Rabbits and deer will eat almost anything if they are desperate. Onions and garlic don't deter our wildlife, nor do most of the supposedly rabbit and deer proof plants. We've had rabbits graze garlic chives down to the roots. We live on a acre of cactus, yucca, thistles and all kinds of thorny brambles. We also have hawks, owls and bobcats strolling through regularly. We have deer sleeping in front of the house, rabbits hopping from one plant to another, though all the spiky, thorny brush. So don't believe the stories that predators or spiky leaves or smelly plants will protect your garden from wildlife. Commercial repellants are all based on bloodmeal or sulphurous eggs, and they are reputed to work, at least for a time. I make my own repellant - recipe is given earlier in this thread. I find this works but must be reapplied about once a month. I also use chicken wire cages around small plants. All of this is necessary when the animals have to eat or starve to death. Cheryl

Just so everyone knows, daylilies - Hemerocallis species and hybrids - are not lilies despite that common name. They are not bulbs like true lilies (Lilium species and hybrids) but just a fleshy rooted perennial. But the buds and flowers can be browsed by various plant eating creatures just like true lilies and a host of other perennials and shrubs. In my garden with a moderate deer presence, the deer will often eat the flowers or flower buds off of just about anything, even for plants they normally avoid. So my vote would be deer damage.

Hi linnea56, The ones that "have 1-3 buds coming off the sides near the top" are your Orientals. Asiatics will have the "Umbel" of bloom stems coming from one point at the top of the stem (like an upside down umbrella). Trumpets have bloom stems coming from the top in a few rings that produce a pyramid like set of buds. I've been confused by another post as well as yours that have mentionned leaves "growing on the sides" vs. "ringing the stem" since both Asiatic and Orientals have alternating leaves up the stem and oriented in all directions, i.e., what you refer to as "ringing the stem" (vs. the collar like whorls of Martagons and North American Species). The main difference is that most asiatic have more smaller somewhat thinner leaves than the Orientals do. So I went out to my garden to check more closely. Sure enough, SOME (within a variety) of my oriental plants would start off with alternating leaves ringing the stem at the bottom but higher up the leaves were only on opposite sides of the stem "like a jacobs ladder" as you noted. This is especially evident on my Rubrum lilies. I don't believe this is standard growth since it would differ between bulbs of the same type. My Siberia and Aruba does it hardly at all, Stargazer a little more, and Rubrum the most. If you mapped them out by size the Trumpet lilies should be in the back since they get quite tall. Similarly your pixie lilies (very short asiatics) should be in front. The trumpets should be easiest to distinguish by their leaf forms. They have a LARGE number of thin leaves. When they first come up they look like Dr. Seuss creatures with "tufts of hair" on their heads. There are two things going on with newly planted bulbs that affects bud count and plant height. 1) Their bulb size - smaller bulbs will produce shorter plants with fewer buds, And 2) though Fall planting is better than Spring planting, even a quality large bulb planted in the Fall will need a season to get fully established. When mature and established you can expect that your Orientals will have from 7-12 buds. It depends on variety, garden conditions, and the vagaries of the weather that season. Trumpet lilies often have large number of buds when established. I have a second year L. Regale with 25 buds on it. But others in the same bed have only 7. The average is about 15. The hardest to distinguish will be the Rubrum (a species Oriental) from the hybrid orientals, since it is one of the hybrids "parents". Once established the hybrids will have thicker stems and larger buds. The Rubrum buds also have three little points sticking up (from three of the nascent petals) while the oriental buds are a smooth ovoid shape. -Helen

Well, my gardens at work are coming along nicely. All my roses except one have new growth. Some,like my Hypnotize rose already have giant buds, almost ready to open. I will spray them for disease tonight. My Glads and lilies out here have woken up, and my Peonies have buds on them, swarming with ants. As usual, i have neglected to dig up and divide the amaryllis, and they are out of control, but whatever, someone or someones always yanks at least one up and steals a whole bulb every year, so it will get thinned out that way. I have some amaryllis like bulbs that i planted, I cannot for the life of me remember the name.....it starts with a "c". Anyway, they have never bloomed. Here's hoping this is the year. I have loads of our used coffee grounds to spread out and rake in the dirt, some bone meal, some rose tone, etc. This is my last night before my vacation, so I want to make sure that they are good until i get back. I might skip the rose tone and mix up some miracle grow instead. Then spray for disease, let that dry, then hit it with the bug spray. Should be fun! I hope to have loads and loads of blooms soon. (I am very VERY popular around mothers day, the cheapskates. I always get people in here begging for them so they won't have to go buy flowers :/. I caught a woman from another department ROBBING my lavender rose bush THREE SEPARATE TIMES red handed. Her defense? "But they are just so pretty! And i don't want to grow my own!" She finally retired last year, so they may be safe. I stopped growing tomatoes out here a couple years ago because people (tomato weasels, i called them) would come and steal them, and neither I nor my coworkers got any.) I will never understand people who cannot simply ASK for something. They would rather skulk around and steal it like a weasel instead... It's not like a would have told them NO if they had simply asked. I feel violated when people do that. I know, that's a bit dramatic but it just burns my buds.....