Question about Muscari-Leave the seed pods on or off?

Hi Everyone,

I planted daffs and muscari all around my mailbox....blooms were beautiful!!! I was told that it was okay to take off the heads to the daffs when they were looking all yuck but to leave the leaves alone as they are needed for them to grow the next bulb??? Is this right? Is it the same for the muscari? They have been finished blooming for quite awhile and i have left them alone because the seedpods are so cool looking...i think they give a lot of texture to the area mixed in with the strappy leaves of the daffs. I just was not sure if I should be chopping them so that they would focus more energy into doing whatever it is they need to do for next year. What is the best thing to do for my little babies?

Thanks,

Tia

Muscari, like many bulbous plants respond well to having the seedheads removed, same reason as for the daffs. Another reason for removing Muscari seedheads is that they are very successful at self-seeding where they can so unless you want your garden full of Muscari for ever more, it might be prudent not to let them seed everywhere ;)

While I think they are beautiful I don't need them popping up everywhere!

Thanks for the info!

Tia

I deadhead the Daffs but not the Muscari.
Most seedlings get pulled up when I weed (they look like grass). Any that come up and survive that are welcome. They are easy to relocate, too.
I guess it depends on how 'neat' you want your garden.
Andy P

Hmm I'm sure there are very few people who would describe our garden as neat. We weed them out because we want to grow other plants and we don't have a lot of space :)

I did it....it was hard but I did it...

I went over to them and said OFF WITH YOUR HEADS!

now i miss them... oh well, looking forward to seeing them next year!

LOL!

Heck no, I scattered the seeds about...I want LOTS more, LOL!

Laura

I have just Grape Hyacinth and dark purple Border Iris in the rock garden. It makes a wonderful early spring show. I don't deadhead any of it.

I never deadhead Muscari, I find they don't spread that fast anyway...

Tom

Billy, what a cute spring rock garden! I happened to be listening to Irish music when seeing it and I could see Irish Dancers kicking up their heels around it and maybe a 'fairy' appearing. LOL

I too love the look of the seed heads, but try to take most of them off. :o(
toofew

i had forgotten about this thread! i still have the muscari around the mailbox, i have let them be this year and will see how they turn out next year. Billy, love your rock garden!

I tossed some seeds in a perennial bed a few years ago. They bloomed for the first time this year.
I have a great spot to toss them this time. I'm slowly planting large 'wild' circles around a couple of Sweetgum trees, I can wait a few years.
I already have tulips, chionodoxa, crocus and star of Bethlehem in there.
Andy P

Billy, nice rock garden! Love the colors together.

Thanks for the compliments everyone! I put 50 grape hyacinths in the rock garden in 1989 and the border iris in, in 1992. They filled in all by themselves. It was a happy accident! :))