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Muscari dilemma
happycottontail
Posts: 394
in Plants
Last March I had two pots like this by my front door. In early summer I removed the dying pansies, and with them the soil from the top half of the pot, leaving the bulbs in situ to come up again next Spring, with the aim of adding more compost and a new top layer of pansies this autumn. But I now find that the muscari have already sent out 4" tall green leaves! So I will probably have to start again from scratch. Can I successfully transplant the muscari into the garden? Any tips?
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Mine do that but I think you will find its leaves only, they havent flowered have they?
I give mine a hair cut until I am ready for them, but yes you can put them in the garden, they are a bit thuggish, you cant get rid of them except by throwing away completely.
yes you can and they spread like wild fire,they are better for a sort out.
No, Lyn, they haven't flowered. Do they need some soil around the roots to transplant successfully? Or, if I give them a haircut (how short?) in situ, and just put compost and pansies on top of them, will they grow new leaves and flower next Spring?
They need the leaves to feed the bulb so I would not recommend cutting them off. All I would do is to top up the pot with compost. The bulbs will not care about being buried deeper. In fact they probably will do better. Then plant your pansies over the top as before.
Thanks Berghill. I hope I don't damage the muscari leaves when I plant the pansies - which I still have to buy.
If you're worried about disturbing or breaking the leaves when you plant your pansies, tip the whole lot out and replant everything in one go
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Trimming some of the leaves off makes no difference to mine, they just look tidier, however, after they have flowered,in the Spring, you need to leave the leaves on to feed the bulb.