What To Do With Daffodils After Flowering

With proper care, your daffodils can last years and years. But what is proper care? What do you do with daffodils once they have finished flowering? Let’s have a look and find out.

Key Takeaways

Deadhead spent blooms, remove the seed heads, don’t bunch the leaves up and finally cut back to the ground in May/June.

What to do with daffodils after flowering Pinterest — What to do with daffodils after flowering

Deadhead Old Flowers

If you have the time then it is always advisable to deadhead spent blooms on almost any flower, and that includes daffodils.

Deadheading not only tidies the plant up and makes it look better but it also stops the plant from putting its energy into creating seeds.

We will not be growing daffodils from the seed heads in most circumstances so this is wasted energy, but once the seedhead has been removed all of the energy will be going into the bulb instead.

This is what we want as all of next year’s growth will be powered, at first at least, by the energy stored in the bulb over winter. The more we can do now to conserve that energy the better the display will be next year.

Remove Seed Heads

This ties in with deadheading as above but is for those flowers we missed. Once the petals of the flower have disappeared you will be left with a little green pod. This is the seed and should be removed unless you want to grow new plants from the seed.

Like deadheading, this will send energy to the bulb for next year’s growth.

Let The Leaves Flop

Now we have to just let the leaves flop around on the soil, yes they look unsightly but they are still taking in sunlight and storing that energy in the bulb.

This is vital for next year’s growth so we want to allow the leaves to soak up the sun.

Many people like to tie these dying leaves up into bunches to tidy them up a little bit. And while this will make the plants look better in the short term it is not good for their long-term growth.

This is because by tying the leaves up you are massively reducing the surface area of the leaves that will get sunlight. This means they will store less energy for next year and therefore not perform as well as they could.

Let the leaves sprawl on the floor, even if they don’t look good, as this will all help your daffodils look even better next spring.

Cut Back To The Ground

Once the leaves have started to yellow then you can cut them right back to the ground if you wish. This usually happens around May or early June.

The leaves will not be absorbing energy once they have yellowed so you can remove them.

I often just leave them and let them die back naturally as it is one less job to do and this way I am getting the most energy into the bulbs as possible.

Depending on the weather the leaves can keep on going well into summer some years, so as long as they aren’t ruining the look of your bed you can simply leave them be.

Conclusion

You should deadhead your daffodils once they have finished flowering. Make sure to remove any seed heads that you may have missed.

When the leaves begin to droop just leave them to sprawl and do not tie them up.

You can remove all the foliage once it yellows and starts to die back. Alternatively, you can leave the leaves to die off naturally.

What To Do With Mini Daffodils After Flowering

Mini daffodils can be such an early spring delight and make great container and basket plants, but what do you do with these little pops of colour once they have finished flowering?

So your mini daffodils blooms are starting to fade and you are now wondering what to do with mini daffodils after flowering? Well, the first step you should be taking is regular deadheading and not allowing the production of seed heads. This is wasted energy that should instead be going to the bulb of the plants.

Reproduction through seed is very difficult and slow with both mini and regular daffodils, so rather than letting the plant waste energy on this, we want to focus all of its energy on further developing its bulb.

This can easily be done by deadheading all old flowers before they turn to seed. With mini daffodils, you tend to have more flowers than regular ones so this is a little more time-consuming but it is still quite a quick and easy job.

Let Your Mini Daffodils Begin To Flop

Now we have to just let the leaves flop around on the soil, yes they look unsightly but they are still taking in sunlight and storing that energy in the bulb.

This is vital for next year’s growth so we want to allow the leaves to soak up the sun.

With mini daffodils, this never really looks as unsightly as it does with regular ones so we can leave them be. If you are growing your mini daffodils in containers or hanging baskets then you can move the container out of sight and let the leaves die off naturally.

Cut Back To The Ground

Once the leaves have started to yellow then you can cut them right back to the ground if you wish. This usually happens around May or early June.

The leaves will not be absorbing energy once they have yellowed so you can remove them.

What To Do With Mini Daffodils In Containers

If your mini daffodils are being grown in containers or hanging baskets then there are other steps you might want to take once your plants have finished flowering.

The main thing you will probably do is lift and store the bulbs once they have finished. This will allow you to use the pot or hanging basket for something else whilst also protecting your mini daffodils.

Follow the steps above and let the foliage die off before thinking of lifting your bulbs.

Then, if possible, move the container to a dry spot like a shed or greenhouse and allow the soil to dry out. Only do this once the foliage has either completely died off or been cut back to the ground.

Then gently lift the bulbs from the soil, if any new bulbs are starting to form through division then you can break these off to form new plants.

Put the bulbs onto a tray or sheet of kitchen roll to aid them in drying off. After a couple of days of drying, I like to move my bulbs into a cardboard box full of newspaper and store them like this all summer before planting again in autumn.

Make sure the cardboard box stays dry and stays out of the sun! And if you are looking for new mini daffodil plants then check out the wide range at Suttons!

Looking for more daffodil goodness? Don’t worry, I have you covered!