To Tie the Daffodils Up or Not!

In a recent Better Homes and Garden issue under its garden know-how section, it says, “Summer is no time for gardeners to rest on our laurels. Keep the garden flourishing with these timely tips,” and they gave some tips on taking care of bulbs.

Since most spring bulbs are finished blooming, BHG advises resisting the urge to cut, tie or braid dying foliage because the leaves need to be exposed to sun which recharges for the next year’s show. Well, that’s a start from the old “tie it up like a package” advice which I used to partake in for quite a while.

Bottom line: It looked stupid!  And the ugly leaves seemed to last even longer. I’d have a nice dianthus (aka pinks) in full bloom and your eyes would go straight to the strangulated daffodil sitting next to it. 

So I started cutting them down to nothing. Some I dug up and threw in a pile in an unused part of my garden. I didn’t look at them again until fall when I attempted to find a place to plant them back in.

Pile of bulbs waiting to be planted sometime, somewhere

I am skeptical of “expert gardeners'” advice, especially when I am too lazy to do it their way and it comes out fine anyway without all that extra work. I’ve never used special bulb food, pulled weeds around them, dead- headed them, discarded pulpy or rotting bulbs, or waited until the leaves have turned yellow before I cut them back.

See for yourself. Do these plants look neglected?