Misshapen buds sounds like a sucking insect. Do you have photos?

The reason for it -- it is freeze damage from the numerous freezes we had back in April as the new growth was emerging. Very common when lilies are exposed to freezing temps in the spring.

Perhaps this happened to yours as well.

I have gone out some years and covered them to save them from the one or two nights of freezes, but this year was hopeless. After having a series of days in March where the highs hit the 80s and even 90 two days, we had frosts and freezes probably 2 nights out of 3 in April, capped off by a freeze of around 26 degrees the last weekend in April.

The most important thing to do is to try to give them a good dose of bulb booster and keep them watered so they get strong enough to bloom good next year. The weather this year has stressed the bulbs tremendously.

Interesting about the cold damage. That's something I've never witnessed, but perhaps it's because we are cold enough that either our ground freezes deeply enough or the snow covers the ground long enough to keep them dormant until we are past frost damage. We often end up with almost no spring, going in a matter of a very few weeks from late winter to full summer.

'we're plagued by the things. Grrrrrr. Unfortunately, these nasty eating machines have no natural predators in North America, so they're pretty much free to run rampant over our gardens, taking out our lilies and Fritillaria at will. Apparently certain parasitic wasps exist already as controls in Europe.

Biological control using natural lily leaf beetle predators shows the most promise for controlling the spread of this invasive scourge. Although the beetle has no natural predators in North America, the University of Rhode Island Biological Control Laboratory, in collaboration with CABI-Bioscience and colleagues in France, has identified several European insects that parasitize the lily leaf beetle grubs. The ant-sized parasitic wasps lay eggs on the beetle grubs, which subsequently hatch and kill their host. These insects have been released at research sites in all New England states and are proving effective at decreasing the lily leaf beetle populations for at least several miles in the surrounding areas. These controls are not yet commercially available for gardeners, but show long-term promise.'

it's very disheartening to see the damage done to our lilies by this pest. i do not use pesticides normally, but i do resort to one for this situation -- Bayer Rose and Garden Spray in the bright blue bottle. it is the best way to keep these beetles at bay as long as one does not apply in breezy conditions or when beneficial insects/bees are present. as a systemic pesticide, the application works for 4-6 weeks and can then be re-applied to keep the lilies beetle-free.

How many beetles do you squash daily? Honestly?

However, like wieslaw59, I am cautious to employ poisons to control this pest, especially with imidacloprid which is the active ingredient in Bayer. Yes, it does control lily beetles and many other nasty pests, but it will also kill bees and other beneficial insects. Spinosad will also kill beneficials.

To get back to the original topic, I agree with denninmi that the original poster's lily problems are likely weather related. While I was lucky to get no late freezes, quite a few of my lilies aborted their buds due to heat and extremes of moisture. And quite a few more have produced distorted or deformed flowers.

I also have some misshapen buds too, as well as beetle damage. Other than the darn beetles, I had been attributing the damage to the weather - too hot too early, then colder than usual, then lots of rain, then sustained 90-degree temps for days, etc.

Dee

Newly planted lilies, of course, are almost always shorter their first season. Also like the above, this is due to limited root production.

Wieslaw, you have to take into account the fact that not everyone can spend time in the garden chasing down beetles. I know folks on here go after individual japanese beetles. I cannot even imagine having the time to do that.