We planted several lily tree bulbs near our milkweed patch last fall. Two finally bloomed last night! I came home from work today and both flowers were gone. Luckily there's several more waiting to bloom, but so disappointing.
by Klutzy-Delivery-5792
6 Comments
We’re in Massachusetts. We’ve been cultivating a large milkweed patch since we moved into this house five years ago. We added some lily trees last year from bulbs my partner’s mom cultivated in Connecticut. The trees are doing great for their first year! It was ridiculously hot the last few days here and the temps dropped substantially last night. I woke up to these (and several of my other plants) blooming. Took these pics before leaving for work this morning. Came home and they were gone. People suck!
Edit: Neighbor said she saw some kids grab them.
Flowers are ephemeral. They will die soon anyway. Between people and wildlife damage I always over plant and diversify what and where. That’s how stuff survives in nature.
Like all feelings of pain it’s important to acknowledge the sharp sadness and them practice letting go. It could have just as easily been insects. Enjoy what existed while it did.
Did they dig em up? or just missing flowers..?
If its just the flowers gone, I might blame wildlife instead.
I was watching mine grow for weeks…. They all finally had bulbs in them, about half way to opening.
It seems the deer felt they needed them more as one night, they munched every bulb off. I was so sad when I went out that day to look at my “blooms.”
Kids or someone admiring the beauty is one possibility. Another outside possibility you might not think of? If there are neighborhood feral cats, someone might have taken the flowers off to protect the cats since lilies are super toxic to cats (like, can kill them from just brushing up against them).
In any case, I’m sorry for your loss. They’re gorgeous plants.
I take it you don’t have cats.