When does Onion-Leafed Asphodel bloom in California?

Most often in July. Across 143 dated, research-grade observations of Asphodelus fistulosus in California, the flowering season runs roughly January to August.

Peak July In flower 143 Examined 168 State California

Flowering 143 in flower of 168 examined

91%

80%

86%

90%

75%

93%

80%

Proportion of examined Asphodelus fistulosus in California in flower, by month
Month	In flower	Examined	Share	95% interval
Jan	10	11	91%	62% to 98%
Feb	16	20	80%	58% to 92%
Mar	36	42	86%	72% to 93%
Apr	35	39	90%	76% to 96%
May	19	21	90%	71% to 97%
Jun	6	8	75%	41% to 93%
Jul	13	14	93%	69% to 99%
Aug	4	5	80%	38% to 96%
Sep	2	3	too few examined
Oct	0	2	too few examined
Nov	0	0	too few examined
Dec	2	3	too few examined

Peak flowering in Jul. Each bar is the share of Asphodelus fistulosus in California observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 143 of 168 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 4 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.wt38fd.

What this is, and what it is not

This is a record of when people in California found Asphodelus fistulosus in flower, not a forecast. It is computed only from observations made in California, so it is not the species’ global average dragged onto a map: the same plant flowers on different dates in different places, and that is the entire point of the page.

It will not tell you what your particular plant will do this year. Bloom time moves with the season, with altitude, and with the weather, and a warm February pulls everything forward. We publish the distribution and the sample size, and we refuse to draw a month that too few people examined.

The plant

Asphodelus fistulosus

Onion-Leafed Asphodel

Sourcesevery claim on this page

GBIF (iNaturalist Research-grade Observations). Dated flowering annotations in California. Every record achieved iNaturalist quality grade Research, which is applied upstream at export. 10.15468/dl.wt38fd. Retrieved 2026-07-14.
World Flora Online Plant List. The accepted name. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.