The usual suspects
Light blogging today. It’s Sunday, beautiful weather, and–among other things–I need to do a bunch of work on my mother’s taxes.
But I just wanted to point out that, overnight, something seems to have eaten my tulip leaves (“Eats, Shoots and Leaves“–indeed!).
Take a look; it’s a sad and sorry sight, and I want some sympathy:
(The photo doesn’t really do justice to the jagged, amputated quality of the leaves, but it’s the best I could do).
Each year it happens, if I forget to spray the things with the noxious brew (eau de rotten eggs and hot peppers) known as “Deer Off” in time. This year I tried–I tried–but the friggin nozzle was clogged and could not get unclogged, and I just today managed to get a substitute spray thingee.
But alas, too late. The usual suspects–be they deer, squirrels, dogs with strange culinary tastes, neighbors with same, whoever and whatever their identity–have had their way with my tulip foliage, providing a graphic and all-too-poignant demonstration of the phrase “nipped in the bud.”
But at least I got a post out of it.
See you tomorrow.
Goesh, Mighty Bane of Rabbi(t)s
I live in South Texas, in an oak forest on a pleistocene
barrier island, so it is sand all the way down. We have leafcutter ants. I go to bed at night and will have something that looks lush and beautiful and get up in the morning and it will be totally stipped, just sticks in the air. Then if they don’t get it all, a gopher may come along and decide its roots look really good. So he does the rest. Sometimes I feel like I’m reliving CaddyShack.
good grief! quite right I meant rabbiT – how do you say mea culpa in Hebrew anyway?? Imaschmuck – no, wait, that sounds more Yiddish..I once accidentally spelled kippah as kipper and a couple of fellows didn’t appreciate me saying they were wearing a fish on their heads.
No more flowery anti-semitism Goesh!
Goesh: methinks you mean “rabbit” 🙂
Rabbi and tulip clipping stew…??
Mom told me that she got some powdered blood (also called “blood meal”) from Wal-Mart, spread it around the boundaries of her garden, and that repelled the rabbits.
Yes, powdered blood does exist. Creepy, but it seems to have several different applications (no “Vampire” and “redi-mix” jokes here!!!).
Of course, it’s still just supposition that you’ve got a rabbit problem. But I think it’s a good guess. Plus, the powdered blood suggestion seems to repel more than just rabbits.
Signed,
ElMondo”Should’ve-taken-a-left-turn-at-albuquerque”Bunny
it’s the work of a rabbit
I am, of course, have the exact same problem with my tulips.
I have tried all those things suggested and still they munch.
I am now going to DefCon 4 and plan to shoot one and hang its rotten little corpse head down on a stake over the tulips and let it rot.
I have. had. it. up. to. here. with. those. bushy. tailed. rats!
Rabbits, maybe? That’s what ate up my mom’s garden last year. I keep joking that all she seems to accomplish is plant a bunny’s salad bar every spring.
Neo, we are far warmer than you. Even the dogwoods, the glory of spring forests, are finished. So many things–from oaks to fruit trees to flowers, in this case bluebonnets–are just bursting with spring energy. There’s just not enough daylight for everything to get done! We’ve even hummingbirds back, which is very early. Not so good is that a walk in the woods establishes that the poison oak/ivy crop is off to a banner year as well.
I was out photographing my tulips this morning too (in the rain). Fortunately for my tulips, my area is too built up now to have deer any more…
Keep planting stuff. That’s the only solution. In our yard, which I just inspected today after spending 48 hours under flu watch — be careful — some lovely daffodils but other plants going nowhere. And the trees are _just_ starting to bud. And we’re almost mid-April! This is going too slow.
Best of luck.
Vegetarians, dangerous folks and molks you know.