I'm giving mine the side eye. It will probably be here for several weeks yet. I'm also gently tucking in different directions so that it's not flopping on my other plants.

FIL doesn't. he has a soldier's row of them and since he is not interested in expanding his bulbs, he mows over them the minute the last bloom is done. If yours are planted with the hopes of having an ever-growing field of daffies, then you don't touch them, no matter how much you want to. You can plant things around the daffies so that as foliage declines you have something else growing, hiding the daffie mess. There are all kinds of threads on this site about how to disguise daffie foliage. Since mine are grown au naturel, I don't worry (too much) about foliage.

If you want a nice display of daff flowers next Spring I leave them until they die.

When you get the feeling that you want to cut them think of how it will look next Spring when ever one is taking pics of their flowers and you only have leaves come up and no flowers. That should stop the wanting to cut the leaves now.

While the leaves are up now would be a good time to do some plant shopping and you will know where to place your new purchases to hide the leaves.

I have a lot of bulbs in my shade garden. That one is easy because it is packed with large foliage plant......Hostas, Ferns, Heucheras.

My sun gardens I plant.....Daylilies, geraniums, small rose bushes (drift rose, Carpet rose bushes, Knockout rose bushes, and Fairy rose bushes) Heucheras, Iris,

The RHS did work on this and came up with a minimum figure of 6 weeks, i.e. it wasn't necessary to wait until the foliage was completely dead. But that of course was in the UK where there would be ample rain and not much heat.

All my bulbs are in mixed beds so the foliage isn't really visible as Spring progresses.

Yep, 6 weeks is the stat I use. Mostly, foliage doesn't bother me but in my new woodland bit at the wood, I will be whipping the leaves off soon as I can...but even so, that is another month to go. Can be tricky in the grass (in the clearing)...which would be around our waists by the time the foliage is over. I have a (not very satisfactory) strategy of planting in large groups of 100-200 or so and grass-cutting around them...but it is always a pleasure to drive over them all at the end of June.

FIL has incredible flowers each year, but by cutting foliage soon after, bulbs simply don't multiply. It doesnt affect his flowers.

@ posters in UK, interesting about study re: 6 week foliage. This year my foliage is still mostly green in May while flowering ended in Feb. . Usually, it is mostly yellow by now, but not this year, a rainy one

As per floral_UK and no daffodil eye-sore in mixed perennial beds.

I find the problem is with tulip leaves that can get quite large in more shaded locations. Their disproportion includes width so they can shade lower flowering spring perennials.

Still problem tulips tend to get prompt removal here by the voles, the chipmunk (I think) or me. Strange, but sometimes we're all on the same team!

Well then, off with their heads! Thanks everyone!

Actually, there is one trick which tends to make the foliage look less sordid...which also benefits the plants...and that is to simply cut off the spent blooms where bud cover attached to the stalk - the dried and browning remains look grim and the swelling seed heads look much worse than the stalks and leaves. Beheading them will be far better for the plant which does not waste energy making (futile) seed. | hand chopped hundreds this weekend (forgot my shears). However onerous, it certainly wasn't as long and arduous as the planting way back last September..

I do something similar for tulips to minimize the ugliness of the dying foliage. As soon as the tulip petals start to drop, I cut the flower stalk down to the base at ground level. I find that removing that stiff, straight yellowing stem helps make the dying foliage less screamingly obvious :-)

I am not actually bothered by it. I let it die back, turning yellow or brown, on its own. One day I'll look and there won't be anything there anymore, then I just wait till next year to see them again.

Never bothered me either but I was working on developing my gardens that I have concession of interesting things going on, As one stage goes down another stage is coming up. I want a big Spring display. Some time it is more important than the other seasons. After winter I love the big display. I read they need the leaves to increase and give me the big display so I did not cut the leaves.

It takes time but if you have a look you are going for you have to take the time. While you wait for the final look you are going for things may not be perfect but it is so rewarding when you get the look.

I never cut back the foliage because from what I've read its not good for next years flowering. I do sometimes take the time to braid the leaves and roll them up on the ground. It does take time, but it neatens things up until it does eventually die away. I find that with some of my small seed sown annual plants, planting them among the daffodil foliage protects them somewhat from the bright sun until they are bigger and more established.

As soon as the tulip petals start to drop, I cut the flower stalk down to the base at ground level.

So 'woody', it is the leaves not the stalk that will "feed" the bulb?

Yes, it is the leaves that feed the plant like perennial plants leaves feed them through photosynthesis. I have also read not to braid or roll up the leaves as that reduces the amount of area of leaf to gather the sunlight in the process. Same as cutting off part of the leaf.

Thanks for the info mnwsgal. (I often cut off (parts of) leaves when they fall across perennials :( )

I'll give a third nod to the six week figure. I know people who not only cut back but also dig at six weeks and still have loads of success.

