Summer Snowflake: a Fall-Planted Bulb That Shines in Late Spring
Plant summer snowflake bulbs in the fall and enjoy a late-spring show of delicate, drooping white flowers
Summer snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) is a fall-planted bulb that blooms near the end of spring, with bell-shaped white flowers drooping from tall, slender stems. Easy to grow and shade tolerant, it looks wonderful planted in large groups, and it will naturalize to fill in a garden area. The grasslike foliage dies down quickly after the bulb finishes flowering, an advantage over other bulbs whose declining leaves tend to linger. Summer snowflake can be counted on for many years, even in the South.
Common name: Summer snowflake, leucojum
Botanical name: Leucojum aestivum
Origin: Leucojums are native to most of Europe and west to Iran.
Flowers: Bell-shaped white flowers appear in late spring and dangle from the tips of tall flower stems, with two to five flowers per stem. Small green spots mark the tips of the petals.
Related: Read about a similar but earlier-blooming bulb in "Snowdrops: the Late-Winter Bulb With a Following Called Galanthophiles."
Foliage: Growing in spring, the leaves are green and grassy. After the bulb finishes flowering, the foliage turns yellow and dies back.
Size and habit: Summer snowflake's grassy leaves form a vase-shaped plant 12 or 18 inches tall and less than 12 inches wide. Growth and flowering occurs in spring, with the bulb lying dormant through summer, fall and winter.
Related: Summer snowflake is a good candidate for including in a lawn, as described in "How to Plant Flower Bulbs for a Meadow Garden Effect."
Growing summer snowflake
Exposure: Full sun to part shade or dappled light
How to grow it: Plant summer snowflake bulbs in the fall, three to four inches deep and four to six inches apart. Grow snowdrops in full sun, part shade or dappled light and rich soil. This bulb prefers consistently moist soil while it is in active growth. It can also withstand moist soil through the rest of the year better than most spring-blooming bulbs. Let the leaves die down naturally post bloom, because they are feeding the bulb. Leucojum spreads by forming new bulbs underground. USDA Zones 4–8.
Related: Planting Bulbs: 5 Tips for Success
Image credits: Flower closeup by houroumono/CC BY 2.0; Plant group by Michelle Gervais
