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Tete a tete daffodils (narcissus)

UnionworkerukUnionworkeruk Posts: 187
in Plants
Just finished flowering and I need the space for summer planting  Can I  cut the foliage when it turns brown and leave them in the ground or lift and store them  or can I lift them now and replant them for a few weeks in a place less used then lift them and store.  I will have a similar problem with tulips in a few weeks.    

Posts

  • Valley GardenerValley Gardener Posts: 2,851
    I wouldn't cut them down,they won't flower next year if you do that.
    I've taken bulbs out before,with leaves still intact,and let them dry off on newspaper in a dry place.
    The whole truth is an instrument that can only be played by an expert.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    You should let the leaves die back completely - don't cut them. You can dig up the clump (with plenty of soil attached to roots) and drop them all still together into pots. Put the pots somewhere out of the way and once the leaves are completely dead, shake out the bulbs and sort the good ones (firm, decent size) to store somewhere cool and dry to plant in the autumn.

    It might be easier to just put your new plants in around the daffs without cutting them back so the new plants hide the dying foliage. You may spear the odd bulb but while the foliage is still there it's reasonably easy to miss them. I leave mine in the ground - the geraniums and other new growth cover them quite quickly and they just blend in with other greenery. Especially the little ones like tete a tete, you don't have masses of yellowing 'straw' flopping about for weeks - they just fade into the background.

    Tulips I wouldn't worry too much. Unless they are the small species types, they probably won't do much in their second year (or third, or often fourth) so you can lift them and put them into pots as described above but give them a really good feed as you do so, then see, when the leaves have died, if any are big enough to be worth storing and replanting. They do vary. I find Queen of the Night and Ad Rem both come back quite well, but lots of the others don't.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • UnionworkerukUnionworkeruk Posts: 187
    I read somewhere that you could take the bulbs up with leaves intact and leave them outside under a layer of compost while the  leaves turn brown  then cut the leave off and store the bulbs

    You reckon I could just take them up intact and  store them inside  until the leaves are ready to be cut off and then store  Sounds a lot simpler.  Could I do that with tulips as well ?
  • UnionworkerukUnionworkeruk Posts: 187
    Raisingirl.  "Tulips I wouldn't worry too much."

    Basically you reckon not worth the bother storing them ?

    Thanks for the information on the daffodils  Thats what I will do.
  • raisingirlraisingirl Posts: 7,093
    edited April 2018
    If you lift your daffodil bulbs, I would keep them outside somewhere until the leaves have died back. A shady corner under a shrub will be fine. You can dry them inside but I find I seem to lose more that way - they shrivel up - I suspect they dry out too quickly but that's a guess, I don't know. It may just be me not doing it very well.

    Tulips - I grow a small handful in pots each year and usually compost them when they go over. I have, from time to time, taken them out of pots and planted them into the borders when they've gone over, hence the comment that some of them come back for a year or two. They fade away quite quickly though, apart from the species type, like 'sylvestris' which are much more reliably perennial if your soil is reasonably light.
    Gardening on the edge of Exmoor, in Devon

    “It's still magic even if you know how it's done.” 
  • UnionworkerukUnionworkeruk Posts: 187
    Thanks for that raisingirl.  I know what to do now.
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