QUESTION

WE PLANTED lots of daffodil and narcissus bulbs last October and have enjoyed a lovely early show. Now these flowers are dead, but the late ones are spoiled by the brown and shrivelled early flowers and leaves. How soon can the dead things be cut back? Mrs P. Richards, Cornwall.

The leaves and stems of spent daffodils should ideally not be cut back until they have died naturally so that more nutrients are returned to the bulbs for storage. You could hide the daffodil aftermath by growing bulbs in a mixed border with early and midsummer perennials.