Re: Bunching and Bowing Bulb Foliage
- To: perennials@mallorn.com
- Subject: Re: Bunching and Bowing Bulb Foliage
- From: B*@aol.com
- Date: Sat, 18 Jul 1998 22:47:11 EDT
The conventional wisdom from the American Daffodil Society is to not tie up
your foliage for exactly the reason Chris asks: If they're all tied up, the
leaf surfaces can't gather the solar energy for the mysterious things plants
do to build reserves of strength for next year's growth and bloom. However, I
don't know that this is research-based. I do know there was research once on
when it was OK to cut the foliage (of daffodils) down. I think 6 weeks after
bloom was the breakeven point--before 6 weeks adversely affects next year's
strength; after 6 weeks does not. Even if the foliage was still green.
Now, Martha Stewart does a lot of things I wouldn't do in a million
years--some things very clever and interesting, but I simply do not have that
kind of time. I can't imagine being on my hands and knees tying up all the
bulb foliage into nifty little bundles with bows. And if I remember the
original posting correctly, it referred to many of the "minor" bulbs, such as
scilla, chionodoxa and such. I think you'd need the hands and eyes of a
surgeon to do all that tying of bows. Just plant companion plants around them
and then pull the dried foliage off and discard when it turns brown
naturally--that's how I do it.
Bill Lee
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