I'll give a third nod to the six week figure.

Six weeks after the flowers have dropped or from the start of flowering?

This rule of thumb holds for tulips as well?

Okay we have had tons of rain here in Northern California and the Daffodils are surrounded by Foxtails! I usually leave the leaves to die back, cannot leave the Foxtails, so will mow soon after flowering. Will see if I have flowers next year or not

They are just starting to open up her this last week. I wait till the leaves brown off at least half way down at the very least and never cut them while they're fully green.

It normally doesn't bother me at all, but this year, due to three polar events, daffodil foliage all has 1 or 2 inches of brown dead tips...it's horrible :(

I try to plant daffodils behind perennials that will grow up and hide the dying foliage. I rarely cut back bulb foliage, so I'm going to have to notice, why that is this year.

Cutting back bulb foliage early will not kill the bulbs........but it can certainly affect their vigor and ability to flower in the following season!! They only have a relatively short time to photosynthesize, being more or less dormant the majority of the year. And that photosynthesis is absolutely necessary for the bulb to recharge and store the nutrients that will power next year's growth and flowers.

You do not need to wait for the foliage to die off completely. The 6 weeks trigger date is reasonable or when the foliage is mostly yellow. That signals that photosynthesis is done and the plant is starting to shut down and getting ready to go dormant.

And prairiemoon's suggestion to interplant with other leafy perennials is excellent. The spring bulbs bloom and take center stage before the perennials emerge from dormancy but by the time the bulbs are starting to decline, the perennials have leafed out and effectively hide or disguise the ugly bulb foliage. It's a win-win!!

I can say that I have NEVER cut back any bulb foliage before it yellowed. That doesn't mean I never wanted to (lol).

When I had them, I used to twist them up, tie them in a tight knot and tuck in the ends creating balls because I really--- I mean really really---couldn't stand looking at that. In the end, I dug them out and decided it was one of those things on my list to enjoy IOPY's. (in other people's yards)

The 6 weeks trigger date is reasonable or when the foliage is mostly yellow. That signals that photosynthesis is done and the plant is starting to shut down

==>>> sound equivalent to fall color change on deciduous trees ... by the time they start to change color.. their job is done ... do what you will ...

watching the full life cycle of a plant... from breaking ground.. thru the end of season.. should be part of the deal ... a zen thing.. if you wish ....

if you take that into account.. one might suggest .... that you are done with the plant.. before the plant is done with the show ... why???

why not just enjoy the entire process ... and if some random guest [ex friend] suggests to you.. as you walk around the yard.. that it all looks messy.. just grab a wad of them.. and start beating them about the head and chest .. while chasing them out of the yard.. while yelling they will never again be invited to your little slice of eden.. how dare they ...

ken

I did the rubber band trick on mine -- bend the stalk in two and secure with a rubber band. Looked pretty ridiculous!

Growing them with other perennials is OK in theory, but in practice, none of my spring/early summer perennials are tall enough or early enough to disguise the dying, fading leaves. I bitterly regret planting a few hundred poeticus narcissus amongst hellebores, ferns, anemones, hardy geraniums, pulmonaria, omphalodes, stylophorum etc. and will never do so again. Tulips and wall flowers and sweet william are a classic combo...but not possible in a shady woodland border. I now think larger bulbs are best grown in separate clusters, naturalised in grass or kept in separate spring beds...and if there must be narcissus in a mixed border, then the smaller cyclaminus, the likes of Tete a Tete, Minnow, Hawera and Elke or wild obvallaris/lobularis are the best choice.

I find my Hellebores outtop the daffodil foliage. Everything has to be planted together I only have two beds and no grass.

Campanula, I'm still waiting to remind myself where I've planted mine and how much the dying foliage is disguised. I have some clusters of larger daffs that are in a long bed that I don't really walk past all that much in early summer, being busy in other parts of the garden. I know that one of those clumps is not disguised and I definitely don't enjoy the splayed out dying daff foliage, when I do see it there. Another couple of clumps are now under the dripline of a mature Oakleaf Hydrangea where I never notice the dying foliage once the shrub leafs out. I have more full size daffs in a bed on the other side of the yard, which I can see from my kitchen window and by the time the daff foliage is on it's way out, hostas and ferns are coming up in front of them. They are also enough of a distance away from where I am usually spending time, that I'm not driven crazy looking at them.

In my one very visible full sun/combination perennial, shrub, border, I don't have any full size daffs, I have smaller daffs and crocus, hyacinths and just started adding puschkinia and galanthus. Last fall, I added a miniature narcissus mix, as well. I have some of them behind grasses, nepeta, agastache and salvias. I'll be interested to see how much of a dsguise affect I will get this spring.

