do my daffodils need mowing?

[eddiebirmingham]

My lawn is very very long now

this is the first year i have grown daffs, they looked great but are now flowerless.

how long do i leave them until i mow.

i have heard by some that mowing them will bring them back blind and by others its ok to mow straight away.

which is correct and how long should i wait for the first mow?

the lawn is a good foot deep now in parts and looks a real mess

[Flummery]

Can you mow round them? they need at least 6 weeks after flrowring to build up enough strength (from their dying foliage) for another year's flowers. In practice here this means early June - Maybe a week earlier in Birmingham (I assume that's where you are).

If you are a tidy gardener it's a very good reason for putting the daffs in a flower bed and not naturalising them in a lawn! Our local council has massed verge plantings which look brilliant in flower but now are long grass and dandelions going to seed! When they mow in a few weeks time the grass will look pale and scalped for a week or two, but it recovers rapidly.

[TEB]

I reckon you could get a few different answers to this one, I have read that you take the flower heads of once they die and then leave them for 6 weeks, I do this to all my daffs except the ones that grow in the lawn, these I ruthlessly mow regardless of them flowering because its not something I like (daffs in my lawn), despite this they come back year in year out.

[vicky]

You are supposed to leave them 6 weeks after flowering, if you can't mow round them and the grass is that long I'd just mow them anyway.
Personally I don't like daffs in a lawn for this very reason...snowdrops and crocus work better as they flower earlier so are ready to cut by the time your lawn needs to be cut.

[Nicos]

I'd go with the 6 week rule too

remember to give them a bit of a feed now before they properly start to die back.

I'd mow around them and then use some old fashioned hedge clippers just to tidy up the surrounding grass..that's what we do- and it still looks neat!

[Madasafish]

6 week rule. i foliar feed mine now when flowers have dies: one run with phostrogen or similar: helps them build up for next year.