No, no, no! Don't take off those leaves! They are feeding the bulbs. Muscari are very tough. Just dig up the clumps as if you were moving any other perennial. Don't faff about with them. Leave the soil on the clumps and either replant in a temporary spot until their new home is ready or pot them up - this could be as simple as sticking them all into an old washing up bowl with holes in the bottom. They will survive. Taking the leaves off and drying them would lower their chances of survival.

Hmm. Maybe I'll just leave them and buy more later, see if they survive the construction, because I have a lot of them to move (like, a few hundred), as well as a bunch of other perennials. I have a couple weeks to make the decision. Thank you for your help.

Karen

You could also just dig them in clumps as much as possible, and put them in a shady area and cover with whatever you have handy...ie soil, mulch, or even some sheets of newspaper. I think they are quite resilient, and also think it would be best to just leave the foliage attached.

Sue...the optimist

Puhleeze don't let those beautiful little things get killed under concrete!

I have had good luck handling cannas & irises just as Sue describes.

If you must, put an ad on freecycle or craigslist for free bulbs ("dig your own"), & you'll have scads of responses.

Best luck!

Somewhere sunny in the veggie garden (I hope you have one) dig a long trench about six inches deep and transplant your Muscari. If you can leave them there until the garage is done, the chaos is sorted, and you can rebuild your garden bed - so much the better. Plan on replanting in that brief period of dormancy over next mid summer.

Autumn-winter-spring is their natural growing time. Leaf removal is not recommended.

PS Keep them a long way away from the chives. Just in case...:-))

I deliberately pull the leaves to try to reduce my muscari population but it has never done any good. They are tough little buggers. Their leaves get really long and soggy here and make a floppy mess that can kill other plants. I love the color but I'm so done with them.

I think I'll dig them up and plant them somewhere, but I just don't know where yet. Perhaps in one of my dayliliy beds between the rows of daylilies, until summer when I can move them to where I want them. I don't really want them getting mixed up in my daylilies. Decisions, decisions...

Karen

You'll be sorreee... There's always one (or more) left behind. Even if you decided to keep just a few clumps, in a recycled container - you could break them up and replant next summer and still have plenty.

They can be a lot of extra work among clumps of perennials. (Based on past experience :-((( )