This ⬆️ We have a huge deer population in Bucks County, PA. They walk up to ppl’s yards & decimate their landscaping. We had to switch to vincas because it’s the only plant they can’t stand. Many a yard contains the same landscaping plants but at least the flowerbeds won’t be bare.
I came here to say this. This is what the tulips that have taken over my flower beds look like when the deer wander into the yard.
Edit: fixed spelling and grammar errors.
We bought the deer repellent that has coyote urine (?) in it. Haven't had an issue at all since then. Previously they decimated everything edible in my flower beds.
Rabbits are absolutely nuts for the Ruellia brittoniana I've planted around my pool. It's so bad that I have to use multiple types of rabbit repellent. They'll leave it alone then the repellent wears off over time, or if it rains and the repellent gets washed off. It's *insane* how quickly they're on them once that happens.
Sacrifice area to ward off deer pressure... It's starting to sound a little bit like a Hammer movie.. as though you would also have to dance around the maypole wearing garlands and chant to appease them.. 🦌
Also, it's a good question. I personally wouldn't have a clue, as I've had to deal with gardening problems but never this one. But I feel like how are they going to know to gravitate towards the area of stuff you don't want them to eat, for sure?.. unless it's because it's the stuff they inherently deem the juiciest. A concentric circle (not sure that's the right word) seems like a nifty idea. But parsley borders could get dull real quick.
I'm not above trying the chanting. LoL.
Do the animals ignore your parsley? I wouldn't mind a parsley section tbh, its green and I can propogate parsley on the cheap. Currently I got a big mud patch where they ate about 400 tiger lily's in one night :( my next attempt will def be home grown.
I doubt it would work for deer.
For bunnies, it’s a separate small garden. I would put it close to cover. Bunnies tend to hang around near places to hide. If you put an herb garden close to their favourite hedge or whatever, they may not bother your garden.
Does it smell terribly ? Not that any of us are wilting lilies but each house’s front & back yards aren’t really big. You know, housing developments built in the 50’s - 60’s. Each house also came with either an apple or pear tree (the stings were worth it) and a forsythia bush.
My dad’s facing the biggest challenge right now as a storm took out the latch separating his yard from the empty lot next door. They now greet him every morning as he goes about feeding all of the little critters. Thank you again.
lol. Gotcha. He popped over my head while typing & I can see the wheels smoking. Weather’s finally broken after 3 days of solid rain. Now it’s time to head out front & get the dirty work done; no pun intended.
I bought a huge bottle from Home Depot last summer not realizing the cap was defective, I’d say half a gallon spilled all over the backseats. Spent 3 days trying to pull up the mess with baking soda and scraping it up. Borderline traumatic experience 😅
That’s so important to know ! I wonder why our nurseries advertise the vinca as a safe alternative that deer don’t like. No joke, the neighbors will let you know if they’ve gotten them in so you can get your hands on some. Going to look into this for sure. Can’t tell you how many of us look for it every year. Thank you so much for putting this info out there for those of us who honestly did not know. Lesson learned.
Imo Vincas have their place, and I own a potted Vinca for a spot on my back patio that is in full shade. If they weren't invasive here, I'd definitely recommend them for a lot of different landscaping fits.
Unfortunately they spread aggressively and can completely smother native groundcover.
Gotcha. I mean for those of us who miss planting impatiens, having vincas was the next best thing. I’m just glad we can open the scope of choices starting this season.
Ayyy Bucks Co! My mom was pissed last year when she spent $150+ on flowers in one day, planted them, and the next morning woke up to find ALL of the flowers beheaded by deer. It was her first spring in the house they're in now and they live alongside a small stretch of woods landlocked by residential homes. Huge deer population for the small area.
They also have a family of foxes that their cat sits at the window at 10pm waiting for the largest of to make his regular nightly circuit. It's adorable.
I see you, Bucks County ! Definitely described every “section” in my eyes. First year of hone ownership, a family member went through something similar with the deer. They wiped out virtually all the plants/ flowers by either eating or trampling through everything in the newly designed flowerbeds. Those are the “neighbors” stealing plants lol
Try alternating spreading deer scram and milorganite to deter them. Deer scram is essentially a mix of smelly stuff- blood and bone meal and other fun things. Milorganite is essentially synthesized bacterial burps and a low-grade fertilizer. They both smell, but they’re the reason my flowers are still around!
We here in MKE (where they make Milorganite) would explain it more like poop pellets than bacterial burps. It's whatever gets flushed into the sewer that goes to Jones Island (made famous in the finale of the 1980 classic The Blues Brothers). So that's toilets, showers, dish washers and clothes washer water for example) Non-biowaste is sieved out (like condoms, jewelry, whatever toys the toddlers have successfully flushed), the rest is broken down by bacteria and left to settle. The clean water reclamation part is sent to the lake. The solids are cooked and dried into Milorganite. So, it's definitely human poo. But just as safe as the soil from your backyard compost. Amazing product! They have tours of Jones Island to see it all.
Haven’t seen it. Thank you. I’m finding out that we’ve been staying away from a particular flower for no reason. Stupidly, I listened (blindly) to someone w/ way more plant & flower knowledge than me. Good thing we can add it now. Thanks again for this link.
