Late Flowering Bulbs to Use in Your Garden

Late flowering bulbs are always a great addition to any garden, they add color and foliage that will last well through summer and into the fall months. The majority of late flowering bulbs are large and offer unique and interesting blooms which do well in multiple garden settings and arrangements. In addition to their beautiful blooms, many of these bulbs are able to bloom for several years and multiply as perennials.

Here are some of my favorite late flowering bulbs to add to the garden.

Late Flowering Tulips
There are several different species of late flowering tulips that have made their way into gardens in North America over the past few years. Usually, when it comes to tulips, gardens and gardeners are known to plant early or mid-season flowering varieties so that they add color to a garden the minute spring arrives. Late blooming varieties of tulips are a great addition to your garden because they add a punch of color to the annuals and perennials that you place in your summer garden, the unique blooms that are available during this time are a spectacular sight on their own as well.

Some of the hardiest and most unique late blooming varieties of tulips include parrot tulips, lily flowered tulips and fringed tulips.

Late Flowering Amaryllis
There are not many late blooming amaryllis varieties, most bloom very early spring or mid summer, but those that do are a great addition to a variety of gardens. There are three late flowering amaryllis bulbs that I have been able to grow well in hardiness zone five, and they have been known to do well in zones further north and south.

Naked Lady Lily, Milk and Wine Lily Fairy Lily all bloom in late summer or early fall. A fourth, the Magic Lily, blooms in late summer, but I have never had luck with this bulb because the huge lilies are on top of two foot high stalks and always break in the wind before I can enjoy them. For those who enjoy fragrant gardens, the Magic Lily is a great choice, as you can smell them half a mile away.

Late Flowering Asters
Asters are a popular fall garden selection because their blooms are just beginning to show themselves when other flowers are already spent for the season. These late flowering bulbs can be added to a summer garden well before fall arrives and they mix well with other perennials and long blooming flowers. Dahlia varieties are some of the flashiest late flowering bulbs out there and they do well in meadow gardens, formal gardens, as borders or in containers. Their blooms can be expected to last from late summer into fall.

Another late flowering bulb in the aster family is the Blazing Star which is native to North America and can be found growing near streams and in meadows. Each plant produces a showy clump of spiky foliage and bushy spikes of purple blooms. One of the benefits of the blazing star in your garden is that they are naturally deer and rodent resistant and planting a couple plants of them in front of those flowers deer do enjoy is enough to protect the more fragile plants.

Late Flowering Lilies
Depending on the hardiness zone and planting conditions that you decide to plant lilies in you might be able to extend some early and mid-season varieties into blooming later in the summer and into early fall. Under normal growing conditions though, when bulbs have the optimum amount of light and water that they need to bloom, it is best to use bulbs that are known to flower late in the season if you want to add them into your garden. The Gloriosa Lily and Stargazer Lilies are both late flowering bulbs which are both very fragrant and duplicate well when left to become perennials in the garden.