A tulip and daffodil question

[darcyvuqua]

Ok so I understand the growing of most veg but I have never planted a flower blub!

So my question is:
I sow my tulip and daff bulbs each one grows and produces a flower but do the bulbs if left in the ground multiply giving bigger batches of flower?

I hope you all understand what I mean because I think I lost myself somewhere then

[YFS]

I sow my tulip and daff bulbs each one grows and produces a flower but do the bulbs if left in the ground multiply giving bigger batches of flower?

I think so; as a follow up question, if that is what they do - do they multiply year after year. Because someone told me they only last a few years, they might have been talking about crocuses, if that makes any difference.

[rustylady]

The bulbs of most spring flowers (daffodils, crocus, snowdrops and tulips) do indeed split (multiply).

Of course the extent to which they will do so depends on growing conditions. Don't plant them too close together, and don't cut the leaves off after flowering. Leave them to die back naturally.

With daffodils particularly there will come a time when you will have to lift and separate them because they become so crowded.

[darcyvuqua]

Many thanks rusty

[roitelet]

You may need to lift the tulips as they don't seem to do as well as the others as regards multiplying.
If you want to create a 'meadow' of spring flowers look for bulbs for naturalising. Botanical crocus and the small daffs are good and snowdrops do much better if they are moved just after flowering than if you plant dry bulbs.

[Two_Sheds]

A tulip and daffodil question

They're both poisonous ... there you go, something else to worry about

[northepaul]

I put loads in every year, but they only seem to come up in the places I planted them.
Its too early for tulips yet....

[Two_Sheds]

I put loads in every year, but they only seem to come up in the places I planted them.

You probably know already, that daffs have "daughters" : little bulbs growing on the side of the main bulb. These can be dug up, split off and replanted to increase your stock.

I haven't noticed any of my daffs self-seeding, but I guess it's possible

[veggiechicken]

I think so; as a follow up question, if that is what they do - do they multiply year after year. Because someone told me they only last a few years, they might have been talking about crocuses, if that makes any difference.

I have the small mauve crocuses RHS Plant Selector Crocus tommasinianus AGM / RHS Gardening self seeding around the garden. Lots in the lawn and they pop up in the most unexpected places too, some distance away from any parent crocus. The snowdrops were slow starters but they're spreading too - and the wild daffodils.
The only tulips I grow now are the dwarf ones as I consider the big blowsy ones to be better in formal settings than in my garden. Minature daffs for me too
I leave everything to its own devices, most of them grow in the lawn. They are left to die back naturally and then mown.

[roitelet]

Iv'e got Tete a Tete daffs self seeding in places that get neglected. One thing to be said for not too intensive gardening.

[bend1pa]

As far as daffs go, it depends on the variety. The smaller narcissi types like the Cyclamineus and Tazetas can be left in the ground for a few years and will happily spread. Just remember to feed after flowering and to remove the dying flower stems but allow the leaves to die down naturally. The big daffs like the 'Trumpets' and 'Large Cupped' which you see growing in most gardens ideally should be dug up every year or 2 to separate the offsets. Even though they will spread if you don't do this the flowers will decrease as the years go on. Plant the offsets elsewhere until they are big enough to flower (2 -3 years). This is done when the leaves have turned brown.

The only tulips you can leave in the ground to multiply are the species types. With Kaufmaninnia and Greigeii types it's advisable to dig them up each year in early June, separate the offsets and store until autumn and replant. You do the same with the large Darwin hybrids All other types of tulips are not considered as reliable perennials and are usually discarded after they've flowered, although some people claim that Triumph tulips also seem to work well when stored after they've been dug up.

Triumph Tulips

[Two_Sheds]

I know you're "meant" to dig them up, I leave all my tulips in the ground, and they come back every year (so far anyway: they've been in since '05)

[horticultural_hobbit]

That makes me feel better, Aunty Two_Sheds. Was going to by next question. I sunk loads last year, and wasn't sure if they'd come back again. I wouldn't remember where I put them though, other than along the edges.

[Fluorescent green]

I have recently planted some dafs on the top of a wall, they will stay there because its a high wall with little soil. Maybe if they are too exposed the frosts might get to them?

[rustylady]

Probably not the best place for them. I take it that it's a double skin wall with a pocket of soil between the two. Whereabouts are you, and how tall is the wall?