I think daylilies are commonly used to hide bulb foliage. I use them in a couple of places, and it works out well. I've tried centranthus ruber, but that's not so successful. It's too upright, perhaps. I am trying some mums and salvia nemorosa caradonna this year, along with peonies.... Looking forward to hearing from others about this perpetual dilemma.
ML

Hostas and Peonies. Ferns, Alchemilla mollis. Or let the foliage "ripen" a couple of weeks and loosely braid it. I've been doing that for years and have suffered no die off in my bulb plantings. (I don't waste my time with tulips or other short-lived bulbs, though).

I am hoping the timing with tete a tete daffodils and new growth on hellebore's will work, so far it looks as though it may. kt

I also braid my foliage. I've been known to braid it, fold it over gently and tie it with raffia.

sooey

How cool, Sooey! I like the image of braided foliage neatly folded and tied with raffia or jute.

I tucked bulbs into a border that is planted with agastache (anise hyssop), catmint, echinacia, ornamental grasses, daylilies and other perennials that are just starting to fill out as the bulb foliage is getting gross.

Right now, the tulips are just coming up, since we are on the shadier side of the street, and near the ocean too. By the time they are in their full bloom, the perennials will be up and leafing out but not overpowering the bulbs. The daffodils will just be bowing out when the agastache and other big plants start filling out the space.

Good idea about braiding. Anyone have any pictures to show what that would look like?

Thanks for all the good ideas. As I watch my garden come to life I have decided I think I'm going to like the combination of Malva 'Fastigata' with the bulbs. So far only one plant has shown signs of life, which seems to be good timing so far. I planted these in fall after they had finished blooming for the season, but I saw them growing in front of a store and was impressed with how long they bloomed for. Plus they do fine with dryish conditions, so I won't drown the dormant bulbs with watering them. Of course I don't expect I'll have perfect gardens all the time (my beginner gardens are far from it) but this is the area right on either side of my driveway and because it is probably the only part of my garden most people see (up close), I'd like it to have something besides pretty spring bulbs and then just their dying foliage with nothing to follow.

Lately, I've been adding clumps of bulbs in between already established perennials rather than trying to figure out what to replace bulbs with or what perennials to add to bulb plantings to hide the foliage after the fact. Bulbs should be okay between all but early emerging or spreading plants..many perennials will grow, leaf out & and cover the bare spots just fine. At least this is what I'm hoping. I have tulips up now in between pruned back shrub roses which I know will take off in a few weeks.

On another note, I saw in front of someone's house where they had braided & folded a row of daffodil foliage and they had placed tiny straw hats on them making them look like a row of people. That might be a bit too cute for most, but it was..well..cute.
-Chele

The problem I always run into is that spent daffodil foliage tends to rot in our cool damp spring weather, and that damages the foliage of nearby perennials. This problem is especially bad in a mixed bed where there are hellebores, thread-leaf coreopsis, heuchera, and bergenia backed by viburnum and hydrangea and interspersed with old clumps of daffs. All the perennials get damaged by the heavy wet daffodil leaves, braided or not. Now I have several sections of decorative low fence behind the perennials, and I tuck the daffodil foliage into the panels to keep it off the perennials. It works, mostly, but is a bit of a pain, especially since the daffodil foliage takes a while to go limp enough to be guided in the right direction. The process has to be done over the course of a couple of weeks, and it goes on right when there are 40 million other, more interesting projects to do.

Because of this, I no longer plant daffodils in perennial beds. I have them mixed with lesser bulbs in "the woods" where they can be allowed to go dormant with no care. There is almost nothing following them at ground level, just flowering shrubs and trees above "bare" mulched soil. It's a much easier way to use bulbs. There are lots of alliums, fritillaria, and other bulbs in the perennial beds, but they don't seem to have the same spent foliage problem for some reason.