May I have some advice please?

[badgerpup]

:hi:

About six years ago while on a white flower kick, I planted some Sir Winston Churchill daffodills.

It's said they 'naturalize well'.
These have done so...in fact, you might say they have SUPERnaturalized. I've huge CLUMPS of these fragrant daffs. Didn't realize quite how many until yesterday I went out and cut about 3 dozen for an indoor bouquet* and realized I'd hardly made a dent in the amount of stalks.

I'm going to need to dig them up and separate them...which is GOOD, because I won't have to buy any of these for fall-
I really do like them.
The advice I'm wanting is "When is the best time to do this?" Do I need to dig them up when they're finished blooming, or do I wait until the leaves are done with their 'nourish the bulb' job...or should I just wait until autumn...

I haven't had to do this before...my tulips all bloom for a few years, but didn't appear to multiply...and then one year they just don't come back. I don't think it's deer- I've got crown imperials planted:

Lovely flower, but STINK to high heaven...sort of like a cross between an upset skunk and a very strong onion. Besides that, the neighbors have barky dogs.

Thanks! :pals:

* Oh, the bouquet! I needed some foliage, and nothing's leafed out enough to provide it. My juniper needs to be trimmed back anyway, so I figured it could contribute to the cause.
Wish I had a camera, because it looks AMAZING. The colors and textures work beautifully. Funny thing, too...because the evergreen doesn't really 'pop' or call attention to itself; in fact you hardly notice it's there- but it makes all the difference in the world.
Turns 'a bunch of flowers stuck in a vase' into a very attractive arrangement.

The pics are from teh Google, not my garden. Darn it...

[Botany]

1. Wait until the leafs are about 1/2 yellow (early june / late may)

Then dig the clumps and separate the bulbs ...... plant the bulbs in the new location about twice
as deep as the bulb are tall ....... add some bone meal into the bottom of the whole when you replant
the bulbs.

BTW I really am a botanist but I still get stumped on is it leafs or leaves?

[badgerpup]

2. Thank you!

:hug:
It's complicated...but I think it's 'leafs' when their leafing out...and when you've got a bunch of them, they're leaves.

...and when they've all fallen down, they've left. :spank:

[kurtzapril4]

4. I'm a botanist, too..

And I made up a poem to remeberize leaf/leaves:

Leaf is singular
Leaves is plural
But a plant leafs out
To hide all the squirrels.

[Denninmi]

3. Digging and dividing bulbs

IMO, the best time to dig, divide, and move them around is in the late spring when the foliage is turning yellow but not quite dead. You can still find them easily then, and the leaves are still firmly attached enough that you can usually yank on them to help get the bulbs out of the ground. But, the bulbs are mature enough at that time that, if the leaves do come off, it's no big deal.

As far as the disappearing tulips -- voles, chipmunks, squirrels, field mice, deer mice, rats -- all of those rodents will dig and eat tulip bulbs.

One final thing - I learned the hard way a few years ago that onion flies lay eggs on fritilaria bulbs that hatch into maggots that can destroy the bulb, so I always throw down some season long grub control product as the plants are blooming to eliminate that problem, seems to have done the trick on the ones I replanted after losing the first batch. It also does a good job controlling iris borers.