What should I do when my early spring flowering bulbs are finished blooming?

By Keith Funk

A:  Remove spent flowers but keep all the foliage to rebuild the bulb’s strength to rebloom again next year.  Show them some love with an application of a general purpose flower garden food watered in thoroughly.  Once the foliage turns yellow it can be cut off at the soil surface.  DO NOT PULL the foliage off.  You run the risk of pulling the bulbs out or damaging the bulbs where the foliage attaches below ground, encouraging the bulbs to rot at the point of injury.  

Keith Funk is handling our Q & A this year. You may have visited one of Keith’s Denver area gardens on a tour or know him from his years at Echter’s and now at Nick’s Garden Center. For 30 years he’s been heard every Saturday morning from 7-9 with fellow Wise Guy, Jim Borland, on the Garden Wise Radio Show on Legends 810AM.