Daffodils and summer bulbs

15 years ago

Hi,

I am a newbie gardener living in northwest suburban Chicago.

I have a large bed of naturalized daffodils in the front of my house. Every year the foliage wilts and turns yellow. I have nothing coming up to hide it. It looks pretty bad to me. Plus, the area has gotten very shady over the last few years.

I would love to plant some summer- or later spring- flowering bulbs so they will hide the daffodil foliage. But I am afraid for the following reasons:

1. Most bulbs I see require full sun. This area only gets some sun in the morning. It's mostly dappled sun until the afternoon, when it's all shady.

2. How would I even plant the bulbs? Do I need to dig up all the daffodils and then layer the new bulbs on top? Can I just stick in the bulbs between the daffodil clumps?

3. WHEN would I even plant the new bulbs? Home Depot has their summer flowing bulbs at 50% right now. Can I buy those and plant them now, hoping for them to show next year?

4. What bulbs would do a good job of hiding foliage? The bed is C shaped around a birch tree so if I put tall plants in the back, they wouldn't hide the daff foliage. If I put them in the front, then it'd look like a fence?

THanks for any insight.

Comments (3)

calistoga_al ca 15 usda 9
15 years ago
I don't know your climate, but here we can plant day lilies with the daffodils and they will cover the daffs dying foliage. The day lilies don't appear until after the daffs have bloomed. Both are hardy for us. We could also use Asiatic lilies but they are not as effective at screening and their foliage is not very attractive. Al
duluthinbloomz4
15 years ago
You didn't indicate what summer bulbs you were interested in. There are bargains in bulbs now because it's getting a little late to be just getting started with them. True lilies - Oriental, Asiatic, etc. can be put in the ground but it's very unlikely they'll do anything but put up a short stalk this year. Gladiolas might manage to bloom sometime in September, etc. etc. and would have to be dug up and stored since they are not likely to survive the winter in zone 5. And to me, the problem with a succession of bulbs is that each type seems to have ratty foliage to hide when the blooming stops.

I think you'd be happier investigating other annuals or perennials to plant in your bed to hide the daffodil foliage - as mentioned daylilies are a possibility, but they like as much sun as they can get. True lilies like sun and will lean to get it. Daffodils are generally at least 6" down and many things can be planted over and among them without disturbing them at all. And by the time the daffs are finished blooming, the annuals and perennials would be taking off to hide them.

There's a goodly number of things that do well with your sun/shade conditions - hostas, ferns, astilbe, bleeding heart for perennials, impatiens and begonias for annuals, just to mention a few. Check out a good garden center and ask for recommendations. Or head over to the nearest Big Box and buy some bargain annuals to experiement with sizes, colors and textures. Experimentation, trial and error is how most of us who garden got to be where we are.
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teddychicago
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for your responses!

I do like the daylilies but I have seen them "stretch" in neighbors' gardens to get the sun. Given my conditions, they'd stretch into our driveway just for a peek!

And with 3 small kids keeping me busy and water bills to consider, I would like to find something that didn't need a lot of attention.

I googled ASTILBE and found a variety called Maggie Daley Astilbe. Since Maggie is the wife of Chicago Mayor Richie Daley, perhaps I should plant that in homage to my dear city (yes, I know, I'm in the 'burbs but I USED to live in the city pre-kids!!)! Off I go to investigate its care.... thanks again for the advice :)