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Dead heading hyacinths and tulips

Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
in Plants
I have always deadheaded daffodils and once they start to die down they should be fed I believe,  however do I dead head hyacinths, grape hyacinths and tulips in the same way or do I cut the flowering stems right down to the soil?
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  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,104
    Tuips and hyacinths and daffs look a lot better if the flowering stem is cut to the base.  No need to dead head grape hyacinths.   They will all appreciate a feed.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • Guernsey Donkey2Guernsey Donkey2 Posts: 6,713
    Thanks Obelixx, I wasn't sure what to do with them now that they are finishing off.  I want to encourage them to give me a good display again next Spring.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,789
    That's a lovely spring display!
    I don't think leaving the stem or not matters much to the plant, it's the leaves that need to be left until they die back.  I deadhead tulips the same as daffs (just pick off the dead flower heads when I notice them), except the little species ones which I leave to seed around. With hyacinths the flowers go halfway down the stem anyway and the stems don't seem to snap off easily by hand so I cut the whole stem off.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,104
    It just looks better if there isn't a headless stem sticking up.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 8,789
    I agree, but I have so many daffs that if I had to go round them all with the secateurs they just wouldn't get done at all, so picking off the heads is better for me.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    edited March 2019
    Some people say if you dead-head them it improves next year's display.  I don't buy this.  Lots of public spaces have mass plantings of daffodils, especially in Wales where I live.  No-one has the time to dead-head them all, but they still look wonderful every year.
  • ObelixxObelixx Posts: 29,104
    I agree, but in a private garden with smaller displays if you want bigger, fatter bulbs, you dead head and feed.   In this garden I'm after both fattening but also spreading so dead head the ones in borders and just feed the ones in wilder areas.
    Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
    "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    I stand corrected.
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 52,032
    I'm with Obelixx - take the whole stem off wherever possible, but if you have a big area to tend, you can be a bit more cavalier, and just nip the heads off quickly. 
    Anything within view will look better if the whole stem is off. 
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • josusa47josusa47 Posts: 3,530
    Or, if they are closely planted, take shears to them, as I have just seen a very experienced and knowledgeable gardener do.  You lose the tips of the foliage, but it saves a lot of time.
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