Prickles and Hot Peppers

I replaced a few overgrown summer planters with fall blooms last week including this dwarf sunflower. It was covered in buds and brightened up a corner of the garden. Within a couple of unsupervised hours, all the open flowers were bitten off and left lying on the grass. The flowers were not safe even when I moved the pot to the deck beside our chairs. 

Our local squirrel population was decimated last year by a family of foxes with a den in a neighbour's backyard. The neighbour paid to have the foxes relocated and squirrels are flourishing this season. We have one that visits our yard regularly, sampling ripening tomatoes and having an apparent yen for sunflowers. I wouldn't mind so much if it ate the flowers, but it is wantonly destructive. 

Of course, Google had a gaggle of solutions from putting squirrel food in the yard far from the garden to killing and eating the pesky rodents. I chose not one, not two, but three other solutions in combination. 

I covered the soil with cayenne pepper, added a couple of handfuls of dog fur, and topped the mess with some prickly cactus leaves. It rained last night and the moisture did not penetrate the soil at all. But my sunflowers were intact this morning. 

While drinking my tea on the deck early this morning, the said squirrel sat by my chair and gave me a severe scolding. How bold! It has so much food within a 20-metre radius from a large black walnut tree to a cone-heavy spruce next door. It scurried off and a while later came back on the deck carrying a baby squirrel in its mouth by the scruff of the neck. Did the squirrel want to show me one of its offspring? The mother walked along the edge of the flower bed, up the fence and into the maple in the front yard where it has a nest. Sadly, I did not have my camera close by!

I put some seeds on the sundial for the persistent squirrel but I don't think it will deter it from sampling the tomatoes or sunflowers. 

The prickles and hot peppers reminded me of how some people, myself included, respond to people who annoy us. I am not talking about toxic, manipulative people. Often it is the people closest to us who receive the sarcastic barbs and get heat for minor infractions. Social media has become a cesspool of hatred with reactive barbs for anyone who may come from another perspective. 

My backyard squirrel is not a lovely Goldfinch or a brilliant Northern Cardinal, but it is true to its nature and deserves its place in the world. I have decided to be as kind as possible even when it sploots on the fence and tries to take ownership of the yard. However, the sunflowers remain off-limits and the (ugly) repellents will stay as long as they are effective!