I'm in Western Massachusetts. I probably have between 100 - 150 daffodil bulbs in different spots that I've planted over the past two Falls. Last year I had a very good showing. This year, while I had a large number of green sprouts, I only had about 15 bloom and they didn't start until the last two weeks of April. None of the crosuses bloomed that I planted last fall -- although I did get the green leaves. I planted about 200 tulips last Fall and almost all of them have emerged with green leaves but only about 15 percent have bloomed. (The rabbits will probably eat the rest of the tulips before they ever bloom.) My giant alliums were healthy with leaves shooting up and then, within a day, leaves started to wilt and my plant app says it's root rot. I've only been gardening a few years. Why would this happen?

I would call Brent and Beckys and Brecks Bulbs and talk to them about your issues. All they do pretty much is bulbs and they will be glad to help you. There are too many variables to diagnose your issue here. Your soil may be too heavy? Hot dry summers can dry them out, too much water they rot, the soil may not drain well, did you fertilize them? Mulch over them? rodents get the bulbs-they don't have to eat them necessarily...just shovel them up so they don't have good soil contact. Some varieties of tulips don't return well anyway. I have some late blooming daffodils that bud blast (temps get too hot here before they are able to form/open and they rot or dry up) and I dug those out. Planted too deeply, planted too shallow, did anyone in the area spray herbicide or other similar product that killed them? Maybe your city or county if they are along a road/walk area? There can be all kinds of reasons. I hope you figure it out and have better luck though, it is certainly expensive and disappointing when things don't perform well after all that work.

Do you have Ground Moles? They can tunnel around plants underground and leave big spaces and the roots may not have soil around them anymore. That happened to my garden a few years ago and they killed my blueberry bushes and left big tunnels all over the patio garden.

I have lost alot of plants this way over the past couple of years. I had 2 poodles and a cat in recent years and even though they did not actively hunt or anything like that, I am wondering now if just the scent of their presence in the garden kept the rodents somewhat at bay. Since they never dug around for them or killed any directly, I assumed having the dogs/cat did not make any difference, but now that they are gone I am really seeing a lot of rodent activity. Also what I thought was voles? moles? I am now sure is actually chipmunks. Well aren't they cute? The cuteness wears off pretty quick though I am afraid, they are destructive little critters. I also have a pair of hawks that nest in my yard every year and I think they are worthless, using my trees for free rent and all ......

Just curious, are they in full sun? After the blooms were gone, how long did you wait to remove the foilage.

Crawgarden, some are in full sun and others are in part shade. While the sunnier areas have done better, other homes in the area have had beautiful blooms in sunny and shady areas. Last year, I kept the daffodils in place for about 4-5 weeks after they stopped blooming before I cut them back. They were yellowing at the time but not fully brown. I only have so much gardening space so I didn't really want to keep them for longer than that. The tulips are all new this year. I did not fertilize the bulbs. I read that new bulbs did not need to be fertilized. Is that true? Should I have fertilized my daffodils in the fall or spring? I did, however, add compost to the soil in early spring.

Frillylily, how do I know if my daffodil bulbs are buried too deep?

Frillylily and slowcala, we have tons of chipmunks and squirrels, some rabbits, and possibly some voles. I know that critters have bitten off the tops of many of my tulips and there are several holes in the ground where entire plants have disappeared. I'm not happy about this at all but I'm not willing to do traps or repellants outdoors and I knew it was likely. It's why I've resisted planting tulips in the past. What I didn't expect, however, was a ton of slow growing green growth -- many with unopened buds in May.

All that being said, in the last few days, I have had more tulips bloom in the sunny areas so YAY! Maybe it's lack of fertilizer? Maybe it's the fact that the weather has been so overcast with so few sunny days this spring? Or maybe it's that there was soooo much rain/snow this winter with frequent pools of water on the ground?

I usually wait 8 weeks from the time of bloom before removing the foliage, all bulbs like sharp drainage, Daffs and Tulips like full sun. The only fertilizer that I use is milorganite that I spread around when the bulbs are just starting to come up.

I use a repellant called PlantSkydd on all of my tulips, and so far no issues with the deer or rabbits, one of the species tulips have been blooming for the past week and a half, the Darwin will probably start in a week.