Question
I live on Cape Cod, and until recently had beautiful tiger lilies.  Today, I noticed that they looked sick.  The leaves looked chewed up and there are what look like little blue balls at the base of each leaf. Many of the leaves have turned brown.  Also, the flowers are curling up.  I can see no obvious pests on the plants.

We just recently bought this house and have no experience with tiger lilies, so we don't know what to do.  Can these plants be saved?

Answer
Hi Susan, I have been trying for days to find a symptom matching your "little blue balls" description.  I can't in good conscience just pass this question around - so I was hoping we could maybe get a better description of these "little blue balls".  And is there some way to confirm these are Tiger Lilies?  People use these terms interchangeable - I could send you a list of problems Tiger Lilies frequently encounter, but if we aren't talking about the same plant, that would be a total waste of your time and, even worse, bad advice.

Chewed up leaves can be several problems and you can see them all - maybe in the dark with a flashlight.  Which is why you would "see no obvious pests on the plants".  Sneaky, huh? Japanese Beetles (which are more inclined to attack Roses but do go after Lily leaves - if you do have a Lily!) are insidious little flying nocturnal insects that chew holes all out of proportion to their size in the leaves of some of my favorite plants, including Lilies.  In the dark.  Which is why you can see them w/ a flashlight.

But a bigger problem (and another night lurker) that chews up leaves: Slugs.  Slimy, smelly, putrid, ugly globs that slither up a Lily stalk, pausing to devour a leaf, until they reach the flower, which they just slurp up until there is nothing but a mess left in the morning.  Go out in the dark and see what's eating those Lilies.  If, of course, they are Lilies.  

The slug problem is so easy to solve that you should probably solve it even if you don't see any slugs.

Tomorrow morning, go out to Starbucks and pick up yourself of some of their used bags of coffee grounds.  When you get home, pour a generous mound of those grounds at the base of each Lily.  You will need a LOT of coffee grounds for this.  Which is why it's so wonderful that Starbucks gives them away for free.  And as we all know, the best things in life are free.

Why are these GREAT for your Lilies?  Tiger and otherwise?

Because slugs CANNOT STAND coffee grounds.

And...

Earthworms are CRAZY about coffee grounds.

What a terrific combination.  Free... anti-Slug... pro-Earthworm... What more could you ask for?

If you see just ONE Japanese Beetle on any of your leaves, you can bet there are DOZENS you missed.  Hand picking is the best solution.  Since you have never grown these before, you should get used to some of these weird gardener behaviors because if you don't you'll end up using chemicals and if you think this is weird wait 'til you see what chemicals do to you and your garden.  

Re the chewed up leaves: There are leaf cutter bees that cut into some plants.  And some other things that could put holes in your Lilies.  But let's see if those other culprits, which in the case of tiger Lilies are the problem 90% of the time, are the problem.

The blue balls, I cannot help you with.

The curling of your Lilies is usually related to a watering problem.  But it is also possible that you are not accustomed to the shape of this Lily cultivar.  Make sure your Lilies are well water, but of course you cannot overwater or you will rot the bulb, so water well once a week and only if your Lilies need it.