Are they flowering yet? If not, you'd be likely to cut off the potential flowers too. If they're finished flowering, they may be unsightly, but you won't get a new flush of flowers with them like you do with some other perennials, so cutting back for that reason is different from removing completely dead foliage.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I don't think there's much you can do, but any foliage that's brown and dead is doing nothing for them, so you can take that off. They like reasonable drainage, but if you've had a long dry spell, that's what has shortened the flowering time. They're pretty tough, easy plants, so they should revive well enough for next year. If you think you may have similar conditions then though, it's worth making sure they're well mulched after spring rain, so that they can cope better with long dry spells. I think that's what many gardeners will need to do in future years, with all sorts of planting.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
As well as cutting them down, if we get any rain towards the end of the month, you could also add some blood, fish and bone to the soil above them. Unless your soil is really desiccated, the roots should still be viable and will take up the nutrients to help build up the corms over winter and early spring.
If the soil is dry you will have this problem year on year. They will grow in my clay soil b I have just one clump of C Short Red now as I have needed to water them. In a dry soil they can just turn brown and not even flower. Considered an easy garden plant I don't know if they will continue to be popular in dry summers.
I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
I never cut the leaves, I like to leave them until they’ve really gone over and give them a tug, but then I don’t like the spikey look that you get by cutting leaves. I really don’t think it’s right in this hot spell to feed anything, I am letting everything rest.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
The same thing happened to ours and I cut them back. The foliage is dead so it does nothing for the plant and I don't expect anything until next year if they have survived. I have several cultivars and the ones that have done the least worst are the most shaded. Normally they are fine even with our dry conditions but the prolonged dry spell has just fried them.
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In the sticks near Peterborough
If they're finished flowering, they may be unsightly, but you won't get a new flush of flowers with them like you do with some other perennials, so cutting back for that reason is different from removing completely dead foliage.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
They're pretty tough, easy plants, so they should revive well enough for next year. If you think you may have similar conditions then though, it's worth making sure they're well mulched after spring rain, so that they can cope better with long dry spells. I think that's what many gardeners will need to do in future years, with all sorts of planting.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I really don’t think it’s right in this hot spell to feed anything, I am letting everything rest.