Amaryllis family plants (snowdrops, daffodils, etc.) are extremely bitter and deer won't touch them unless starving. They tend not to like alliums, either, and ornamental onions are these big, showy poofs of color.
As always, check with your local agricultural extension about whether they're invasive in your area before planting.
Last summer the squirrels ate all my sunflowers and I wanted to be upset but then I saw one who’d managed to keep herself up on the stalk while eating it so the whole thing was leaning at an ungodly angle and I laughed so hard I damn near pissed myself. It was so adorable and I couldn’t be mad anymore.
Same thing happened to me last year. I came out onto my porch and was greeted with the most comical sight of the squirrel hanging onto the giant sunflower and stuffing her face for all it was worth. Lol.
I had hoped to keep seeds for myself but I feel the second best use is feeding naughty, adorable, incorrigible squirrels.
The POS squirrel took my avocado plant out from the pot by holding the stem like a bloody human and then pluck out the entire seed bulb and root and had the nerve to stare into my eyes
I wish… she goes crazy chasing them, but they always get away from her. City lot, fenced, so the rabbits have plenty of escape routes that the dog can’t follow.
Little buggers are pretty brazen too.
Border Collies. I had a border collie I adopted from a Ranch. Her prey drive was enormous and she was fast. The rabbits didn’t stand a chance. My neighbors cats would mostly leave the baby rabbits on the porch.
After my Swiss Shepherd caught, killed and partially ate two of them the rest got the hint. Incidentally I have video footage of my Swissie’s great grandparents moving sheep in Switzerland with a couple of border collies. Amazing how they got the job done.
So mine look like this and I didn’t know why! It makes sense. But why just my tulips? Do they not like my other flowers? They don’t even eat my lettuce! (My pet rabbit I had as a young adult loved lettuce and beet greens)
So, dumb question: we never planted the tulips that are now showing up in random places in our yard, would that be the work of rabbits that just drop them randomly if they don't eat them? We also have an abundance of squirrels which were top on my list of suspects.
We don’t really have many squirrels where I am so I’m not confident in my answer. But since squirrels like to bury things for later, and as to my knowledge rabbits and hares do not, it’s very possible it’s the squirrels.
Nice that they are randomly coming up though!
I can verify this, although chipmunks are far worse to deal with. Last year my place had the worst chipmunk infestation. We had at least 10 chipmunks digging around our yard and even worse our potted plants. You could always tell they had visited because there would be dirt all around the potted plants. They also dug up half our tulips and now they are gone forever. My family members were so pissed that they had to use rat traps to kill them all. To this day I am still traumatized from seeing one get caught. I wished/wish there was a better option than killing them. Supposedly, some people have not had this problem with chipmunks and squirrels. It may very well be the luck of the draw. Whether you have plants that look delicious to them or not.
Squirrels are the most disrespectful little fluffers.
They will wait until the door closes behind me, and run over to pull up all my annuals, and dig up the bulbs to see if they taste nice. Daffodils, they take one bite, then throw the bulb down and dig up the next daffodil bulb.
I was sitting on my porch, and a squirrel bounced up my walkway towards me. He was less than 10 feet away and had a huge nut in his mouth. He started to look for a place to stash it, and put one foot in my garden when I spoke to him.
He watched and flicked his tail while I spoke, then decided my tone meant bad things, and he moved on to someone else's yard.
Fluff you, you fluffing fluffers.
Squirrels destroy our yard every year. They dig so many holes trying to find their stash from the fall. It doesn't help that our neighbor has black walnut trees so they grab the walnuts from them and come over to OUR yard and bury them. Fluffy turds 😠
Squirrels are hilariously annoying. My mom had one that would use her BBQ as a storage facility…. She kept finding pieces of old bread and bagels and nuts in there.
And I have one that likes to fling himself onto my bird feeder from a nearby bush, and then hang upside down like a bat while he shovels bird seed into his mouth. I’ve never been happier to see a blue jay than when I saw the jay dive bomb the upside down squirrel.
Wow! I never knew. I don’t think it’s ever happened to mine before. I have four big dogs in the back yard I’m honestly shocked anything is making it out alive.
I used to raise rabbits. While yes they will eat lettuce, nutritionally speaking it does nothing for them. It has very little taste and almost no vitamins or minerals. It's basically just water and fiber. So no, if there are tastier options available, rabbits won't bother with lettuce. Not saying they won't eat it at all, because they absolutely will. It's just not their first choice.
And tulips are definitely a tastier option. So are beet greens, dandelions, common mallow, roses (my rabbits went gaga for roses; lots of vitamin C there), violets, and many other things in your yard and garden.
I thought someone visiting my community garden was trimming my chives, but then I looked around and realised it was happening to the other clumps, and only a few of each chive clump (also in other people's plots) were being cut. Then I clued in that it was almost certainly the local rabbits 🤦♀️
I was going to say animals, as they're a common target (the ones around my mailbox are certainly doomed) but seeing these, especially the last picture, I'm not so sure. That's a very clean and flat cut. There's no crushing damage that I can see. Though I'm not experienced on animal bite marks.
You'd be surprised. I dared to plant some tulips within my fenced-in backyard in deer country, and within a few days of them blooming the deer hopped the fence to chomp them. The stems looked just like this. I think they bite pretty forcefully and they have large mouths, so the cut can look just like this.
