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I am new to having a garden as I have only just moved into my new house. I have some basic questions regarding flowers after they have finished blooming. My mother-in-law planted some daffodils and tulips which grew well and bloomed. The flowers have now died and I do not know what the best step is.
Do they grow again next year if I leave them planted? Should I trim them back?
You can:
Cut them and enjoy their fragrance (if they are fragrant)
Put them on your dining table for decoration, or wherever you feel like.
Or if they are dried\dead, compost them (if you compost) or just throw them away.
In all cases, cutting will encourage the plant growth and will flower again in their season.
You can deadhead by removing the spent flower stems if you want to, but its not desperately important to do so. What is important is that you do not cut the foliage or pull it off or tie it into tidy clumps for six weeks after flowering. Feed them whilst the foliage is still present during that six weeks, particularly just as they finish flowering. This six week period, whilst the leaves are still present and functioning, is when the bulb is storing food in order to be able to flower the following year, particularly with daffodils. Once the six weeks is up, you can cut the foliage off if you like, or wait till it shrivels and then pull it off.
