A gardening sin that’s not the end of the world

If I am ever asked to atone for my garden sins, I know what will be at the top of the list — cutting back bulb foliage too early. I do it well before I should, without even a tinge of regret, much less guilt.

The accepted horticultural practice is to allow it to yellow before cutting it back. Braiding, tying in a knot and other methods of tidying up foliage is not recommended because it disrupts the plant’s ability to photosynthesize, which is the whole point of not cutting the foliage too early. Photosynthesis uses sunlight collected by leaves to re-energize the bulb, giving it enough energy to bloom again next year.

The price for not allowing bulb foliage to die back mostly on its own can be decreased flowering the following year, which renders bulbs pretty much useless because bulb foliage is of little value from an aesthetic perspective.

And yet knowing all this, I still chose to take a handy mini sickle tool and slice off bulb foliage close to soil level. My reasoning is more practical than you might think. Ratty foliage looks terrible, and it’s difficult to see where the next plants to go in the ground should be placed if you can’t see the big picture of a bed because it’s crowded with plants that won’t be there in a few weeks.

The problem is magnified when planting late blooming bulbs, which, cruelly, can be some of the most interesting. These emerge later and the foliage dies back later than early or mid-spring bloomers.

In a part of the garden that serves as a reminder of several bad decisions I’ve made throughout the years, I recently cut back the foliage of some daffodils that just bloomed in the last week, compounding both a poor choice in varieties and the decision to plant them in a place where I can’t hide the foliage.

The most effective bulb plantings are done where the foliage of a shrub or larger perennials shrouds it after flowering and you never have to think about again.

And yet, my premature foliage cutting has shown little sign of affecting some bulbs. 

‘Purple Sensation’ is a popular and prolific allium that produces beautiful lavender to purple ball-shaped flowers on 3-foot stems. It also seeds around readily, creating large clusters of the flowers in a short period  of time. It boasts perhaps the most unattractive foliage of any allium, and it starts to yellow even before its buds have opened. 

But yellow foliage is typically a sign that the leaves have done their job in re-energizing the bulb for next year, so several years ago I starting cutting ‘Purple Sensation’ foliage back when flower buds are just starting to crack open. And I can confirm that they haven’t slowed down a bit. They still flower, seed around and come back year after year.

The garden columnists’ code of ethics prevents me from promoting garden sins, so I’ll say you definitely should not cut back bulb foliage before it dies back. But if you do, it’s probably not the end of the world, and it just might make you appreciate your bulbs a little more.