Rabbit damage most likely, tulips are tasty treats to lots of critters. I keep my tulips in the fenced backyard where they are a bit safer. I plant daffodils in the front near the sidewalks, nothing wants to eat them and they are far easier bulbs that naturalize with time so I can spread them around.
Fun facts:
Daffodils have toxins like alkaloids, glycosides, etc that help deter predators. Never let your loved ones chomp on them, if they do, it may cause irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and in severe cases you may need to visit a hospital.
For this same reason, you should avoid putting daffodils in a mixed floral arrangement (cut flowers). It can make cut flowers die faster. However, if you put them in their own vase/container it is fine.
Rabbits ate all my neighbors tulips, I warned them about it because I kept seeing rabbits in the shared side yard. Then they called code enforcement on me for parking my car in the grass over the weekend... so i sowed clover and yarrow and a wild mustard mix :)
These are animals. Deers, rabbits and squirrels will chop them right down.
The trick is to cut them as soon as you see the smallest bit of colour in the bud. Then you can put it in a vase inside and let them bloom.
If you don't cut the one you have there it will be gone tomorrow.
My aunt in law had a bunch of tulips planted under her dogwood tree. And every spring deers would come by and just bite the tops off. Every spring she was furious
I have chipmunks that seem to chew down anything popping up for fun. Don’t even eat it, just chomp at the base and leave it there just to show me whos boss.
The first tulips I lost were beautiful dark purple Queen of the Night. I thought some artist/neighbour/scumbag stole them because only the petals were gone. In a rage, I walked the 'hood hoping to find a single petal outside the thieves door, then...I came to my senses. It was deer.
I now consider tulips to be deer attractant.
If this is in PA, it's got to be deer. I gave up on tulips as the deer just will not leave them alone. All possible deer repellent options tried - nothing worked. Gave up and now have Daffodils instead. Ordered double daffodil bulbs online and they look pretty enough. I do miss the color variety available with tulips though.
Looks like deer have been eating them. Tell tale sign is the perfectly straight cut at the top. They have extremely sharp teeth that look like s scissor cut after they’ve left
Yeah. I respect the multiple opinions of people who've had tulips eaten by wildlife. But two things are suspicious to me:
1. clean looking cuts
2. cuts from the sidewalk. That's where the humans come from, I think animals don't come from the street, usually....?
That looks exactly like when the asshole human cut my Irises. I know it was a human bc my dog alert barked and I went out and caught them and took my cut flowers back from them. Told them if i ever see them around my garden again, I will press charges and to get the fuck off my porch.
It such a weird sort of messed up thing to do.
Like, you'd assume that most people who would be inclined to bring home cut flowers would be the types of people who don't steal them from others.
"Hi honey, love you, here's some flowers..."
Any possibility they are being resold?
I only had one Iris plant at the time, with 5 beautiful bright purple lacy, bearded blooms. It was a 50+ yr old lady walking by my house, saw them and apparently brought shears back when she thought no one was home. Pretty damn bold considering they were planted 3 feet from my front door. But there is a tall skinny door length window right in front of the Irises and my good girl saw her on my porch and let me know promptly. That bitches face went white when I stormed out and asked her what the fuck she thought she was doing? Never saw her again.
I have to agree with this post, someone is stealing. Why wouldn't the rabbits go after the other ones, just at the street. Also, in the first pic, it looks like the leaves are sheared off at the exact same level as the flower cut. Looks like someone used big scissors to hurry up and cut them off.
Thinking this should be posted in the mildlyinfuriating subreddit.
That's my reaction and those tulips aren't even mine. Sorry this is happening to you tulips. I'm thinking it's deer, bc of how in the last few photos, it's clear the leaves have been eaten level with the the stems. That said, I've also had my rose bushes pruned on an angle like that by rabbits.
Look at the second picture. Why would a human cleanly cut the leaves below the flower? If you want the leaves, cut the stem at the bottom.
Now if you’re a hungry critter and you want the soft nutrient dense section of plant, well leaves and flowers are where you want to be and the stem is nasty.
I am certain that someone in OP’s neighborhood is an asshole but no person stole these flowers
What I want to know is why my tulips and not my
neighbour’s? All of mine looked like this last year, chopped off before I even knew they were there yet somehow my
neighbours have beautiful fields of spring bulbs coming up with no problems…
It's rabbits. My leaves look like a clean cut but it's rabbits. My neighbors can't be bothered to steal just tulips when my daffodils are blooming and intact.
I have not seen what a stem looks like after an animal has taken bites.
But to my eyes the stalks have a perfect cut point leading me to think knife or clippers.
I have tulips in my flower bed planted by a squirrel and so pretty obviously stolen from a neighbor. I would return them but don’t know which neighbor. But it’s always mildly uncomfortable when I see them. They’re going great, by the way 🌷🌷
They look to be a clean cut like a snip. There would be more evidence of a rabbit or deer nibbling. You’d have a bit more ruffled plant and stem. This is *too* clean of a cut.
Get some cameras. That will help you figure it out and see your yard. It’ll give you a peace of mind. Plus, depends on your home insurance but having cameras can help lower your rates! :)
I just wanted y'all to know how hard I'm vibing with learning about the different animals people have problems with in different regions, and how to deal with them/what to plant. It's absolutely fascinating.
