Winter aconite · Tongchuanshi, Shaanxi, China
When to sow winter aconites in Tongchuanshi
Main outdoor window
26 Sep - 10 Oct
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
26 March
In Tongchuanshi, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Feb - 31 Mar
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Tongchuanshi
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant the tubers
26 Sep - 10 Oct
Four to six weeks before your first frost, so roots form before the ground cools.
In flower
1 Feb - 31 Mar
Winter aconites through the year
Against the frost risk in Tongchuanshi
Why these dates
Plant dry tubers as early in autumn as you can get them, 5cm deep, after an overnight soak. Expect a proportion to fail regardless. The reliable method is to beg a clump from an established planting just after flowering and plant it in leaf.
Hardy to -30C and flowers in midwinter, opening whenever the temperature rises above about 10C and closing again. Needs cold winters and cool summers; useless in a hot climate.
Winter aconites are anchored to the first autumn frost rather than the last spring one, so the planting window on this page counts backwards from the end of the season in Tongchuanshi instead of forwards from its start.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Tongchuanshi is zone 7b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
The median frost-free season here is 226 days, against 100 to 150 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Tongchuanshi
Other flowers to time
Growing winter aconites in Tongchuanshi
When should I plant winter aconites in Tongchuanshi?
Aim for 26 Sep - 10 Oct in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 15-29 Sep - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will winter aconites be ready to harvest in Tongchuanshi?
Expect to start picking around 1 Feb - 31 Mar, based on 100 to 150 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will winter aconites tolerate?
Hardy to -30C and flowers in midwinter, opening whenever the temperature rises above about 10C and closing again. Needs cold winters and cool summers; useless in a hot climate.