Divide and place bulbs...

...even in bloom! No better time to decide which ones, where.

You see them you like them , there's room for them elsewhere... So dig them and move them.

Likewise, set out those bulbs you receive as gifts, in pots. Keep in mind that those were planted shallow for forcing and must be set much deeper to fare well in the garden. Go ahead and bury the foliage to make it happen. We've done it many times and know it doesn't stop a hardy bulb from coming back the next year.

 

Below: These purple species Iris reticulata bloom earlier than the blue-violet variety 'Harmony' at right. We have both and can't ever remember later in spring which were where.

So as soon as we had admired the purples in bloom, and while the blues were still flowering, we dug some and spread them around.

 

Below: We could have divided the gift daffodils, too, but decided to go for the mature-clump look next year. We've dug the hole deeper than our trowel is long because we like daffodils to rest down out of harm's way in a garden. In addition, we know that deep daffs and tulips aren't so quick to multiply and become a mass of small, non-blooming bulbs.

 

Maybe it sounds cruel. The headline might read: "Defenseless daffodils buried alive!" But they're fine like that.