If you’re growing tiger flowers (Tigridia pavonia) in your outdoor landscape, then they might need a bit of protection from harsh chills over the winter depending on where you live.
By keeping the bulbs – sorry, they’re technically corms – warm and insulated during the dormant season, they’ll be ready to produce gorgeous new flowers and foliage come spring.
It’s important to winterize them properly otherwise the corms may end up damaged by cold and unable to produce new growth when replanted.
Our guide to growing tiger flowers has all you need to cultivate these beautiful members of the iris family in your garden.
In this article, we’ll go through the steps you need to take to lift and store tiger flower corms over the winter months for replanting in spring.
Here’s what I’ll cover:
How to Winterize Tigridia Flowers
The following protocol is only necessary for plants growing USDA Hardiness Zone 6 and below.
In Zone 7 or above, all you have to do is remove the foliage after it dies down to the ground and ensure that the corms are insulated with a couple inches of mulch before resuming care in spring.
Now, onto the steps!
Step One: Lift the Plants
By autumn, the stems, leaves, and branches of your tiger flowers will have died to the ground. Cut and remove this dead tissue for the compost pile.
Next, use a spade to lift the clump out of the soil, starting several inches back from the plants on all sides.
I personally prefer to use spading or digging forks, as their spread-out tines have a lower chance of damaging the bulbs, yet still do a great job of lifting.
Shake the soil off the corms as you dig them up. When they’re all out of the ground, cut off any remaining shoot tissue an inch above the crown.
Joe Butler
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