Everything was fine. They were in bloom and suddenly as if almost overnight, the stems are brown and brittle and all of the blooms are gone. I also ...
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Tiger lilies died suddenly #803450
Asked July 28, 2022, 10:14 AM EDT
Everything was fine. They were in bloom and suddenly as if almost overnight, the stems are brown and brittle and all of the blooms are gone. I also found it weird that none of the blooms were on the ground. I looked at the leaves…some are a little yellow, but not all of them. Just seems like they look like they would in October/November.
These flowers have been in my yard for probably nearly 50 years and I don’t recall seeing anything like this before.
I am including a picture of what they looked like a few weeks ago and pictures from this morning. I noticed they were like this a few days ago.
Wayne CountyMichigan
Expert Response
Your picture shows orange daylilies (Hemerocallis fulva), rather than tiger lilies. This is a common mistake. It looks like yours are the old fashioned kind commonly known as ditch lilies. The blooms on these plants only last one day; however, there are many buds on each stem (scape) so you don't notice that they're only there for a day.
The most likely cause of the missing blooms is deer forage. They LOVE daylily blooms! Deer are often nocturnal so you don't see them, but they stroll through your garden and eat off the blooms leaving only the stems. They will do the same thing to tulips and many other blooms. And, if you grow hostas, deer think that is a salad bar and chew off all the leaves leaving only the stems.
There isn't much you can do to prevent this deer browsing short of erecting an 8' tall fence all around your property. The deer are more plentiful this year than I've ever seen them, and they have totally destroyed my hostas and ate over half of my daylilly blooms. So I feel your pain. There are several products on the market that claim to keep the deer away, but none are very effective.
Your plants look fine, you just lost the blooms. They will come back next year....but alas....so will the deer likely. Below is a picture of a tiger lily. The picture below shows common daylilies (commonly known as ditch lilies because they often take up resident in side ditches).
Many online sellers confuse the two, perhaps because both are orange, but they are two totally different plants. Good luck getting the deer to leave your landscape alone!
