lifting spring bulbs after flowering

[cheops]

Hi all,
I know the advice is let the foliage of hyacinths, tulips etc die back before lifting the bulbs for cleaning and storage. This can well be a month or so after flowering - a long time to have a bed looking unattractive and untidy. Is it ok to lift the bulbs immediately after flowering is over but keeping the foliage attached and storing them in a dry place til the leaves have browned and withered? I'm hoping that would work but I sense that's too easy. ????

[rustylady]

I never lift mine, just leave them in the ground. If you plan properly you should be able to plant bedding among the bulbs to hide the leaves while they do their job of feeding the bulbs for next year.

[cheops]

Thx for that but I like tulips etc to be in large closely knit groups and to put a bedding plant among that is nigh impossible. I was just hoping that the foliage of the uplifted bulb would die back and feed the bulb just as it would have if the bulb had been left undisturbed. Does anyone know if this is true or untrue?

[veggiechicken]

I don't know the answer but as soon as you dig up a bulb you cut off its supply of water. so the leaves would shrivel more quickly and not be able to feed the bulb for as long. Just my logic - no idea whether its right! Perhaps you could dig them up as a clump with soil and stick them in a pot until they die back naturally.

[cheops]

Thx Veggiechicken. Your logic may very well be right. Your idea of lifting as a clump with soil would work but for me it's just not practical. For example in one area alone I have over one hundred hyacinths [light and dark blue ] mixed with large red botanical tulips. I guess if no one has a definite answer I could experiment this spring with a few bulbs and see if it works.

[rustylady]

What do you normally do with your bulbs? And what would go in the bed once the bulbs have either been finished or lifted?

[cheops]

Up to now I have not lifted them expect last year when I lifted all, stored over winter and then replanted /designed the whole layout. I have a lot of perennials which stay put but where I have spring bulbs I would like to lift them early and put in annuals, gernamiums etc for the rest of spring summer and autumn. I would like to lift them early because waiting for the foliage to die back naturally takes ages and even then if the bulbs are not lifted you can't dig to any depth to plant other plants as you are disturbing the bulbs at best or slicing them with your trowel/spade.

[Two_Sheds]

That seems like a lot of work to me, but each to his own.

My bulbs all stay in situ to die back naturally ~ they aren't stand alone though, but mingled in with annuals, perennials, shrubs etc. As the bulb foliage dies back, other plants are growing around them to hide the browning leaves

[bend1pa]

I never quite understand the problem about bulb foliage looking untidy because it doesn't look more tidy while you are waiting for bulbs to flower, although some bulb foliage like hyacinths and muscari look awful after flowering The rule with bulbs is simple. You lift them once the foliage goes brown, not before, else you risk losing next year's blooms. In order to mask the untidiness of the foliage why not plant other things like winter flowering pansies amongst the bulbs or have herbaceous plants like Geranium Johnson's Blue or some Aquilegias, which grow about 60cm tall. These all flower during May/June and help take your eye off the bulb foliage.

[cheops]

I know what you are saying Bendpa1 [and thx to you and others who have replied] but I like the spring flowers to stand together in a mass [maybe this is where I am going awry] which means the bulbs themselves stand shoulder to shoulder under ground. Last year I did for example plant among a group of 100 hyacinths some contasting in colour botanical tulips along with some alliums and foxtail lilies. The idea was the tulips and hyacinths would together more or less at the same time make a good show which they did. However the lilies and alliums were pathetic for when they started to shoot and emerge the dense [not yet brown] foliage of the tulips and hyacinths above them smothered them and didn't allow them to flourish.

[Alison]

Blimey, I never realised that people had the time to dig them all up . Like most people on here I just leave them insitu (apart from when I accidently dig them up when weeding!). However am pretty sure that they really do need to die back naturally in order to feed the bulb and whilst it might be OK to do once in a while, if you dig up early then I feel that you'll be weakening the bulb quite considerably and it is likely to perform less well each year.