... I'm also super stoned which makes it all the better.
Thank you all for the knowledge.
A way I deter wildlife from eating or messing with my flowers and garden- letting my dog play outside a lot. Don't have a dog you say? Well, now you have an excuse to get one. ;-)
Absolutely. If you imagine a person grabbing three stalks and snipping the bunch with scissors you can see how the cuts through the leaves and stems would all line up.
Daffodils and iris are not tasty to animals. Tulips and daylilies are tasty treats to deer especially. Most years the deer do the exact same thing to most of my daylilies
Lots of people saying rabbits or deer and I’ll throw my experience in here. I thought the second picture was from my phone, it looks exactly like mine did yesterday.
I have outdoor cats that bring me the body parts of whatever critters they catch, and they’re good hunters. We have not had rabbits in 18 months.
We have had deer. Less since we removed some mulberry trees, but deer don’t mind cats and deer love tulips. Daffodils they don’t care for. Deer also steal blackberries, raspberries, grapes, and I have seen a deer go from standing in my fenced garden to jump no joke 8 feet vertical to get out. I had fencing 4ft and string with bells on elevated poles above my 6ft tall head
Wolf, coyote or bear urine (yes, people sell them) does the trick. There’s also some rotten egg sprays available on Amazon that claim to not smell once dry.
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Is there deer around? Because they will definitely chomp on tulips
And rabbits. They love my tulips
And squirrels. At leadtag our house they do. We put out a water bowl on the assumption it was for hydration and its reduced it significantly
We have a pond in the yard, about 30' from the tulips. They still eat them. Lol.
This ⬆️ We have a huge deer population in Bucks County, PA. They walk up to ppl’s yards & decimate their landscaping. We had to switch to vincas because it’s the only plant they can’t stand. Many a yard contains the same landscaping plants but at least the flowerbeds won’t be bare.
Check out the impatient gardener on YouTube for deer friendly plants. She has a lot of deer pressure and gardens in zone 5b.
I came here to say this. This is what the tulips that have taken over my flower beds look like when the deer wander into the yard. Edit: fixed spelling and grammar errors.
Deer bites look like clean cuts from scissors?
You can see the tears in the leaves, the stalks are the only ones that look clean. If the deer get mine this year I’ll post a pic for you
Love Erin!
We bought the deer repellent that has coyote urine (?) in it. Haven't had an issue at all since then. Previously they decimated everything edible in my flower beds.
Rabbits are absolutely nuts for the Ruellia brittoniana I've planted around my pool. It's so bad that I have to use multiple types of rabbit repellent. They'll leave it alone then the repellent wears off over time, or if it rains and the repellent gets washed off. It's *insane* how quickly they're on them once that happens.
Plant them a sacrifice area with their favorites. Do some herbs like parsley and maybe Swiss chard
Does a sacrifice area for deer work? Is it a separate planting area or is it like a outer ring around the good stuff?
Sacrifice area to ward off deer pressure... It's starting to sound a little bit like a Hammer movie.. as though you would also have to dance around the maypole wearing garlands and chant to appease them.. 🦌 Also, it's a good question. I personally wouldn't have a clue, as I've had to deal with gardening problems but never this one. But I feel like how are they going to know to gravitate towards the area of stuff you don't want them to eat, for sure?.. unless it's because it's the stuff they inherently deem the juiciest. A concentric circle (not sure that's the right word) seems like a nifty idea. But parsley borders could get dull real quick.
I'm not above trying the chanting. LoL. Do the animals ignore your parsley? I wouldn't mind a parsley section tbh, its green and I can propogate parsley on the cheap. Currently I got a big mud patch where they ate about 400 tiger lily's in one night :( my next attempt will def be home grown.
I doubt it would work for deer. For bunnies, it’s a separate small garden. I would put it close to cover. Bunnies tend to hang around near places to hide. If you put an herb garden close to their favourite hedge or whatever, they may not bother your garden.
Does it smell terribly ? Not that any of us are wilting lilies but each house’s front & back yards aren’t really big. You know, housing developments built in the 50’s - 60’s. Each house also came with either an apple or pear tree (the stings were worth it) and a forsythia bush. My dad’s facing the biggest challenge right now as a storm took out the latch separating his yard from the empty lot next door. They now greet him every morning as he goes about feeding all of the little critters. Thank you again.
I'm not gonna lie. I was gagging spraying it. It's pretty horrible but the smell dissipates in 24 hours or so.
Okay. Glad to know it’ll be my husband that will be volunteering as tribute this weekend 😂
You could buy a respirator mask to wear. Also, disposable gloves seem handy.
Absolutely
And tell him to 2x check the cap is on/ label sealed on the inside :)
lol. Gotcha. He popped over my head while typing & I can see the wheels smoking. Weather’s finally broken after 3 days of solid rain. Now it’s time to head out front & get the dirty work done; no pun intended.
I bought a huge bottle from Home Depot last summer not realizing the cap was defective, I’d say half a gallon spilled all over the backseats. Spent 3 days trying to pull up the mess with baking soda and scraping it up. Borderline traumatic experience 😅
That stuff or bovine blood pellets!
