Due to the exotic-looking flowers, many gardeners are often tempted to overwinter the imperial crown in a pot or as an unearthed bulb in the basement. Exactly this can be a reason for a lack of willingness to bloom of the resistant plants.

If the crown imperial bulb is deep enough, it will easily survive the winter outdoors

Disadvantages of wintering indoors

In principle, the bulbs of the imperial crown can survive overwintering in the basement and sprout again when planted again in the garden. However, the constant digging up disturbs the development rhythm of the plants, because they can react with a lack of magnificent flowers at the flowering time in spring, even if they are moved outdoors frequently. In addition, under the conditions in the winter quarters, special care must be taken to ensure that the moisture-sensitive bulbs do not suffer from rotting problems. Against a hibernation in the house speaks:

  • the space requirement
  • the workload
  • disruption of plant development
  • the potential danger posed by poisonous onions

Conditions for wintering in open ground

Overwintering directly in the open ground bed is usually not a problem, even in severe winters, if the bulbs have been planted at the right depth in the ground. The ideal planting depth for Kaiserkrone bulbs should be about two to three times the bulb height. Since the imperial crown should be planted in relatively sunny locations anyway, this location factor results in a milder average temperature even in winter. However, the winter hardiness mentioned only refers to imperial crowns planted directly in the ground, since potted plants are much less exposed to the winter cold outdoors.

Interesting facts about the growth of the imperial crown

The crown imperial forms its leaves at the base of the flower stalk just like the flowers themselves every year. Therefore, at the latest when the seeds ripen, the flower stalk withers and later the leaves die off at its base. When caring for the flower beds in summer and autumn, always remove only those parts of the imperial crown that are already withered or yellowed. In this way, the plants can gain energy from the leaves and store it in the bulbs for the next year.

tips and tricks

For newly planted imperial crowns, we recommend planting the bulbs in the ground by August at the latest so that they can root well before winter. With older crown imperials, you should leave about 10 centimeters of the stem over the winter. This then serves you when working in the bed for spatial orientation with regard to the imperial crowns.

Category:

Vegetable garden