11 Unusual Spring Flowering Bulbs To Plant This Fall!

Raul Cornelius is a Senior Editor at BalconyGardenWeb and an expert in flower and herb cultivation based in Phoenix, Arizona. A frequent speaker at horticultural events, he is also an active contributor to Facebook flower groups. Holding an MBA and a BCom, Raul blends his gardening skills with strong leadership and analytical abilities. Passionate about writing and photography, he enjoys early mornings with coffee and books, and nature bike rides during weekends.
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If you want to beautify your garden and amaze the onlookers, plant these unusual Spring Flowering Bulbs in this list, this fall.

As the spring flowering bulbs need pre-chilling, you should plant them in fall in a way that they get enough time of some weeks to establish their roots before freezing but not that enough that they’ll start to sprout.

1. Crown Imperials

If you want to beautify your garden and amaze the onlookers, plant these unusual Spring Flowering Bulbs in this list, this fall.

Botanical Name: Fritillary imperialis

USDA Zones: 5-9

Belonging to the family of lilies, this flower does not smell that good. But it makes up for this drawback by being extremely showy. It can reach an unusual height of two feet. Whether you want a solo plant as a centerpiece, or want a focal point for designing plant combinations, go for Imperials. The flowers appear in late spring for about four weeks. There are many different varieties with flowers ranging from yellow to bright orange to reddish-orange. Choose one according to yourself!

2. Snake’s Head Fritillary

Spring flowering bulbs

Botanical Name: Fritillaria meleagris

USDA Zones: 4-8

Although it belongs to the same family as crown imperials, it is not that tall. Also known as the checkered lily, this plant can reach up to a height of 6-8 inches. But still, this plant is worth having in your garden because of its stunning bell-shaped flowers. All the shades of flower from purple to white to reddish-brown look attractive. Blooms appear from March to early May. Also, they are deer resistant.

3. Globemaster Alium

Unusual fall bulbs

Botanical Name: ALLIUM ‘Globemaster’

USDA Zones: 5-9

One of the best spring flowering bulbs come from the “Allium” family, which also includes onions, garlic, chives, and shallots. But there are also some ornamental flowering varieties in this family such as this. The large majestic flowers make it a real show stopper. The upright spherical and purple blooms of this plant make the overall height of the plant to around 32 inches. The sphere is made up of some small star-shaped flowers blooming from May to June.

4. Jeannine

Botanical Name: ALLIUM moly ‘Jeannine.’

USDA Zones: 3-9

One ornamental flowering plant from the allium family, which is one of the easiest to grow from this group of plants. Numerous star-shaped flowers appear on this plant in early summers. As flowers form in a tightly packed bulbous cluster when they become too much-crowded, you should divide the clumps. It’s also known as golden garlic because of golden bright yellow flowers. Learn about more Yellow Flowers here!

5. Wisley Blue

Botanical Name: Ipheion uniflorum

USDA Zones: 4-9

Starflower or Spring Starflower is a bulbous perennial, which can grow a half foot tall and wide, it belongs to the Amaryllis family. The star-shaped flowers are made up of six petals which are in the lovely hue of whitish-blue. Choose a well-draining soil to plant as the bulbs may rot in soggy soil. Slugs and snails can cause harm to them, so take special care if you see such infestation. Also, check out this article here!

6. Glory of the Snow

Botanical Name: Chionodoxa lucilliae

USDA Zones: 3-8

These flowering plants well deserve their name. They appear very early in the spring when the last remains of the snow, melt away. The star-shaped blooms are in an attractive shade of blue with specks of bright whitish-blue in the center, the height is just 4-8 inches, making them an excellent ground cover. Apart from the blue cultivar, there is another pink cultivar which looks just as amazing as the blue one.

Also Read: Best Blue Flowers

7. Yellow Trout Lily

Botanical Name: Erythronium americanum

USDA Zones: 3-8

This uncommon plant is native to North America and is well worth the effort if you plant it. It gets its name trout lily from the fish “brook trout” to which it resembles in color as the leaves are mottled with brown or gray. This unique shade of mottled gray-green leaves gives this plant an engaging look even when it’s not in the blooming season. Each flowering stalk bears multiple flowers having yellow petals which recurve outwards.

8. Spanish Bluebells

Botanical Name: Hyacinthoides hispanica

USDA Zones: 4-9

This bulbous perennial flowers in spring and is native to the Iberian Peninsula. Spreading two feet tall and one foot wide, it is suitable for container gardening as well. The bell-shaped flowers appear on upright spikes and are in a brilliant shade of light purplish-blue. Flowers grow in the downward direction and seem as if they are nodding, which is quite fascinating to watch.

Also Read: How to Grow Bluebonnets

9. Siberian Squill

Botanical Name: Scilla siberica

USDA Zones: 4-9

Siberian squill bears terrific blue flowers in the early springs. Belonging to the scilla family, it’s a small-sized species which grows to a height of 4-8 inches. As this plant is self-seeding, it multiplies quickly, which reduces the work of regrowing it. Also, it is well adapted to cold weather and can bloom in the frost or even light snow.

10. Summer Snowflake

Botanical Name: Leucojum aestivum

USDA Zones: 5-8

This ornamental plant is commonly known as Loddon lily. The stalk of this plant reaches a height of one foot with flowers appearing on the top. The bell-shaped white flowers like lily of the valley look beautiful, and its tepals are green-tipped giving it a unique look. The way flowers grow downwards it seems as if they’re offering a message of being humble even if you own the beauty. Another peculiar trait of the blooms–they are mildly chocolate scented. What are the best-scented flowers? Find the best ones here!

11. Snowdrop Anemone

Botanical Name: Anemone sylvestris

USDA Zones: 4-9

This low maintenance plant has cup-shaped, fragrant white flowers. It can grow 1-1.5 feet tall and loves partial shade location with lose and medium moist soil. In ideal growing conditions, it can be invasive.

Also Read: Best Container Fall Flowers

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