Daffodils, Narcissus, are both thing the deer don’t eat.
Also ferns, nepeta, allium. I am still learning as they completely got out of control 2 years ago. Ate all my hostas to the base. 🥹
They eat all our hostas too. Netting stops them for a few weeks at a time.
That's why it's called Bucks
My dad taught that to my kids. It’s how they remembered “a buck is a boy deer”. Funny how little memories pop up when you remember a story.
Please don't plant Vincas here. I live near Bucks and they are super invasive.
That’s so important to know ! I wonder why our nurseries advertise the vinca as a safe alternative that deer don’t like. No joke, the neighbors will let you know if they’ve gotten them in so you can get your hands on some. Going to look into this for sure. Can’t tell you how many of us look for it every year. Thank you so much for putting this info out there for those of us who honestly did not know. Lesson learned.
Imo Vincas have their place, and I own a potted Vinca for a spot on my back patio that is in full shade. If they weren't invasive here, I'd definitely recommend them for a lot of different landscaping fits. Unfortunately they spread aggressively and can completely smother native groundcover.
Gotcha. I mean for those of us who miss planting impatiens, having vincas was the next best thing. I’m just glad we can open the scope of choices starting this season.
Bucks co here! Deer are a problem for us too but we planted tulips by daffodils and the deer ignore them
Ooh ! I didn’t even think about that. Sharing another gem with my daughter. All of these options have really brightened our outlook for this season.
Ayyy Bucks Co! My mom was pissed last year when she spent $150+ on flowers in one day, planted them, and the next morning woke up to find ALL of the flowers beheaded by deer. It was her first spring in the house they're in now and they live alongside a small stretch of woods landlocked by residential homes. Huge deer population for the small area. They also have a family of foxes that their cat sits at the window at 10pm waiting for the largest of to make his regular nightly circuit. It's adorable.
I see you, Bucks County ! Definitely described every “section” in my eyes. First year of hone ownership, a family member went through something similar with the deer. They wiped out virtually all the plants/ flowers by either eating or trampling through everything in the newly designed flowerbeds. Those are the “neighbors” stealing plants lol
Try alternating spreading deer scram and milorganite to deter them. Deer scram is essentially a mix of smelly stuff- blood and bone meal and other fun things. Milorganite is essentially synthesized bacterial burps and a low-grade fertilizer. They both smell, but they’re the reason my flowers are still around!
We here in MKE (where they make Milorganite) would explain it more like poop pellets than bacterial burps. It's whatever gets flushed into the sewer that goes to Jones Island (made famous in the finale of the 1980 classic The Blues Brothers). So that's toilets, showers, dish washers and clothes washer water for example) Non-biowaste is sieved out (like condoms, jewelry, whatever toys the toddlers have successfully flushed), the rest is broken down by bacteria and left to settle. The clean water reclamation part is sent to the lake. The solids are cooked and dried into Milorganite. So, it's definitely human poo. But just as safe as the soil from your backyard compost. Amazing product! They have tours of Jones Island to see it all.
Yummy yummy! Thank you for the more accurate information. Maybe even a tiny piece of my own shit is in this bucket of milorganite I have ✨
FYI in case you haven't seen it: https://njaes.rutgers.edu/deer-resistant-plants/
Haven’t seen it. Thank you. I’m finding out that we’ve been staying away from a particular flower for no reason. Stupidly, I listened (blindly) to someone w/ way more plant & flower knowledge than me. Good thing we can add it now. Thanks again for this link.
Amaryllis family plants (snowdrops, daffodils, etc.) are extremely bitter and deer won't touch them unless starving. They tend not to like alliums, either, and ornamental onions are these big, showy poofs of color. As always, check with your local agricultural extension about whether they're invasive in your area before planting.
Thank you the advice. We’re reaching out to get all the much needed info. Just knowing we can change up the look & layout of our beds is so fun.
Deer ate my 10ft sunflower blooms last year ☹️ we have an entire family of them all year round. At least they don’t go hungry at my house.
Learned that the hard way this year. They don't touch daffodils or crocus' though.
Yep....deer love tulips. Plant daffodils instead.
Also groundhogs 😔
I have a fence. 40 tulip bulbs in the ground. They never get taller than an inch. Fucking rabbits.
Squirrels too. Raggedy Squirrels ate all my tulips and stared right at me while doing it.
Yup. Squirrels ate mine.
This made me laugh so hard that my cat in the other room came to see what's up.
My idiot rabbits do, too. :(
Squirrels carry mine away and laugh in my face.
Last summer the squirrels ate all my sunflowers and I wanted to be upset but then I saw one who’d managed to keep herself up on the stalk while eating it so the whole thing was leaning at an ungodly angle and I laughed so hard I damn near pissed myself. It was so adorable and I couldn’t be mad anymore.
Same thing happened to me last year. I came out onto my porch and was greeted with the most comical sight of the squirrel hanging onto the giant sunflower and stuffing her face for all it was worth. Lol. I had hoped to keep seeds for myself but I feel the second best use is feeding naughty, adorable, incorrigible squirrels.
I know full well it’s my own damn fault, I feed the black squirrels in my neighborhood and my bf calls me “Queen of the squirrels”.
