I've had trouble with squirrels doing this. Our next door neighbors have a huge 150-year-old oak tree so we have a ton of squirrels that love to dig in soft soil (like new plantings). And most of my pots have little oak sprouts in them from the #(^%)&@! squirrels planting acorns :-)

Yep, me too. What I do is lay bird netting over newly planted iris until I see green leaves sprouting and know they have rooted. This keeps the darn bunnies away too.

Sue
Ramona, Ca

Squirrels.