The only bulbs that are deer/varmint proof in my garden are daffodils, squill, galanthus, allium, and chionodoxa. One burrowing chipmunk can wipe out an entire bulb garden from left to right, so I just plant in huge numbers, pray, spread dried blood meal, and set traps.

I usually buy too many bulbs and end up with more work than I want in the fall. I'm getting much better at self-control.

Susan, I'm afraid my self control blew away this year, mostly to do with
Alliums, Fritillaria and Camassia.
The only place I have chipmunks in these gardens the soil is so stony
they can't burrow, they live behind some flashing.
Do you mean that they eat your bulbs, or burrow through them in their travels?

Anyone else grow Camassia or Iris Tuberosa?

I grow camassia, and the deer haven't touched them! They are beautiful. They don't touch the allium, fritillaria, chinodoxia, nor the bearded iris. They haven't touched any of my iris, no matter what kind. They don't bother the scilla, or hyacithoides, nor the ipheon. ( They do love the hyacinth though..I just start spraying everything when it comes up with a deterent..they have left my tulips and such alone this year..everything came up and I got to see it, no damage) ( It feels like so long ago that spring was here, I don't recall what I have now..ha ha ha. I haven't even looked at the bulbs for fall yet..guess I better get moving on that, thanks for the reminder, it will be here before you know it.) Have fun, and do try the camassia..I have Blue Danube and they are wonderful..beautiful color. I also have the white ones ( I won't even pretend to know how to spell that one, they bloom much later are double flowered) JoAnn

JoAnn, your deer eat Hyacinths??
I thought that was a definite deer no-no.
Do they leave your Iris and Camassia alone because you spray them
or because they don't like them?
It sounds like very good news anyway, since I just placed the order.

Do you make your own spray or do you buy?
One lady on the "Plants for difficult places" forum (babsclare)
absolutely swears by her simple home made egg/water spray.
I'm gonna try it.

Maybe we order bulbs just because, when it's time we don't remember what we have ;o)
Last year I just went with Sam's club boxes, but this year I'm being picky
and it really doesn't cost more for the same kind of stuff.

Did you see in my post above, the word bulb is underlined? This website underlined the word and placed an ad for light bulbs with it if you put your arrow on the word. What a crack-up!

Linnea, the chipmunks eat the bulbs. Oldroser plants bulbs with some grit, which burrowers don't like.

I've never grown camassia. Thanks all, for the tip. I'm always looking for deerproof stuff.

Grit seems to be plant candy.
Things sprout best in the stone dust in my paths, some of it 8" deep.
Christopher Lloyd is always talking about it for propagating.
Time to get me some grit, Agway, I guess, it's for poultry, right?

Sometimes I feel I don't really understand what plants want at all.
All this laborious amending, and then they grow lusher in stone dust and a few leaves!

For a while every fifth word in my posts became links, some of them
to dating services.
I thought it was my germ-ridden computer. Shows what I know.

Camassia was a real brand new discovery for me, love them!

Hi, yes, the dear love my hyacinths, not the foliage but the actual flowers when they start to come up. I don't know if they are a no no for deer, if they are, no one told the deer around here.

The deer leave the camassia and iris alone without spray. I just started spraying last year.

I use a homemade spray with eggs garlic peppersauce and water. It works on deer, rabbits, and groundhogs. They have even left my hosta alone...my lilies, my tulips, my phlox, roses, daylilies..everything. I put in a big hosta garden (in the middle of doing it..but plenty of hosta in there now.) The hostas are right along the deer run that goes through my property..they pass it all up, go straight through to the neighbors yards and munch there. I gave the woman the recipe, but I guess she doesn't use it. It is funny, I have hoof prints right next to my newly planted hostas...how's that for scary? They left them alone.

But, to answer your question: they leave the camassia and iris alone I don't even bother to spritz them.

One more thing...that underlined advertising is something ivillage is doing. It is all over the other forums. If you are interested in deleting it there is a website form you can click on to get rid of it. I think I saw it on the hosta forum. If not, definitely on the suggestions and comments forum. Lots of conversation about it. JoAnn

Jo Ann, thanks for the tip. Would you share your recipe for deer spray? (I recall you may have already.)

JoAnn, you just made me very happy, Camassia (sp.) were 17.75 for 100
and the Tuberous Iris was 12.50 for 50 at Van Engelen, so I went for that!
And I got 30 very beautiful iris in trade from someone in the Iris forum!
THANKS!
May you never have water problems again!

Got eggs and cayenne anyway, I'll try that, do you strain it after mixing?
Use one of those big pressurized sprayers? Seems it would be too much
for a little spray bottle.

Now (well, later) for some very careful digging. Hate slicing Lily bulbs
in half. After this lot I'll have to find new space!

Sure, no exact science here...just tried a concoction and it works...you probably could alter it or dilute it.

I take a one quart container ( kind from Chinese restaurants for soup is actually what I use). I put in two whole raw eggs, scrambled up ( I dont' think size matters, but I use Jumbo)..then I add several cloves of garlic, peeled and slightly smashed to the eggs. I then put in a quarter cup of Frank's Hot Sauce..add a sprinkle of garlic powder for good measure and fill the rest with cool water.

I let this mixture steep on the counter ( ie: unrefridgerated) for at least an hour..up to a month( just shake it if it separates)..(it's never lasted longer than a month because I use it..but if it did I would still use it as is. When I am ready to use it..I take another quart container and a fine seive and strain the mixture into the second container ( so the mix doesn't clog the sprayer). I then add it to the one quart sprayer that I get at Wal*Mart or someplace inexpensive..like a buck.. I leave it out for when I want to spray.