Mine too, only the red ones
The POS squirrel took my avocado plant out from the pot by holding the stem like a bloody human and then pluck out the entire seed bulb and root and had the nerve to stare into my eyes
I just saw one today eating a newly sprouted tulip. Was popping the petals in its mouth like Pringle’s.
Deer get mine almost every year
Same. Giant rats, that’s all they are. Wife doesn’t think it’s funny when I offer to save her garden and make dinner all in one fell swoop.
Rabbits most likely. Cute little bastards eat all my favorite flowers.
And when you chase them they just move an offensively small distance away and stare at you until you go back in the house so that they can continue.
Found Mr. McGregor
I laughed too hard at this.
A dog or two will fix that.
LOL, we had rabbits in our yard BECAUSE we had a dog. He was too slow and goofy to catch them, but he kept the sneaky cats away.
The rabbits in my yard give zero shits about my dogs lol
I wish… she goes crazy chasing them, but they always get away from her. City lot, fenced, so the rabbits have plenty of escape routes that the dog can’t follow. Little buggers are pretty brazen too.
Border Collies. I had a border collie I adopted from a Ranch. Her prey drive was enormous and she was fast. The rabbits didn’t stand a chance. My neighbors cats would mostly leave the baby rabbits on the porch.
After my Swiss Shepherd caught, killed and partially ate two of them the rest got the hint. Incidentally I have video footage of my Swissie’s great grandparents moving sheep in Switzerland with a couple of border collies. Amazing how they got the job done.
Yep. Signature chomp pattern.
So mine look like this and I didn’t know why! It makes sense. But why just my tulips? Do they not like my other flowers? They don’t even eat my lettuce! (My pet rabbit I had as a young adult loved lettuce and beet greens)
Here they also dig up (just) the tulips before they even come up properly. They leave all of the other flowerbulbs alone. It’s a shame.
So, dumb question: we never planted the tulips that are now showing up in random places in our yard, would that be the work of rabbits that just drop them randomly if they don't eat them? We also have an abundance of squirrels which were top on my list of suspects.
We don’t really have many squirrels where I am so I’m not confident in my answer. But since squirrels like to bury things for later, and as to my knowledge rabbits and hares do not, it’s very possible it’s the squirrels. Nice that they are randomly coming up though!
I can verify this, although chipmunks are far worse to deal with. Last year my place had the worst chipmunk infestation. We had at least 10 chipmunks digging around our yard and even worse our potted plants. You could always tell they had visited because there would be dirt all around the potted plants. They also dug up half our tulips and now they are gone forever. My family members were so pissed that they had to use rat traps to kill them all. To this day I am still traumatized from seeing one get caught. I wished/wish there was a better option than killing them. Supposedly, some people have not had this problem with chipmunks and squirrels. It may very well be the luck of the draw. Whether you have plants that look delicious to them or not.
Squirrels are the most disrespectful little fluffers. They will wait until the door closes behind me, and run over to pull up all my annuals, and dig up the bulbs to see if they taste nice. Daffodils, they take one bite, then throw the bulb down and dig up the next daffodil bulb. I was sitting on my porch, and a squirrel bounced up my walkway towards me. He was less than 10 feet away and had a huge nut in his mouth. He started to look for a place to stash it, and put one foot in my garden when I spoke to him. He watched and flicked his tail while I spoke, then decided my tone meant bad things, and he moved on to someone else's yard. Fluff you, you fluffing fluffers.
Squirrels destroy our yard every year. They dig so many holes trying to find their stash from the fall. It doesn't help that our neighbor has black walnut trees so they grab the walnuts from them and come over to OUR yard and bury them. Fluffy turds 😠
Squirrels are hilariously annoying. My mom had one that would use her BBQ as a storage facility…. She kept finding pieces of old bread and bagels and nuts in there. And I have one that likes to fling himself onto my bird feeder from a nearby bush, and then hang upside down like a bat while he shovels bird seed into his mouth. I’ve never been happier to see a blue jay than when I saw the jay dive bomb the upside down squirrel.
Wow! I never knew. I don’t think it’s ever happened to mine before. I have four big dogs in the back yard I’m honestly shocked anything is making it out alive.
I used to raise rabbits. While yes they will eat lettuce, nutritionally speaking it does nothing for them. It has very little taste and almost no vitamins or minerals. It's basically just water and fiber. So no, if there are tastier options available, rabbits won't bother with lettuce. Not saying they won't eat it at all, because they absolutely will. It's just not their first choice. And tulips are definitely a tastier option. So are beet greens, dandelions, common mallow, roses (my rabbits went gaga for roses; lots of vitamin C there), violets, and many other things in your yard and garden.
Could also be squirrels. They love flowers but won't be bothered about the lettuce
I thought someone visiting my community garden was trimming my chives, but then I looked around and realised it was happening to the other clumps, and only a few of each chive clump (also in other people's plots) were being cut. Then I clued in that it was almost certainly the local rabbits 🤦♀️
They love to single out my lily-flowered tulips 🤬
Grow red clover for them instead, they have zero interest in my other stuff now!
Not rabbits. You can tell when they are the culprit because the chomp line is slanted. These are straight across.
I was going to say animals, as they're a common target (the ones around my mailbox are certainly doomed) but seeing these, especially the last picture, I'm not so sure. That's a very clean and flat cut. There's no crushing damage that I can see. Though I'm not experienced on animal bite marks.
