Bulbs - Tulips and Daffodil Care After Bloom

We count on tulips and daffodils to help welcome spring year after year with only a little bit of care on our part. But some common mistakes can weaken them and lead to fewer flowers the following year.

Seed production takes food away from the developing bulbs, so it's important to remove faded flowers before they produce seed.

Leaves, however, must remain on the plants until they turn yellow. This yellowing is not attractive but it is a sign that the foliage has fully matured and has manufactured enough food to build a bulb that's strong enough to bloom again next year.

You can hide yellowing leaves by setting out flowering annuals among the bulb plants in late May. Choose annuals that need minimal watering, such as marigolds, vinca, or moss roses. Keeping the soil too moist all summer can weaken the dormant bulbs.

To encourage strong bulb development, fertilize them soon after bulb foliage emerges in spring, and again one month later. Use specially formulated bulb food, not just bone meal.

If your flowers diminish from year to year, which is not unusual in our climate, dig the bulbs once foliage matures and save only the largest ones. Plant them, along with new bulbs, next October. Discard the small bulbs. They'll never amount to anything here in Minnesota.

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