Take THAT, You Pesky Squirrels

We still don't have any real beds where I can plant bulbs, so next spring will be celebrated in pots, again. A local wholesale nursery had a mix of 'Daydream' and 'Negrita' tulips, so I snagged a bag of 100 -- and stuffed them all into one 24-in pot. I planted them about six inches deep, and then liberally dusted the top with red pepper, to deter squirrels and chipmunks. ... But that didn't work this year. A day later, ALL the soil was dug up. I don't think the varmints got any bulbs, though -- when I probed, the tulips were still down a couple of inches.

Ed volunteered to get some hardware cloth to protect the pots, which are still outdoors to take advantage of the rain. I was envisioning a sheet covering the top of the pot, and weighted down with a few rocks. However, this is what an engineer means when he intends to foil squirrels.



I had planted some 'Minnow' narcissus, too, and interestingly, those pots were completely untouched. Even under a heavy coating of red pepper, the squirrels could smell the tulips. 'Minnow' is a miniature Tazetta -- I planted a couple of small pots that I'm hoping to bring indoors in late February, but I was very late planting the bulbs, so that 12-14 week chilling period will end almost when spring arrives.

We'll move the pots into the unheated, detached garage in another couple of weeks, where they can wait out the rest of the winter.

'Daydream' opens yellow, then matures to apricot-orange. The color changes every day, which is fun to watch. 'Negrita' is a very dark purple, so it will be a great contrast to yellow or orange.