Snacking following the bulbs have sprouted is yet another issue. In a back garden exactly where herbivorous animals — like deer, rabbits, squirrels, gophers, chipmunks, mice and voles — are active, Ms. Elms reported, “There is definitely the do-not-plant checklist, like tulips and lilies, and also the nobody-at any time-touches-these list, headed by daffodils.”
Snowflakes (Leucojum), like Narcissus, usually go untouched. The “rarely eaten” record includes hyacinths, she said, and wintertime aconites (Eranthis hyemalis), snowdrops (Galanthus), alliums and glory-of-the-snow (Chionodoxa). Incorporate to those people options Spanish bluebells (Hyacinthoides hispanica), grape hyacinths (Muscari), Siberian squill (Scilla siberica), autumn crocus (Colchicum), Camassia, Fritillaria, foxtail lily (Eremurus), trout lily (Erythronium), Ornithogalum, spring-planted iris and Crinum.
Crocus are inclined to be animal targets, but gardeners could have superior luck with the tommies, or Crocus tommasinianus.
Some gardeners try out to additional dissuade nibbling by sprinkling blood meal all over rising bulbs or spraying the shoots with a nontoxic repellent like Repels-All, a mix of dried blood, egg solids and garlic oil.
Some experimentation may perhaps be expected to obtain a bulb palette that can withstand your garden’s animal strain, Ms. Elms said.