Don’t leave your tulips for deer to eat — a good repellent helps

Deer have been eating my tulip leaves as soon as they poke out of the ground, and I am worried that I will not get any flowers this year. They even seem to be digging around the bulbs. What can I do to protect the tulips in my garden?

— Jessica Diaz, Libertyville

Tulips are a favorite plant for deer to browse and they start eating tulip foliage as soon as leaves poke above the soil. They will also dig around the leaves to get more of the foliage. There are not many other food sources for deer at this time of year, so the new tulip growth is highly desirable. Ornamental onions and daffodils are good alternatives to tulips for gardens with high deer pressure, but they do not offer the wide variety of color options that tulips do.

You can still get a flower display from your tulips provided the deer have not eaten any of the flower buds. Once the flower buds are eaten, those tulips will only grow foliage without flowering. Garden centers have a variety of repellents for sale to spray on garden plants to repel animals. You can buy them premixed so all you need to do is spray the product on the tulips. These sprays generally have a very strong smell, so wear plastic gloves to avoid getting the repellent on your hands. Apply the repellent as soon as you can. Reapply after rain to ensure that the tulips are protected. It’s important to start spraying the repellent as soon as you see foliage next year with repeated applications after rain and as the tulips grow to protect the foliage and flower buds.

Some gardeners also have problems with squirrels digging up newly planted tulips in the fall. There are granular repellents that you can spread on the soil surface after planting to help protect tulips and other bulbs planted in the fall. Large mass plantings of bulbs can be protected by pinning netting over the bed to discourage digging. The netting will need to be removed in the spring as the bulbs begin to grow.

For more plant advice, contact the Plant Information Service at the Chicago Botanic Garden at [email protected]. Tim Johnson is senior director of horticulture at the Chicago Botanic Garden.