Mutant Ninja Squirrels

What's with the squirrels this year?!

Here's a new take on "While the cat's away, the mice will play"...

Between my sporadic winter visits, the resident/hoodlum squirrels are trashing Roswitha's flower benches: the driplines usually sit on the surface of the soil, but are being seriously undermined here! The rodents in question are (allegedly) tunnelling after the purple tulips that have naturalized in the benches, between the roses/azaleas etc. They have never done this before, usually restricting themselves to newly-planted bulbs (which I habitually protect with chicken wire).




This is where I planted those fabulous Fritillaria bulbs last fall--I put the metal screens down more as a mild deterrent, because squirrels don't even like fritillarias (which smell skunky). I merely suspected that squirrels would be curious enough to dig into freshly-dug soil, in hopes that I'd hidden something tasty. As it was, these little cretins dug in from the sides of the screens and tunnelled around underneath, looking for the long-established purple tulips (of which I found bits and pieces) but did not dig deep enough to disturb the fritillarias.



Why are the squirrels so short on food this year that they're going for "reserve" supplies? (The fact that squirrels have a backup plan and remember tulip stocks they've ignored for years is a little bit impressive.) My theory is that the past two winters haven't really been cold enough to force the little b*ggers into semi-hibernation, so they're still hopping around with high-season appetites, and not enough food to sustain them. They've also been after all the crocus--established and newly planted.



So what to do?

• Start restricting tulips and crocus to containers/pots that are easy to protect with a "lid" of chicken wire? I may be suggesting this in the future!
• We may have to plant early-flowering bulbs/corms that squirrels don't like in places that are too labour-intensive to cover with chicken wire. There are still lots to choose from: Narcissus (daffodils), Hyacinths, Grape Hyacinths, Dutch Iris, Fritillarias, Alliums, Anemones, Snowdrops...and those bloody invasive English bluebells. Why don't squirrels dig after them? Bluebell bulbs look white and crunchy and delicious. Maybe it's just marketing.
• Another thought--what if we bought *cheap* peanuts-in-the-shell and "planted" them for the squirrels, in hopes that our flower bulbs would be spared?
• Start eating squirrels (See The Joy of Cooking).
  

Oh, can't wait 'til spring...