I feed squirrels...to my dog. She loves them. ;>)

thanks donn, for the smile!

Are you sure that's a squirrel??? Sounds more like a deer to eat such big shrubs. I've got deer problems if you want to swap miserable tales . . . .

Deer and woodchucks did in a lot of my shrubs but neither in my old garden nor my current one (squirrels abound in both) did a squirrel damage a shrub.

Tulip bulbs, now, that's another matter.

The only shrub-related squirrel problem I've had is burlap vandalism. I have some new shrubs carefully encased in burlap for winter protection, and lately I've watched a squirrel chewing on the twine, pulling on the burlap, and jumping on the whole structure. It managed to yank down one side of two shrub cages.

I thought that maybe this was a pregnant squirrel looking for nesting material (a loose piece of burlap recently disappeared) so I cut off a few pieces and left them on the ground. One of the pieces is gone and so far the vandalism has stopped. If I could trust this mild weather I'd just uncover the shrubs but spring is always very late here on the coast and there's time for another nasty snowstorm before May.

Claire

When I had a lot of small rose cuttings in pots, I had terrible squirrel problems. They used to dig out the roses, and replace them with cherry pits. Keeping plant tags in the pots was almost impossible, and I spent years trying to ID mystery roses.

OTOH, deer have stripped the rhododendrons bare, eaten the top off the oakleaf hydrangea, turned my neighhbors arborvitae into a top heavy topiary, and done who know what other damage.

An air rifle (bb-gun) is a great squirrel deterrant. We have both deer and squirrels & other critters. Chipmunks are cute, but they sure do some damage in the beds. They will chew some perennials and dig holes. I tolerate the deer and they have left most of my shrubs alone, but they do tend to browse closer to your house this time of year when there isn't much to eat in the woods. I hate the little rodents who are always after birdseed in some of my tray feeders.

I put out bars of Irish Spring soap to repel deer. Yesterday I found teeth marks (deep ones) all over one of the bars. Don't know what caused that unless it was a dog that decided to sink his teeth into it.

I haven't had much noticeable plant damage from squirrels but one of the little jerks destroyed my grill cover. And they do alway seem to find my acorn plantings. I'm browsing a cookbook now that has "squirrel stew with dumplings," "fried young squirrel" and "braised squirrel." If anyone gets hungry for revenge just shoot me an email and I'll send you the recipes.

Well, misery loves company and my area is the Squirrel Capitol of the World! Really!! We probably all think that, hmmm?
My dear mother came up with the best remedy -- moth balls. In every container of plants on her property, she put in more than several moth balls. On top of the soil. Squirrels absolutely hate them. I swear she bought moth balls by the case (she had lots and lots of container plants) and they were Never-Fail. I think she replenished them in the pots about August.
Do try it, okay? BTW, I might not put moth balls around anything edible for humans.
Good luck -
Sunny

It's definately squirrels, we watch them rip things apart from the kitchen windows. Two of them destroyed a new azalea in about 5 minutes last year. The leap on the branches, break them, toss them around. It's bizarre. In our little .25 acre yard we can count 15 to 20 squirrels at a time. That is way above normal population levels, as squirrels are "supposed" to be territorial. I've never had problems in OTHER places I've lived and gardened either, until moving here. We've got two dogs, and that doesn't keep them away either, they just stay on the opposite end of the yard, jump over the fence, and come right back in.

Well, after watching the dang squirrels gnaw off all of the magnolia buds a few days before they were due to open.....two years in a row, I decided to fight back. (Nothing worse than coming outdoors to see ready-to-open buds all over the ground under the tree!) So! I bought some of that red pepper spray and sprayed each and every bud on the magnolia. It took some time and a ladder and I had to respray after it rained, but they quit and now only eat my tulips. I'm tempted to soak the tulip bulbs in it next year! People tell me it's cruel and I tell them that robbing me blind of money and beauty is cruel too! I guess I am just a cold-blooded torturer -- but you gotta teach em what's ok to eat and what's NOT ok! Tough Love.

We have loads of squirrels but so far they haven't eaten any bulbs or shrubs - they spend all their time attacking the bird feeders...maybe because they have an alternate/easier source of food they leave the garden alone?

There are two ingenious squirrel repellents: blood meal and cayenne pepper. For tulips and basically plants in the ground, sprinkle a generous amount of bloodmeal on the ground. For rhodo, azalea buds use Vaseline and cayenne pepper on them. You actually need to do it on the lower buds of your plants only.

My squirrels not only didn't eat the buds after I had done it, but they obviously learned for the next year, because I forgot to do it the next year, and had no damage anyway. Or ever since for that matter.

Oh, I just read the message about the bird feeders. No, from experience, I don't think they make any difference, apart from making more squirrels :)