Daffodils and perennials - how do you plant them together?

I have been reading posts about planting daffodils and perennials together. I am confused about what I am reading. I planned on moving the bulbs out of a "holding pen" they were put into this fall when I found a huge deal on bulk bulbs. They did well in the temporary bed but now they need to be put in a permanent bed. My game plan was to put them in a bed and then plant perennials over the top of them.

What I am reading is that this is a bad idea. I am seeing info that says you plant perennials between the bulbs. It seems like the bulbs would just go around the perennials.

I am confused. Can you guys give me info about how you plant bulbs with perennials?

The beds that I am moving them to are full sun, very warm, the soil is clay but has been heavily amended and is now "fluffy" - lots of compost. These beds are empty now because a drought two years ago killed nearly everything - these beds are full sun from sun up to sun down. The perennials I am thinking about are salvias, cone flowers and other prairie type plants. They are the only things in those beds that survived the drought.

So, please give me your advice and how you mix daffodils and perennials.

Thanks,
Phyllis

You can do this. Plant the bulbs next to the spot you'd like your perennials to grow - preferably a little behind so that when the daffodil foliage starts to die down the emerging perennial foliage will hide it. The only real problem is planting bulbs underneath a perennial that has too vigorous a root system so that the bulb struggles to emerge. But you have to make the most of space so this layered type of planting is the answer. more info and suggestions here - http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/qa/perennials-bulbs.aspx?nterms=74870

Thanks for the info - interesting link.

in my experience, dormant or semi-evergreen daylilies are perfect to plant right on top of the bulbs.
when the daff begin to die down, the daylilies are coming up and foliage of both plants is very similar. daylilies are somewhat shallow rooted plants, so it's even easy to divide them without disturbing the bulbs when needed.

That is a good article, Galanthophile. I happen to have a photo of a neighbor's yard who pairs allysum basket of gold with tulips and grape hyacinths, which is exactly what the article suggests. I also like the idea of planting bulbs next to lady's mantle, because that starts very small, and as it grows the leaves drape out in a much larger circumfrence, so it would cover the bare spot.

Here's one more photo of my daffodils, planted in a row behind my daylilies. You can see the daylilies starting to grow in the front. Today they are much taller, and the dying daffodil foliage cannot be seen from the house.

Yes I can see how the daylilies are emerging at just the right time to hide the daffodil foliage. I love lady's mantle but find it to be a real thug!

Lady's mantle is a bit of a thug, I just put a note in my gardening diary to pull some of them out next spring, they do really get much bigger than you think, and they also reseed. But I don't want to scare anyone off, so far it's only about a half dozen seedlings a year that I have to pull up, it's totally manageable

Lady's Mantle is manageable if you cut off the flowers before they set seed and maybe renew your bigger clumps with young plants.

I under plant all my perennial beds with bulbs. Here are some collages of the bulbs in spring then as the season progresses to ones taken this week to give you a visual idea. If I can find space, I plant spring bulbs. Tulips and Narcissus and other bigger bulbs best if planted at 8" so you can over plant them with so many perennials. The minor bulbs can get planted anywhere. Just don't cut the dying foliage back until it is yellow. I generally go around pulling out any that comes out to keep it as tidy as I can, or tuck up the yellow foliage under newly emerging summer foliage. Patti

A view on the South side

Here are more narcissus and tulips planted in part of the east side gardens and stairs. I do plant the narcissus in small groups of 5 or 10 so that I don't have masses of dying foliage together, except in a couple of beds that fill in with big masses Rosa rugosa or a bed filled with sweet fern or hosta which nicely cover up the mess.

Here is part of what we call the "hot bed" that is loaded with tulips and narcissus in the spring. Patti

Very inspring! Excellent planting.

Bbrook, your plantings are exquisite! Thank you for sharing them.

Donna