When those beautiful spring-flowering bulbs start fading, the foliage isn't far behind. What to do? Wait, says master gardener Paul James.
It's extremely important to resist the urge to beautify fading spring bulbs by cutting back the spent foliage. (And don't tie back the foliage with rubber bands or braid the leaves because that actually harms the plant by restricting circulation.) Instead, let the plant die back naturally. "From the time the plant first emerges in late winter to early spring until it finally fades in late spring to early summer, it's busy producing food to energize the bulb below ground. Unless the foliage is allowed to soak up the sun, next year's blooms may not amount to much," James says.
This doesn't mean that your flower beds have to be left looking like an unruly patch of dead plants, though. A solution is to plant things in the bed that will eventually grow tall enough to cover the foliage. Some good choices include perennials such as day lilies, black-eyed-Susans and ornamental grass.
"Hiding the foliage isn't always so easy, especially in a larger bed, so I do my best to tolerate its unsightly appearance and patiently wait until it's ready to remove or at least until 75 percent of the foliage is faded. And then, I have at it," says James.
Using scissors or shears in one hand, lift the foliage with the other and cut the stems at ground level. Be careful not to pull the foliage because that can damage the bulb. When you're done, fluff the existing mulch or apply new mulch.
"That's really all the maintenance there is when it comes to growing spring-flowering bulbs," says James. "You plant them once, and then you give them a haircut once a year."
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