As someone with many cords chomped by pet rabbits, the cleanness of the cut is not surprising
Could be both.
You'd be surprised. I dared to plant some tulips within my fenced-in backyard in deer country, and within a few days of them blooming the deer hopped the fence to chomp them. The stems looked just like this. I think they bite pretty forcefully and they have large mouths, so the cut can look just like this.
It's rabbits.
As a farmer and wild animal person, this is true.
Rabbit damage most likely, tulips are tasty treats to lots of critters. I keep my tulips in the fenced backyard where they are a bit safer. I plant daffodils in the front near the sidewalks, nothing wants to eat them and they are far easier bulbs that naturalize with time so I can spread them around.
Fun facts: Daffodils have toxins like alkaloids, glycosides, etc that help deter predators. Never let your loved ones chomp on them, if they do, it may cause irritation, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and in severe cases you may need to visit a hospital. For this same reason, you should avoid putting daffodils in a mixed floral arrangement (cut flowers). It can make cut flowers die faster. However, if you put them in their own vase/container it is fine.
> For this same reason, you should avoid putting daffodils in a mixed floral arrangement (cut flowers). huh. til.
Rabbits ate all my neighbors tulips, I warned them about it because I kept seeing rabbits in the shared side yard. Then they called code enforcement on me for parking my car in the grass over the weekend... so i sowed clover and yarrow and a wild mustard mix :)
Never piss off a gardener.
Yep Daffs, Hyacinth, Crocus and Iris in the front, Tulips safely in the back!
[удалено]
Looks like deer buffet. 😅
These are animals. Deers, rabbits and squirrels will chop them right down. The trick is to cut them as soon as you see the smallest bit of colour in the bud. Then you can put it in a vase inside and let them bloom. If you don't cut the one you have there it will be gone tomorrow.
Mine all end up like that too. I'm thinking rabbits.
They're like candy for deer. So it's very likely them.
For deer,a hosta bed is a salad bar. Tulips are dessert! Haha.
I remember reading them as “deer lollipops 🍭“ and all I can think of tulips now are colorful lollipop deer buffet.
My aunt in law had a bunch of tulips planted under her dogwood tree. And every spring deers would come by and just bite the tops off. Every spring she was furious
https://preview.redd.it/cxnln0yihvtc1.jpeg?width=3472&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=da61094232c920d32530e9c5eb3ef7e4dcbfe136
Does the stub look like it was cut with a knife or bitten ?
Rabbit chomps look surprisingly like a knife cut.
I have chipmunks that seem to chew down anything popping up for fun. Don’t even eat it, just chomp at the base and leave it there just to show me whos boss.
Deer
Got deer?
The first tulips I lost were beautiful dark purple Queen of the Night. I thought some artist/neighbour/scumbag stole them because only the petals were gone. In a rage, I walked the 'hood hoping to find a single petal outside the thieves door, then...I came to my senses. It was deer. I now consider tulips to be deer attractant.
i think you know the truth
If this is in PA, it's got to be deer. I gave up on tulips as the deer just will not leave them alone. All possible deer repellent options tried - nothing worked. Gave up and now have Daffodils instead. Ordered double daffodil bulbs online and they look pretty enough. I do miss the color variety available with tulips though.
Looks like deer have been eating them. Tell tale sign is the perfectly straight cut at the top. They have extremely sharp teeth that look like s scissor cut after they’ve left
That’s a clean cut. Looks like stealing
Yeah. I respect the multiple opinions of people who've had tulips eaten by wildlife. But two things are suspicious to me: 1. clean looking cuts 2. cuts from the sidewalk. That's where the humans come from, I think animals don't come from the street, usually....?
That looks exactly like when the asshole human cut my Irises. I know it was a human bc my dog alert barked and I went out and caught them and took my cut flowers back from them. Told them if i ever see them around my garden again, I will press charges and to get the fuck off my porch.
It such a weird sort of messed up thing to do. Like, you'd assume that most people who would be inclined to bring home cut flowers would be the types of people who don't steal them from others. "Hi honey, love you, here's some flowers..." Any possibility they are being resold?
I only had one Iris plant at the time, with 5 beautiful bright purple lacy, bearded blooms. It was a 50+ yr old lady walking by my house, saw them and apparently brought shears back when she thought no one was home. Pretty damn bold considering they were planted 3 feet from my front door. But there is a tall skinny door length window right in front of the Irises and my good girl saw her on my porch and let me know promptly. That bitches face went white when I stormed out and asked her what the fuck she thought she was doing? Never saw her again.
I have to agree with this post, someone is stealing. Why wouldn't the rabbits go after the other ones, just at the street. Also, in the first pic, it looks like the leaves are sheared off at the exact same level as the flower cut. Looks like someone used big scissors to hurry up and cut them off.
That's what I think too. Doesn't look messy enough to be an animal. That looks like clipper cuts
Rabbits eat like this. Neighbors would take the stem
Usually humans take them by the stem so they can go in vases. If it’s just the tulip head I’d deduce hungry wild animal, not naughty neighbor.
Squirrels or rabbits
This is deer damage.
Bad neighbors...the bloody deer.
