Now that I have lots of space with my additional allotment I plan to grow more flowers between the crops. I bought some gladioli bulbs today and am dreaming of the beautiful flowers I can cut for the house later this year. But then it occured to me, if I cut the flowers will the bulbs produce flowers next year? And the same with daffodils and tulips (which I hope to plant in autumn for spring flowers next year), if I cut the flowers then they won't produce flowers the next year will they? What if I cut some and leave others to flower on the plant, will the cut bulbs produce flowers two years later? Or do I need to buy new bulbs each year? Does the same apply to alliums and other bulb/corm flowers ???
It is the leaves of the plants which are important not the flowers. Indeed in commercial bulb production the flowers are removed to force the plant into concentrating on increasing the bulb size. Rest easy, your daffodils and tulips will not be harmed by removing the flowers. Cutting off the leaves is a different matter. And in the case of Alliums, generally speaking the leaves have died before the plant flowers, especially in the big ball type. Gladioli have been grown for years in the kitchen garden as a source of cut flowers. The corm of a gladiolus dies after flowering anyway and is replaced by a new one (and hundreds of babies too).
As long as the bulbs remain healthy they will continue to produce flowers. It is a slightly different matter with forced bulbs, but that is mainly because of the stress caused to the bulb. I am thinking of hyacinths here, but planted out and fed they too will flower again.
Thanks Palustris, and here I am never having picked any flowers from my daffs in the garden for fear that they won't flower the next year! :-[
The new gladioli baby corms - how long will they take before they flower, I'm assuming they won't flower in their first year? Am I correct in thinking that the corms/bulbs should be lifted in autumn and replanted in the spring?
Hyacinths - I've got some that were forced this year and have finished flowering. Will they grow outdoors? What should I do with the plants now, they are sitting in their pots, flowers dead, should I plant them in the flower bed and let them live there for the rest of the spring and summer? Do they stay in the flower bed all winter or should they be lifted and planted next spring?
So many questions ....sorry!
The replacement gladiolus corm will flower again the following year (usually), the baby ones depends on the size of them. They range in size from grains of rice to nearly the same size as the parent. Normal procedure is to dig up the corms when the leaves die down, dry them off ,remove the dead old corm and store over Winter. The baby corms are then planted in a nursery bed to grow on for the future.. Personally I have never bothered trying. In fact we leave the corms in the ground all year, but we do not grow them for cut flowers.
Hyacinths should be planted out as soon as you can after they have finished flowering. Give them a sunny site and a bit of food and theywill them flower in future. Again we leave them in the ground permanently and they have now spread to nice sized clumps. If you want them as indoor plants, why not dig them up in Spring when you can see the flower spike beginning to show through?
I'm very lazy. I admit it.
Planted my first gladies in 2004. They didn't flower (just grew leaves). I left them in the ground. In 2005 I had a lovely show of them. And planted some more which didn't flower.
THis is despite my heavy clay soil. But the garden is fairly sheltered and comparitively warm.
Interesting reading in Eric's reply what actually happens underground, I'd never thought of it really. Funnily enough I don't cut many of them though I do leave the leaves. I planted a few each of daffs, gladioli, tulips, crocuses, anenomes, irises years ago and have just left them to get on with it and how hadsomely they have paid me for my neglect! when there are too many daffs and tulips (especially) I dig some up with a view to disposing of them but they end up replanted in odd corners or in pots which get moved between lottie and balcony. flowers make all the difference on the lottie in my opinion ::)