Messy looking foliage

I have a lot of spring-flowering bulbs planted in my gardens. Now that they are done blooming and the foliage is starting to droop, it really looks like caca! Especially in the front beds where the newly planted perennials are still very small. So, I guess what I'm wondering is...how can those big patches of garden be disguised after the spring? Won't planting on top of them disturb the bulbs? It's not like you can just plant around those areas or else you will have weird-looking large gaps in your beds. It would be way too much work to dig them all up every year. How does everyone else deal with this? Tamara

Best way to deal with spring bulb leaves making a mess is planting the bulbs into pots or the aquatic baskets. When the show is over from them, lift the pots and you have free bed space to plant more stuff in. We tuck the pots around the corner and let them die down in their own time.

Oh, baa, the pot idea is very ingeneous. Hadn't heard that before but this fall I will try it in my more prominent beds...

Zone5girl, I am struggling with the same issue in my front yard...so here's the results of my research...

--one classic solution is to companion plant with daylilies whose leaves will disguise the post season bulbs... let's see, also hostas and liriope in shade/part shade... and also shallow rooted perennials such as astilbe......somebody else probably knows other combination 'cover up' plantings, there must be lots...

I also read somewhere that you don't have to wait until the tops turn completely brown, just 'start' to turn brown and fall over, if you want most of your daffs to return. Some say that is around 6 weeks after bloom.

If you don't mind a smaller percentage returning, cut them off earlier...I read this approach for the 'impatient' in research from one of the Extension services...I'll see if I can find it again and post it...If I recall correctly, at 4 weeks something like 85 percent returned in the experiment... That's not too big a loss if the droopy foliage is really getting on your nerves and messing up your perennial bed!

There is also the braiding and wiring of the leaves together, which many advise not to do, but I think it looks quite quaint and elegant (some would say only a repressed and 'twisted' gardener would like that approach!). I would bet this technique, while not optimum, couldn't be that detrimental to the perennializing process...

If we did our own experiments I think chances are we would find that there is very little difference between cutting them early/braiding them and leaving them floppy for full term. But the true daffodil nurturer would probably cringe at that!

Well, we cut our off yesterday, so it's too late for us to experiment, but maybe next year... ;-) t.

p.s., even though the leaves are driving me crazy, I still love daffodils!

I wonder if foliar feeding of the leaves would help the bulbs to absorb more nutrients for the next year and you could cut them back sooner. Must do research... :~)

I have the same problem, but I'm trying to rearrange my gardens so that I have some other perennial ready to grow over the leaves and hide the dying bulb foliage.

Okay, I haven't actually gotten far enough to make a difference, but I'm working on it. LOL My probem is choosing which perennials will not get big too early and overcome the bulbs before I want them to.

Yes, let's do some research on this...even if we could cut off the leaves after a a couple of weeks, it would make a big difference to me (and my neighbors would maybe stop giving me quizzical looks about the condition of my yard!)

I tried to plant hostas in with the bulbs, but the hostas aren't big enough to make a difference...same thing with daylilies in my garden...but maybe they aren't mature enough...They say shallow rooted perennials are the best for overplanting...I wonder what they are?...

If anyone's done research/experiemented, please let us know about it! This could be a breakthough for bulb gardeners! lol

What I did was trim them back by about 1/2 so they look neat, instead of all floppy. Next year, I am going to be rotating large containers....at least in the front. That way, something pretty will always be in bloom and will hopefully draw attention away from the "in limbo" beds. The backyard doesn't really matter, since the beds are much larger and have a greater proportion of shrubs and perennials.

I planted annuals near them. This bare spot condition is temporary, although your perenials and annuals are small now, in about 2-3 weeks they will be thriving. I know for me, July is the best month for my gardens. So I cut the leaves back when they are about 1/2 brown and plant nice annuals right next to them. The color from the annuals draws the eye away from the dying leaves of the bulbs and soon the annuals will be full and thriving!