Moles don't eat plants - they are carnivores - so you can cross them off the list. But lots of other creatures favor lily bubs - voles, gophers, rabbits, squirrels, mice and rats.

btw, mole repellants are pretty much useless and a waste of time and $$. I wouldn't bother continuing with that practice.

We used the mole 'gummies' at one point and they worked very well. Now, the neighbors have 2 cats--no more moles.

See GG's comment. Moles are carnivorous. Lilie bulbs are not made of meat. Ergo there is no reason to destroy moles, other than perhaps a tidy-minded dislike of mole hills in the lawn or tunnels in the beds. How about just accepting them as a natural and interesting part of the biodiversity of the garden.

Sounds like voles to me, who will also use mole runs.

in every post.. you should tell us where you are.. big city name..

we would also need to know what kind of lily.. its a rather broad group of plants..

one would not expect falling to a winter 20 degrees to kill much of anything.. in fact. in my MI.. at 20 degrees in winter.. we leave the parka in the closet and wear a wind breaker.. that aint cold.. lol ... [wait.. 'below 20 below'???? .. thats ground freeze.. and now we really need to know what kind of lily]

if you know what location of some of them. go dig it up.. and see what you find.. if anything.. if you find rooting old bulbs.. you can rule out animal..

anyway.. no animal or disease is all that efficient.. and it seems really odd.. that you would blanket lose everything in one warm winter .. but 20 below on tropical lily.. will take care of them all ...

ken

" in every post.. you should tell us where you are.. big city name.. " I beg to differ!! Where precisely this disappearance is occurring has absolutely nothing to do with what is causing it!!

" we would also need to know what kind of lily.. its a rather broad group of plants.. " No, we don't need to know the kind of lily. It is NOT a "rather broad group of plants" but instead a quite limited number of species and hybrids of a single genus, the bulbs of which are equally appealing to whatever wildlife may be present.

btw, most popular lily species - the Asiatics and Oriental hybrids - are hardy to at least -25F

Location could well have some bearing if it is down to an animal rather than the weather.

floral, the creatures that would be inclined to eat lily bulbs are present in ALL US climate zones so I fail to see how location would have any impact on that.

Let's try this again..

laslaslas14 you can post your hardiness zone next to your name just by adding it to your name. Then if you post again and your climate IS relevant to the issue it will be there for every post. Because zones cover a big geographical area it is helpful to add the name of a nearby city.

If you are relatively new to GW, welcome and we hope you come back often.

If you've been hanging around awhile, welcome anyway.!

And, it still sounds like voles to me, location or no location.

If there are any deer in your area I would add them to the list of suspects…

No, deer don't dig and eat lily bulbs over the winter though they certainly would eat the plants during the growing season. Still voting for voles as the culprits.

I would go with the suggestion of digging out a few bulbs to see what condition they are in. If eaten, well, there's your answer.

Woodyoak, mysterious but beautiful! That’s what keeps gardening interesting. Yours is lovely.