Hi,

I'm posting this here because new gardeners often face this problem: they plant a beautiful flowering plant only to see all the flowers gone the very next morning.

I am not a new gardener. In the past, I've had to deal with groundhogs, deer, and other animals who love the taste of flowers. However, I never had squirrels eat my plants - it must've been dumb luck - until last week when I bought a pair of gorgeous yellow petunias with purple markings. I planted them the next day and by morning all of the flowers from one plant were gone, they've been chewed up. I was convinced it was rabbits so I called the nursery for help and was told (by their head gardener) to sprinkle cayenne around the plants "a good shaking around and over the plants will keep rabbits and other small mammals away from your petunias."

I bought the largest cayenne container available and dusted the plants and the whole bed. And the next morning the flowers from *both* petunia plants were gone!

It wasn't the rabbits but a gray squirrel whom I spotted heading for the petunias a couple of days later.

I wasn't going to win that battle so I put both petunias in hanging pots, to keep them off the ground, and planted something else in that bed.

I don't know why people who are supposed to know what they are talking about would give such BAD advice. I called the head gardener to let him know about this and he said "well, I've never had a squirrel problem myself but many people swear by the cayenne method..."

There you go, if many people say it, it must be true. Not!

If an animal is eating your flowers don't waste your time and money on stuff to sprinkle the plants with. Just move the plants to a protected location or put a fence around them - or only use the plants that animals do not like to eat.

Happy gardening!