom

Daffodils are remarkably tolerant of spring cold. The flower buds are protected below the soil surface while the leaves come up, and frost injury to the leaves is usually limited to yellowed or browned tips.

A light or moderate frost during flowering seldom does lasting harm. If a hard frost is forecast, rake the winter mulch back over the emerging shoots and uncover them once it passes.

The plantings most at risk sit against south- and west-facing foundation walls. Warmth from the wall brings the flowers out early, straight into the path of a late freeze. For new plantings, choose an open bed away from the house, or accept the occasional frosted bloom in exchange for an early show by the door.

After bloom: leaves, feeding and dividing

What you do in the six weeks after flowering sets up next spring. Snap off each spent flower so the plant does not spend energy on seed, and water about 1 inch (2.5 cm) a week in a dry spring.

Leave the leaves alone for at least six weeks after bloom, or until they turn yellow. Cutting, braiding, tying or mowing them early starves the bulb and can cost you next year's flowers. In a lawn planting, leave that patch of grass unmowed until the daffodil foliage has matured.

Go easy on nitrogen, which produces leaves at the expense of flowers. A low-nitrogen fertilizer such as 5-10-10, applied as the leaves emerge, is enough for most beds.

When a clump produces smaller and fewer flowers, it has crowded itself; that usually happens every three to four years. Lift and divide it once the foliage has yellowed. Undisturbed drifts of older cultivars can persist for 30 years or more in grass, and in cold-climate beds daffodils tend to outlive tulips. For year-round care, see the daffodil growing guide, and sketch where each new drift will go in Sow's design studio.