Native plants for a Cape Cod garden

185 bulbs, and counting… That is the latest tally of squirrel victims. All that is left in evidence is a crater and a petal or some other overlooked morsel. Even though the bulbs, mostly crocus, were on sale, there was the multi-week effort of planting. Now all that is gone, Las Vegas buffet style… Mind you, I have some survivors, although even those plants get nibbled at. Previous bulb plantings seem to be fine, and looking at other yards in the neighborhood, there seems to be a distinct difference between fresh bulbs and the ones that were established (I assume after initial squirrel razzias) many years ago.

I brought this up to a friend who had planted bulbs of all kinds in a yard near the city. His plants were also not immune to squirrel invasions. He suggested two cures to the problem: Human hair, and mothballs. He had experimented with the first back in the 80s when hair color and punk attitude were in full swing. He buried multi colored strands along with his bulbs. There was an element of success as squirrels did not come near the plantings. The drawback was that neighbors suspected him of killing off some punk girl and burying her in the yard, as pink and blue tufts emerged from the soil. The same hair tended to stick to the plants and flowers in bloom, adding a horror aspect to the yard. I will forego this method, all the more since I have nothing to contribute, being fairly bald.

Mothballs seem to be the way to go, and I will give this a trial run next year. I can bury mothballs in a localized fashion along with the bulbs, and they are a lot cheaper than the chemical or urine-derived products found in the garden centers. Those products tend to keep away ALL wild life – something I do not want – I merely want the crocus to have a fighting chance… Besides, if you read the product effectiveness list you will find that the only animal missing, among a long list of rabbits, voles, mice, deer, birds, skunks, and so on, is the squirrel.

This story will have a tail, and will be continued next fall. If anyone has a better way to deal with bulb devouring squirrels, I would be interested to get your input…