Tulips, daffodils and other spring bulbs ask very little in return for the pleasure they give
Few garden plants are better suited to city gardens than flowering bulbs. Every spring, public parks everywhere turn into gaudy strips and squares of bright white, red, pink and yellow, and many private gardens put on their best show of the year.
Beautiful as they are, bulbs are pretty much the easiest of all plants to grow, asking almost nothing from you but to be left alone to do their thing every spring. But if you want to help your bulbs go forth and multiply year after year, here’s what to do.
Right after flowering ends, deadhead the faded bloom right at the top of the stem, leaving behind the decapitated stalk. Sure, you may feel like Morticia Addams (who liked to snip the blooms off her flower arrangements), but trust me on this: the stem gives the plant a little extra green surface area to do the critical job of photosynthesis, which it needs to build up its reserves for next year’s show.
Otherwise, it is critical to leave the foliage alone till it dies down naturally. Do not braid, tie, trim or otherwise disturb the leaves in any way. Yes, dying bulb foliage looks untidy, but there are a few ways to minimize the mess.
Try planting later-growing perennials around them that will rise up and hide the dying leaves. It’s also okay to gently “comb” the leaves of daffodils and other bulbs with long slender leaves to get them all facing in the same direction, which at least looks intentional; just be very careful not to break or otherwise damage them.
If it really bothers you, some people gently dig up the bulbs and replant them, foliage and all, in a less noticeable part of the garden, then replant them back in place in the fall.
Tiny spring bulbs such as scilla, grape hyacinths, crocus, and the like don’t need deadheading. Simply leave them alone; their foliage dies down quickly after flowering. This lets them go to seed, which encourages spreading. You may or may not want this, but if you don’t (in the lawn, for example), simply dig up or mow any escapees.
Some hybrid tulips only bloom reliably for one or two years before reverting to disappointing little clumps of leaves. Once this happens, there’s nothing for it but to dig them up and compost them. Make a note of the spot and plant new ones next fall. More robust tulip varieties, such as Emperor, Darwin or Triumph, last longer, and some of them even multiply.
Like tulips, daffodils come in a huge range of hybrids that range from near-weed status to snobby prima donnas that might not even send leaves up after a few years unless you treat them like the royalty they are. However, the most common reason that daffs stop blooming is that they’ve become overcrowded.
Wait till the foliage is starting to go yellow but is still fresh and carefully lift out the entire clump with a garden fork (you don’t want to stab them!). Shake off the excess soil, and using your fingers, break apart the clumps of bulbs.
This should be easy; any bulbs that don’t divide easily are still taking nourishment from the parent bulb and should be left in place.
Then immediately plant them again further apart, leaving the foliage to ripen naturally. (You can also do this in the fall, but it’s easier now, when the leaves show you where the bulbs are.)
The best time to feed your bulbs is early spring, when they are just emerging. But you can fertilize right after blooming too, as long as the leaves are still green. Bone meal, bulb fertilizer, or good old compost is ideal.
Please feel free to write in with questions, to comment or to share your own city gardening adventures
with Martha. Write to her at marthasgarden07@gmail.com.