Yellow Trout Lily (Erythronium americanum) - yellow flowers, illustrated plant card

Illustration

Yellow Trout Lily

Erythronium americanum

Also called american trout lily, yellow fawn lily and yellow dog-tooth violet

Yellow Trout Lily blooms from March through May.

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Bloom calendar

Bloom time

Mar–May

checked

Hardiness

Zones 3–8

checked

Sun

Part shade

checked

Water

Moderate water

checked

Mature size

8 in × 4 in

checked

Type

Bulb

house classification

Months here are Northern Hemisphere months; in the Southern Hemisphere, shift them by six months.

Plant it in part shade. It prefers moderate water. It is hardy in USDA zones 3–8. Expect it to reach about 8 in tall and 4 in wide at maturity, in roughly 1 year (a house reading).

Pets

Not yet checked for pets.

Lists differ and none is complete. If a pet eats a plant and seems unwell, call a veterinarian or a pet poison helpline.

No toxicity note is on file for Yellow Trout Lily. That is not a clearance: check its safety for people and pets before planting.

Verification

Planting record checked

What was checked

Nine facts were checked against named botanical sources, each recorded beside the sources that carried it: mature height and spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color, the trait tags, and years to mature size, which rests on a recorded house rule where no publisher states one and is marked so. Soil, diseases, pests, toxicity and the plant's own names have not yet been read for this plant, and its trait tags are the ones a feature uses rather than every word a page prints. Each fact above carries its own mark. The planting, spacing and size sections are derived from these checked facts by a fixed rule, not checked separately, and the plant type is the library's own classification.

See the 8 sources it was checked against

When to plant Yellow Trout Lily

Yellow Trout Lily is a fall-planted bulb: get it in the ground 6 to 8 weeks before the ground freezes, typically September or October in zone 5, the middle of its hardy zones 3 to 8. It pays you back the following March to May.

Month-by-month timing for your zone is on the planting calendar; if you garden near zone 5, the middle of this plant's hardy range, start with zone 5 in September. Derived from the plant's category, zones and bloom months plus typical zone frost dates, not checked separately.

How big does Yellow Trout Lily get?

Illustration of Yellow Trout Lily drawn to scale beside an adult — About 8 in tall and 4 in wide at maturity: shin-high beside an adult.

See Yellow Trout Lily in a garden plan: the planner shows it in 3D beside everything else you add, growing toward this size over the years.

Where these facts come from

Yellow Trout Lily's height, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags were checked against 8 published sources on November 5, 2026. Each one is linked below with every fact it carried, which can include a fact this page still marks as not yet checked, because a source carrying a value is not the same as the value being held to the standard. Facts not in that list, and the planting, spacing and size sections, are not covered by these sources.

Missouri Botanical Gardenheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
NC State Extensionheight, spread, hardiness zones, sun, water, bloom months and color and trait tags
Prairie Moon Nurseryheight, hardiness zones, sun, water and bloom months and color
Chicago Botanic Gardenhardiness zones, sun, water and bloom months and color
University of Illinois Extensionheight, hardiness zones, sun and bloom months and color
Missouri Department of Conservationheight, bloom months and color and trait tags
RHSRoyal Horticultural Societyheight, sun and bloom months and color
mynpn.usanpn.orgUSA National Phenology Networkheight