Unfortunately, the deer will simply trample what they don't like to get to the things they do like. Same hole planting is definitely not a foolproof plan.

I have carpets of scilla - and nothing bothers those or Puschkinia or Muscari. Those all bloom first along with my few crocus - and something always nips the flowers off the crocus. This was my first season with daffodils, but the weather was so cold and erratic this spring, they bloomed in June. I gave up on tulips years ago; a few still come up faithfully but the deer get the buds every time.

You might have read/hear of this theory, but I don't see how it could possibly work. Tulips are like candy to deer, they love them.

I battled white tailed deer for 12 years in West Virginia. Yes it was a battle, that I lost. I tried everything, spent tons of time and money, and still failed. Installing a fence was not practical, so I finally gave up and sold the place.

If you don't tackle the deer problem you are simply going to do lots of work for naught. If fencing is not an option, you might try a device I've heard lots about. It hooks up to your hose, get's triggered by the deer, and squirts them, shooing them away.

Of course, winter could be a problem because of freezing issues. If this is an issue, I would just forget about tulips etc. and start working on the trigger device or a fence. Anything else is going to be a waste of time and money.

SG

I recommend that you try to grow your tulips in pots that you can put out of reach of deer. If you can't do that and still want to plant the tulips, you'll really have to put a cage over the top of them if not in a fenced area.

This summer, I tested the deer with a garden phlox that they eventually found. However, that was one plant in a big garden, so it took them awhile.

I have a very large deer resistant garden, meaning that I plant "deer resistant" plants. I still see some damage. I just moved all of my geranium 'Rozanne' inside my cottage garden fence since the deer loved the blooms.

Bulbs/corms/tubers/rhizomes that deer haven't touched in my garden:

Spanish bluebells
Dutch irises
Daffodils
Crocosmia
Colocasia
Canna
Ginger

I've got alliums on order, but expect those to be fine.

Hope this helps,
Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: my garden info

If the deer don't get them the rabbits and groundhogs are perfectly happy to eat them.

I still haven't given up but just had the thought, after reading this thread, that I had one good year last spring since I sprayed the heck out of them weekly with a variety of stinky stuff BUT it might just have been luck and they could eat right through all the repellant sprays next spring. Pooh.

Already started winter regime of spraying repellants on Azaleas and Rose bushes...deer already defoliated roses once this year.

I put more than half spring bulbs in pots and place them on deck with chicken wire fence on stairs. That way people can see them through sliding glass doors and feel the winter blues a bit less starting in early April with a variety of things.

This year I'm ready for last year's drainage problem in some pots...got soil without moisture retention (DUH!), crushed oyster shells and small pea gravel to keep mix light and well draining.

Ones on the deck are only bulbs for which I don't have to fight the critters!

Where there's a strong desire for gorgeous spring blooms there's a way to at least try. I'll give up new clothes any day for my of spring bulbs after last year's better than expected results.

I'll let you all know if I still feel so "bulb happy" next spring when we see how the critter wars are going!