Some Asshole Bug/Slug Just Ruined My Day!

The highlight of my gardening season is the blooming of my beautiful Shima Nishiki Japanese Tree Peony. It was the first tree peony I ever bought for my first personal garden and it is the oldest in my garden.  It's a show stopper! 

Each Spring the elegant red crepe flowers, with a just a splash of white for good measure, open to my awe and reverence.   Seriously, I LOVE this Peony!

So this evening, I was perusing the garden (with wine, of course), and what should I find but all of the buds looking like Swiss cheese!!!  Every damn bud, but ONE, with holes eaten through them!  Gah!!!!

I studiously checked the plant for caterpillars, of which I found none.  So my next assumption was that it was a slug! 

I religiously bait for slugs several times a year with Cory's Slug Killer, even when it seems like a silly time to bait, because you have to keep on top of it.  Must have been a rogue slug from the neighbor's "garden".

Sometimes, I even sell an internal organ to afford to buy Sluggo, thinking a more expensive slug killer is sometimes needed. Apparently I was not vigilant enough this year.

I grabbed my Sluggo and baited around every peony (45 at last count) and then did my full yard "slug-nuke-o-rama".

I will have to hope that they don't get my one last bud!

Fingers crossed!