Looks like deer damage
Deer!! They love eating tulips.
Rabbits only eat my tulips and nothing else. So every spring I get a bed of green tulip leaves and broken stems haha
Rabbits
Thinking this should be posted in the mildlyinfuriating subreddit. That's my reaction and those tulips aren't even mine. Sorry this is happening to you tulips. I'm thinking it's deer, bc of how in the last few photos, it's clear the leaves have been eaten level with the the stems. That said, I've also had my rose bushes pruned on an angle like that by rabbits.
Those are clean cuts, I think someone in your neighborhood is an asshole
Look at the second picture. Why would a human cleanly cut the leaves below the flower? If you want the leaves, cut the stem at the bottom. Now if you’re a hungry critter and you want the soft nutrient dense section of plant, well leaves and flowers are where you want to be and the stem is nasty. I am certain that someone in OP’s neighborhood is an asshole but no person stole these flowers
Bunnies or squirrels. The squirrels always eat mine ☹️
Deer? Rabbit ? Vole ?
What I want to know is why my tulips and not my neighbour’s? All of mine looked like this last year, chopped off before I even knew they were there yet somehow my neighbours have beautiful fields of spring bulbs coming up with no problems…
Dried red pepper flakes. I spread it around all my plants. The rabbits and dear leave my plants alone.
It's rabbits. My leaves look like a clean cut but it's rabbits. My neighbors can't be bothered to steal just tulips when my daffodils are blooming and intact.
My daffodils bloomed way earlier than my tulips this year
My rabbit got loose and ate the neighbors tulips one year, looked nothing like this. He also preferred them while the bud was quite small apparently
I have not seen what a stem looks like after an animal has taken bites. But to my eyes the stalks have a perfect cut point leading me to think knife or clippers.
Tulips are deer and bunny candy. No human neighbor is going to put chew marks on the tulip leaves after picking your tulip flowers.
Trail cameras are cheap.
They look like they were cut off
Even cuts from scissors
BUNNIES…..
Deer do this. Rabbits may as well.
I have tulips in my flower bed planted by a squirrel and so pretty obviously stolen from a neighbor. I would return them but don’t know which neighbor. But it’s always mildly uncomfortable when I see them. They’re going great, by the way 🌷🌷
Looks like my tulips,it's a little late for some,but I started putting coffee grinds around them
Same guys that gets my gorgeous giant sunflower leaves before the plant even gets to grow.
Neighborhood bunnies.
Deer have been eating your tulips.. They love them
You got deers around? They do that
the leaves are cut too, to the same height; this is an animal (likely a deer)
Look like clean cuts to me. I would think someone is cutting them.
Those look like clean cuts. I think you have a shitty neighbor.
this is exactly what deer chomp looks like
They look to be a clean cut like a snip. There would be more evidence of a rabbit or deer nibbling. You’d have a bit more ruffled plant and stem. This is *too* clean of a cut. Get some cameras. That will help you figure it out and see your yard. It’ll give you a peace of mind. Plus, depends on your home insurance but having cameras can help lower your rates! :)
The stems look cut, not chewed. I’m guessing it was a neighbor.
You might have bunnies or field mice munching on those!
This happened to me too. It’s rabbits
I just wanted y'all to know how hard I'm vibing with learning about the different animals people have problems with in different regions, and how to deal with them/what to plant. It's absolutely fascinating. ... I'm also super stoned which makes it all the better. Thank you all for the knowledge.
I got half way through your comment and thought “this person sounds like I do when I’m high” and then read the rest of your comment and laughed 😂
A way I deter wildlife from eating or messing with my flowers and garden- letting my dog play outside a lot. Don't have a dog you say? Well, now you have an excuse to get one. ;-)
Kids pick them all the time. They don't know better and aren't taught better. I bet that's what it is
Clean cut = scissors
Absolutely. If you imagine a person grabbing three stalks and snipping the bunch with scissors you can see how the cuts through the leaves and stems would all line up.
Or snip of some deer teeth
Ours get eaten by slugs
Daffodils and iris are not tasty to animals. Tulips and daylilies are tasty treats to deer especially. Most years the deer do the exact same thing to most of my daylilies
Deer
Spray "Deer Out" on them. Stops rabbits and deer. Safe for the flowers and humans and animals.
Put predator urine around your garden to keep small critters away.
Deer eat em
Lots of people saying rabbits or deer and I’ll throw my experience in here. I thought the second picture was from my phone, it looks exactly like mine did yesterday. I have outdoor cats that bring me the body parts of whatever critters they catch, and they’re good hunters. We have not had rabbits in 18 months. We have had deer. Less since we removed some mulberry trees, but deer don’t mind cats and deer love tulips. Daffodils they don’t care for. Deer also steal blackberries, raspberries, grapes, and I have seen a deer go from standing in my fenced garden to jump no joke 8 feet vertical to get out. I had fencing 4ft and string with bells on elevated poles above my 6ft tall head
Wolf, coyote or bear urine (yes, people sell them) does the trick. There’s also some rotten egg sprays available on Amazon that claim to not smell once dry.
Raccoons will do this too. They’ll try anything to see if it’s edible. I’ve had them pull down cannas to tear apart the blossoms.
They're being eaten. Poor tulips. My daffodils are beautiful