I planted a bunch of really pretty tulips last fall and I think it's a mole or vole came along underground and ate all but two of them. UGH. What can I do to prevent this from happening again?

My experience has been that it's rabbits that get the emerging growth tips on lilies. I've used Liquid fence - since deer are my biggest problem - with success. Have also read on these forums that the smellier the better cheap carpet deodorizer is also good as a deterrent - especially on and around some of the annuals rabbits like to chew. To be on the safe side, though, after cutting back my lily foliage in the fall, I leave an inch or two of stem above the soil so I know where to look first thing in the spring and use chicken wire cages to protect the clumps I admire most and would be most upset at losing to critters. I know that caging things would ruin a garden for some, but losing your lilies for a whole season ruins things too. And as far as I'm concerned, the chicken wire just blends into the background, hardly notice it.

Interesting predicament. I don't have any cannas (or arrowroot). From UofF: http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/brazilian_skipper.htm Let us know if any of the below in not consistent with your experience in the coming weeks. ''Mechanical control of leafrollers on a few canna plants in the landscape is relatively easy. Simply examine your cannas every couple of days, and squish any small shelters that appear. This will reduce populations of the leafroller before they can cause large amounts of defoliation. Chemical control is difficult because larvae are protected from direct chemical exposure within their leaf rolls. If deemed necessary, chemical control should be attempted when larvae are small and are still actively feeding on the leaves. Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) products are probably the best choice for chemical control. Follow the application instructions on the label of the specific Bt product. Stickers will probably need to be added to the spray because the thick waxy coating on canna leaves repels water.''

I have a critter doing the same to my 2 year asparagus plants, stems are cut off 4" to 6" high and only the very tops of the fern are gone leaving most of it on the ground. Thing is the asparagus is in a deer and rabbit proof fence and no foot tracts are ever found, even after a good rain. Now I have a another plot with strawberries, asparagus and garlic with no fence where deer & rabbits graze at will, but the guilty critter is confirmed with foot tracks, but no tracks in this plot either on the severed ferns. So what is it? Tracks confirm Deer top off big and small plants but eat the entire thing to the point it stops. Rabbits do the same thing as high as they can reach but leave larger plants alone. I've been watching this topic for the mystery critter not really knowing what It may be. But now I believe Marie is correct, squirrels. No tracks but they're light, so no smoking gun and only circumstantial evidence, they are now my top suspect. After watched baby squirrels, never the adults, chew off and discard my new oak leaves and then eating just the new stem growth (I think), and after reading the first spring is the hardest on new squirrels looking for food I'm just assuming they are desperate. Never had the problem with baby squirrels because I never had them, a neighbor was killing every one he could for 20 yrs, he stopped and I don't mind them.....I think.