Bulbs to Plant in the Fall for Zone 9 Gardens

Freesias

• Freesias, a South African native, grows year-round in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9 garden. They don't require prechilling to start and can be sown directly in the ground in the fall. Freesias like hot, dry summers and cooler, moist winters for best flowering and go dormant in the summer. Freesia flowers have a pungent, sweet fragrance and the blooms should be deadheaded once they've died back. The foliage dies back naturally. If you receive a potted freesia, replant it outdoors and it should rebloom well the following year.

Cheerfulness Daffodils

• Cheerfulness is a yellow daffodil that withstands the warmth of a USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9 winter and still gives you blooms. Daffodils don't like wet roots and shouldn't be planted in heavy clay soil without some kind of soil amendment. Skip manure or mushroom compost, as these lead to summer rot on your bulbs. Cheerfulness is known as a double tazetta and is an early to midseason bloomer, starting sometime in February, and requires more water than its standard counterpart.

Tulip Charmeur

• The Tulip Charmeur is one cultivar that requires a prechill cold treatment to bloom well. Place the bulbs in a refrigerator set at between 40 and 45 degrees F for about eight to 10 weeks before planting in the fall. Charmeur is part of the Triumph family and is a midseason bloomer with large, showy flowers. This cultivar grows bulblets off of the main bulb. Harvest these by digging up the bulbs in the summer, separating the new bulblets, prechilling and replanting. Garden tulips are thought of as annuals in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9.