I spray it after a heavy watering, or heavy rain. It lasts quite some time. It makes me want Buffalo wings, but the odor disipates after a little while. If you use it too much you will notice it gets a little stinky. I find I don't need to soak the plant..just spritz a few of the leaves...I obviously can't guarantee this. It has left some spotting on some of the foliage..not all though. I wouldn't use it in direct hot sunlight and not on edibles..but that is just me. I find it especially useful for my viburnums over the winter when they eat the buds that formed, and in the early spring when they tend to eat everything tasty as it comes fresh from the spring earth..ie: tulips and such.

Like I said, I just kinda guessed and made this up. I have tried so many other things ( my sleep shirts hanging on the shrubs overnight for human scent, human hair from the hairdressers: which worked really well too, but a pain and sometimes I find it gross, Irish Spring soap in stockings, predator urine...really gross, etc ) and this spray has worked consistantly for nearly two seasons....I started with it April 10 of last year....I remember the date because I was so upset that the deer ate all my tulips and everything down to the ground. So I concocted this and started spraying it. I found that they left things alone..a week...two weeks..month...etc...This year I have lost only two leaves from a Casa Blanca Lily ( rabbits and I am sure I did not spray all the leaves, especially the ones close to the ground.) They ate only the tips of two leaves and the lilies bloomed just fine a few weeks ago. I have tons of lilies...so for me, a little stinky wing sauce smell is more than worth it. I also lost a few nibbles from a hardy geranium Splish Splash...which I probably didn't spray because I've never seen anything bother them. It actually did me a favor...and rebloomed, ha ha ha. I have thousands of plants here....5 gardens in the front. I use maybe 1/2 the mixture on all of the gardens in total..just a light spritzing, takes all of ten minutes. If I happen to see deer, I may spray just to be sure the scent is fresh, although I am pretty confident that it works pretty well even if applied three weeks in the past. We haven't gotten much rain here at my house, and I haven't had to spray lately. Oh, yeah, I spritz new growth too..if is putting on new foliage or buds I'll give them a spritz. I concentrated on the front gardens and forgot some roses and daylilies I had planted in the backyard, the deer reminded me and promptly ate the blooms, so I sprayed them after that and they haven't bothered them since. It just reminds me not to get forgetful, they are there even though they may not be eating my sprayed gardens.

I know, you just asked for the recipe...I just really am happy with having gardens to die in the drought. They never made it that far, ha ha ha.

The well guy just left, we have to drill....fun, fun, fun...

Hope it works for you, and good luck! JoAnn

Does this spray work for woodchucks too? They're not a problem at this time of year, but in the spring they eat everything in sight. I buy a spray that works fairly well, but its very expensive.

JoAnn, thanks for the recipe!
I'm doing it for sure!
I ordered (gulp) almost 1000 bulbs. Many are tiny things that don't
need deep holes. Spreading out into the orchard next season,
wild-flowers too, pounds of seeds, Really excited about this!
I'm seeding about half an acre, verges of a long driveway where the deer
cross daily, with Birdsfoot trefoil, all grazers love it.
I'm hoping they'll leave my bulbs alone, but just in case, I'm spraying too.

Hey good for you..I love bulbs, They are so reliable and pop up just when you need them...most grow so quickly when they do break ground too.

The spray does work against woodchucks...( groundhogs) too. At least I have had good luck with it against them. I know everyone says that you need to switch deterents because they get used to just one. I am dreading the day they get used to that spray, I have come to rely on it. I'd love to know if it works for you..everyone so far I've given the 'recipe' to says it works for them. I don't soak the plants either, just a spritz on the new growth, a couple of squeezes of the trigger and move on.

One thing I have noticed is they are patient. They will go through my whole garden and if I didn't spray one plant, they'll nibble on that one. So I know it works, because they leave the rest alone.

I bet you can use a pressurized sprayer if you wanted to. I don't make enough for that size container. One quart lasts me quite a long time. Several trips around the gardens.

Hope it helps!

We have to drill, or hydro-fracture or pound the well, it is completely dry..we have been without water for two weeks now...what a real hassle..seems everyone is busy these days..the guy who said he could do it, meant he could set up to do it, but not start for 10 days. That didn't help. Seems everyone in this area is having well work done lately.

I doubt I'll be ordering new bulbs this fall..too much to do now. It is good to be reminded of what we take for granted. We've always been water conscious, but today I've done laundry in a laundry-mat..I haven't done that in many many years..reminds me of when I was first married and had our first apartment. God is good, and we'll be fine. Just a hurdle right now, guess we needed some reminding of how precious water is. Thanks all....good luck with your bulbs and hope the spray helps! JoAnn

Linnea,
Where I am the deer will eat bearded iris foliage in the spring. In the summer they'll leave the irises alone. However, in early spring when the fans first start showing up, if I forget to spray them, they get chomped. Not the siberians, though. They also eat hyacinth flowers as JJG said.

Crocus tomasianus seem to be fairly squirrel resistant, unlike the other crocus. I have three or four varieties and they look great mixed up together.
Deer don't eat winter aconite but I found them very hard to start from purchased bulbs. If you want to try it, soak them over night in water since they dry out very fast.
And yes, the grit to use is poultry grit - medium sized (the stuff for baby chicks is like sand).

Oldroser, where do you get your grit?
My local Agway only has the "starter" grit, fine stuff.

JayCo, thanks for the warning, I'm definitely spraying next spring.