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After blooms fade, let daffodils keep their leaves

Bulbs need that foliage to rebloom next year

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED APR 2, 2021

Fading narcissus blooms with green foliage

The pretty spring blooms from bulbs are fading fast. Leave the leaves so the plant can store energy and rebloom next spring. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

This has been a long and spectacular bloom season for daffodils, narcissus, anemones and other spring bulbs in Sacramento-area gardens.

But our June-like weather this week quickly brought that early spring show to an abrupt end. Temperatures in the mid-80s dried up remaining blooms and browned the last late-blooming narcissus.

Now, what to do with those straggly remains?

With spring bulbs, pruning off spent flowers usually is a matter of aesthetics. But leave the leaves; that foliage still has work to do.

Faded daffodil bloom

It's tempting to cut all the foliage back after a daffodil fades,

but let those leaves go brown and then pull them.

“Bulbs use their foliage to produce the energy they need to form new flowers,” according to the bulb experts at Longfield Gardens, a major U.S. bulb producer. “So, if you want your bulbs to rebloom, it’s important to leave the foliage in place until it has withered and turned yellow. When the foliage can be pulled away from the bulb with a gentle tug, it’s ready to go.”

Some bulbs will shed their foliage within days; others will hang onto their leaves until July.

“The foliage of early-blooming bulbs such as chionodoxa and scilla fades away very quickly,” notes Longfield Gardens’ bulb experts. “Larger bulbs take longer; a few weeks or a few months, depending on the weather and the type of bulb.”

Trim off spent tulips right after they fade; quick deadheading will coax the bulb to rebloom next spring. Daffodils don’t need deadheading, except to tidy up a flower border or bed. Small bulbs such as crocus and snowdrops spread by seed, so leave those flowers to encourage multiplying. Alliums also tend to self-sow; if you don’t want lots of alliums, remove those flower heads.

Some gardeners tie up their daffodil foliage, but that can cut down on the leaves’ ability to photosynthesize and create energy for its bulb. It’s better to leave the leaves loose.

Longfield Gardens suggests hiding the ripening foliage with companion plants.

“In perennial gardens, you can let the foliage of other plants hide the leaves,” say its garden advisers. “Hostas, daylilies, nepeta and perennial geraniums are a few of the perennials that are good at covering the spent foliage of tulips, daffodils and alliums.”

Cornell University studied this method and came up with 15 best perennial and bulb combinations. See it here: https://bit.ly/3fDlL7g

“Another option is to plant your bulbs in a dedicated area where you won’t mind seeing the foliage,” Longfield Gardens says. “For tulips and hyacinths, this could be in a cutting garden or even part of your vegetable garden. Alliums and daffodils are ideal for wilder areas where their ripening foliage will be out of sight.”

If you have the time, energy and room, move the bulbs so their foliage can age gracefully out of sight, Longfield Gardens suggests. “It's also possible to dig up your spring bulbs immediately after they finish flowering and replant them – with their foliage still attached – in a holding bed. When fall comes, dig up the bulbs and move them back.”

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Keywords:

Sacramento daffodils narcissus spring flowers deadheading crocuses weather gardening tulips spring gardening bulbs warm weather

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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

FALL

Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air

Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets

Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty

Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest

SUMMER

Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?

Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you

Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water

Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers

July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

July 15: Does this plant need water?

July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

July 1: How to grow summer salad greens

June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

WINTER

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Garden checklist for week of Nov. 16

During breaks in the weather, tackle some garden tasks:

* Clear gutters and storm drains.

* Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* After the storm, seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Plant bulbs at two-week intervals to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting them. Do leave some (healthy) leaves in the planting beds for wildlife and beneficial insect habitat.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

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