What's eating my echinacea

Hi all wonder if you can help me with an annoying problem, I planted 6 echnicacea plants at some expense last year and only one has reappeared however every time I check it's progress something has eaten most of the leaves/ new shoots it has produced, expect some of the others went the same way but not sure where I planted them. I also had a perennial lobelia which seemed to suffer the same fate, every time it got started it got eaten :( I seem to have a big vine weevil problem but can't see they'd do this, have hardly any slugs and snails in the garden, I'm suspecting birds, wood pigeons or blackbirds maybe, I also have lots of squirrels around here! Would appreciate any thoughts. Thanks EGW

 

Rabbits? Don't know if you have any around your garden, we've got hundreds of 'em hopping around the gardens at work, Echinacea is one of their favourite delicacies.

If not, I'd still suspect slugs or snails. I planted a few Echinaceas out at home last week and the snails came from far and wide to sample this new delicacy I'd provided for them.

 

put some slug/snail pellets around the plants and see what happens .... slugs/snails mainly come out at night time, especially after it has rained

you could also spray them with Provado ultimate bug killer incase its small insects eating the leaves

 

Rabbits, earwigs, snails... some other creature with the flu

 

I suspect slugs and snails. They love echinacea, to the point where I have stopped trying to grow it, as I have more than my fair share of molluscs. You may think you don't have many, but go out with a torch on a damp night after rain and you may be surprised to find you have an army on the move. Position in the garden is a factor. If your plants are growing near to a favourite hiding place for slugs and snails, then it's an easy trip to the free night time snack. They love dank places, climbing plants (especially ivy) and thick cover during day time.

 

Thank you, I'll put some slug pellets down and see if I see any casualties!