I have daffodils all over and I actually think they give a "full" look to the garden. After they die off, it gets a bit sparse looking until whatever annual I planted starts going.

Based on this thread or one like it, I have been cutting back foliage once it gets floppy. Here's a picture from May showing daffodil foliage which has been cut around mid-May.

Very neat, Posie. Deadheading also interrupts seed production,`redirecting energy resources into root growth and general consolidation. The multi-headed Tazetta and Triandrus definitely look a lot better after the ugly, withered bloom scapes have been removed.

Thank you Camp. Yes, I definitely dead head on the fence area especially. There's a lot of evening walkers and it's seen upclose.

Following and resurrecting this older thread. Going to experiment this year by chopping off the green on half of them the week the flower dies. Let's see what happens.

I'm still happy with my bulbs and not cutting back foliage. I've divided good perennializers and added to locations where I already have them. Those that I can see from my kitchen window are now a larger presence and I still spend more time in other parts of the garden at the point where the bulb foliage is dying, so it's all benefit and no liability for me.

The miniature daffodil mix that I added to my very visible full sun bed, that people walk past multiple times a day, is working out great. I love it! I bought it @ Scheepers. I had them in the ground 4 years when I had to move a patch and when I dug it up last fall I found 45 individual bulbs, which I transplanted all over that same bed. They made an appearance this spring, a few with flowers, but I can't wait for next year.

I am moving things around in that bed and I'll have to keep in mind what I can do to disguise the bulb foliage, even though it's much less a problem with the smaller daffodils. The mix also blooms at different times, so I have early and late. So this is now a successful strategy in my garden, to use the larger daffodils at a distance from where they are viewed and the miniature collection in the beds that are up close and personal.

I normally cut off the dead flowerheads as soon as they are ugly and the stem with them and I always find this cleans them up and for awhile they are just clean green foliage.

Here is ALL my Snow Drop foliage right now :(.

Between every pair of SD plants and beyond is a hosta ("Little Treasure"). But it will take a bit of time for these hostas to take over,

That's a good amount of snowdrops! You could probably move them further back and they would be less noticeable. They're tiny and short, but in March not much else is going on and they might be ok making a show deeper in the bed.

For sure a good suggestion @katob Z6ish, NE Pa.

I actually am considering removing these snowdrops. For whatever reason my plants don't give a good "show" in the spring...well at least not good enough for me to miss them. We shall see.

Are they by any chance double? ive noticed that some of the doubles sold do not bloom well… just multiply

Rouge, I found when I tried mine in a few different places, they did much better. Now I'm wishing I had added more a lot sooner. I do put them out of the way, where the foliage doesn't bother me as it ripens. I can go visit them when they are in bloom when little else is, I can see them from my kitchen window across the yard.. Last fall I added more in 4 different locations. What I like about them a lot is that they reseed so well and so easily. Once planted they have required nothing of me, too.

@katob Z6ish, NE Pa you are way clever! Yes they are all doubles!

I can go visit them when they are in bloom when little else is, I can see them from my kitchen window across the yard..

@prairiemoon2 z6b MA, this describes my 'situation' exactly :).

I should have added that I've tried four different varieties and two of them didn't do well for me at all, [Galanthus 'Flore Peno' and G. nivalis] and now that I think of it, I was not going to add any more. Then in 2018 I was buying more bulbs and there was a sale, so I just put another 25 snowdrops in the shopping cart. That one did much better, Galanthus elwesii, and it reseeded well. Then I was more enthusiastic to buy more so in 2021 I bought Galanthus 'Hipolyta' and that performed even better this spring. Looks like everything I planted came up this spring and bloomed and the flower is substantial and very pretty. Of course, I need a few more years to see how well it does.

Move them and split them, Rouge - they look like they could do with a bit less congestion maybe. It will invigorate them if you get a chance to do it nowish.

Agree with Katob - the double snowdrops will multiply very fast - a patch will double in size every year, but will simply clump up in ever denser groups and only bloom at the outer edges of each cluster unless regularly divided: (most of mine are old Greatorex doubles which I inherited with the wood ).

Ya, good idea @rosaprimula. (Split them now or wait until the foliage has receded?)

(Correct me if I am wrong 'rosa', but do I recall correctly that you don't like the 'doubles'? Or maybe its that your prefer the singles lots more than the doubles :))

Yep, I generally avoid doubles but my snowdrops were inherited with the wood and I have since come to re-evaluate the effect in the landscape. The doubles are definitely more impactful and seem to last longer in bloom.

I don't think it matters too much when you split and move - replanting will still allow the foliage to die back naturally. One of the reasons for doing it sooner rather than later (for me) is that the job is more likely to be done when I can see it...once it dies back, it tends to vanish from my memory too.