Interplanting daffodils, tulips, with perennials

I am planning an expansion to my foundation plantings, and one of the things that I am considering is to include daffodils, and tulips. Ideally, they will be with my pansies that I am starting from seed, and some perennials at one one end. Since I have not planted these combinations together, I have some concerns.

In a past house, I only planted daffodils ringing my trees. They never had to compete with any other planting flowers. I have never planted tulips. I am wondering if the bulbs will have problems with the perennials, since the roots from both will always be in the ground. Last year, I pulled up all the daffs my current house, since they were in an area where I wanted to plant perennials. I think that they have really multiplied over the years or the previous owner had just planted an over abundance. If was almost scary to see how many I pulled up. I'm still not sure that I got them all, but I guess I will find out this spring.

So basicly, I need to know if these bulbs and perennials will be good neighbors. I know that they bloom at different times, but I worry about the space they may need. I want to be sure that this doesn't affect the coneflowers that I will be planting. I think I may eliminate this problem completely in a large part of this border by using annuals.

Hi pennefeather! I have interplanted bulbs with perennials and shrubs in my borders for many years. I plant the tulips and daffodils in groups of up to10 bulbs. The bulbs are usually going dormant by the time the perennials and shrubs are hitting their peak, so they don't compete. However, I have to label the spots where the bulbs are, so I don't try to plant something directly on top of them later in the year (I hate it when my fork comes out of the ground with a bulb stuck on a tine).

Hi, penne-- of course, I can't resist a 'bulb combo' inquiry--one of my favorite topics!

First of all, I admit I don't plant daffs with my coneflowers--why? I don't know--I just don't do daffs in my 'sunny summer border'...(I do do Eremurus, bearded iris, and giant allium there, though.)

However, I took a look back into my DG diary for some bulb perennial combination ideas--

One of the classic combos is daffodils and daylilies...

Another classic combo is late white daffodils ('thalia', perhaps) with white edged hosta....near a white dogwood tree (with bluebells and ferns?).

And I have planted some siberian iris in with daffs...my sibs bloom in May with the clematis and cammasia and peonies, after my daffs.

The hardy geraniums (like 'Jolly Bee' and 'Rozanne') are nice perennials to fill in around declining bulb foliage, too.

Early blooming border iris bloom with late daffs such as 'Hawera'. A neat combination.

I am always fooling around with bulbs trying to 'paint garden pictures'...mostly I try to plant them to complement flowering trees and shrubs like dogwoods, azaleas, flowering crabs, etc. And I like 'the little blue bulbs' like (early) muscari that can add so much, too, to a daff planting!

Daff 'baby moon', a light yellow late one, blooms when my chartreuse hostas are emerging....

In some of our April and May blooming beds I just plant impatiens here and there, annuals as you mentioned, because there is just too much going on and it gets too complicated.

Tulips I do in pots because of all the critters and I have struggled with them in our climate.

Of course, I really 'feed' the soil with chopped leaves and amendments to keep these (overplanted) borders going...and I notice that my plants are not a gloriously 'well grown' as some others I have seen in pics on DG--but I still like to try to keep a cycle of seasonal bloom going....

I will be interested to hear what you come up with! t.

For most fall bulbs I have good luck with them in the perennial gardens, with tulips being the exception. Tulips prefer to be bone dry in the summer and I'm usually watering the mixed beds. My plan is to use tulips with sedums and other drought tolerant plants so I don't have to water those areas. Areas where deciduous trees allow sun through in spring and keep the soil dry in summer works well for tulips too.

June,

How do you label the areas that your bulbs are? That seems like a really good idea. This summer, I pulled up all the daffs that I could find that were surrounding the walkway because they took up too much room, and I didn't know where there were unless they were blooming. I think that if the previous owner had left some information on that, I would have been more inclined to leave them in.

Also, is it true that alot of tulips don't return? I read that somewhere recently.

Tabasco, I am doing something new - actually planning in advance. I generally plant by the seat of my pants, but I am hoping to work on a cohesive plan. We'll see if it makes a difference.

When you get your plan made and garden planted, be sure to write a book about it! Everyone will want to read it! ;-)

We have trouble getting nice tulips to return here. If they do return they look pretty straggley. Mostly they succumb to the deer/moles/voles/chipmunks, etc. Or the summer watering, as Gemini suggested.

I have heard of gardeners getting certain varieties to come back year to year, for a while, anyway. I think Van Engelen's catalog recommends certain types as 'perennial' tulips.

In answer to your question about labelling: I use a variety of labels, but prefer metal because plastic tends to get brittle and break. I put a label in front of where a group of bulbs is buried. If the bulbs cover a large area, I use several labels to mark the boundaries.

I haven't had problems with tulips not returning, but I think that is because the climate here is exactly what they like - frozen in winter and baked in summer. However, once they are up I usually lose some to browsing deer and rabbits.

I've found species tulips to return beautifully and increase if they're happy. Darwin Hybrids are pretty reliable and Single Late varieties have been ok at returning. I've also tried some of the Darwin Hybrids sold as perennial tulips (grown in the field an extra year for a jumbo bulb that splits into blooming size babies). I had 3 years of good bloom from them (so far), in soil that is sandy, but holds more moisture than is ideal.

pennefeather, I'm trying to remain restrained and keep to the loose plan I have, too (for the cottage garden in front of the house). The area is mostly viewed from a distance, so I'm trying to keep with larger clumps of fewer varieties. Thank goodness I've plenty of space to fill, LOL. That has been a good thing about having just moved this spring; being able to divide perennials and plan for 3 clumps here or 6 there felt like coming home from the nursery with multiples of goodies (which I'm always too cheap to do, lol).

After going through a lot of posts, I think that I am going to put daffodils and stella d'oro's in the newly expanded border. Then I will fill in with annuals. Plus, I will have my pansies. At the end of the strip, I have a half circle area, which I am going to fill with coneflowers - white, orange, pink, and yellow.

Maybe next year I'll try tulips. I have so many areas right now that I want to plant.

The nice thing about a new garden Gemini is a chance to start over again, and rectify the mistakes of the past. No one has to know that you were the one with the strange garden before. Of course, you also have the challenge of beginning gardens in areas where the soil may be poor.