Research Garden DesignBrowse photos, get design ideas & see the hottest plants
Q : Last winter , squirrels eat up the 300crocus bulbsI’d just plant . In leaping they eat the leaves of any they ’d missed , as well as my tulip blossoms , especially the orange ones . Are there bulbs I can plant this fall that squirrels do n’t like?—Katherine Bach , Longmeadow , Mass.
A : There is one kind of crocus , the pale - lavender “ tommies ” ( Crocus tommasinianus ) , that might influence better for you . squirrel often leave them alone . But if you’re able to take a love of daffodil , your costless snack bar for squirrels is history . Squirrels will turn away in disgust the instant they taste one . Like most of their relation in the Amaryllis family , daffodils contain a toxin that would kill any squirrel dumb enough to keep eat — which is why daffs are about as close to a pestproof perennial as you will find . you may build a fabulous natural spring garden around Narcissus pseudonarcissus , too , because there are so many sincerely unlike kinds — from as scant as 6 inches to as tall as 2 feet — with diverse blossom shape and color combinations in every course . If you plant form with alter bloom times , you’re able to have daffs in flower for six to eight weeks . A planting ofNarcissus‘February atomic number 79 , ’ N. ‘ Camelot , ’ N. ‘ Quail , ’ andN. poeticus var . recurvuswill extend the time of year , but there are many other honorable choices . Many form multiply freely and make excellent cut blossom . For us two - legged crocus - lover , daffs have only two drawbacks : Their bloom can be shiny - jaundiced to orange - Bolshevik to perfect white , but never purple , and they bloom a few week later in spring than crocus .
But you do n’t have to be without early spring flowers if you plant a couple of other Amaryllis congenator : snowdrops ( galanthus ) and leap snowflake ( Leucojum vernum ) . Their small white flowers may not be as dramatic as those of crocus , but plant densely , even a few square animal foot of them make a beautiful financial statement — and the squirrel wo n’t exhaust them , either . Both snowdrops and Plectrophenax nivalis spread nicely on their own and rise well in the spectre of tall Tree than either crocus or daffodil do . Two other squirrel - proof spring bulb that multiply promptly ( and thrive in shade , too ) are muscari ( grape hyacinths ) and genus Hyacinthoides ( bluebell or woodwind instrument hyacinth ) . member of the Lily family , they do n’t contain the toxin , but rodents find them distasteful and tend to go out them alone . These two bloom later , with late daffodils and tulips . In gay prime bed , where you would institute tulips , test large - flowered hyacinths for the other part of the season , interplanted with cosmetic onion ( Allium ) to finish the display . Allium aflatunense , A. giganteum , A. karataviense , andA. molyare all former - spring - bloom . They are utterly comestible and would do wonders for the heart - wellness of rodents , but most squirrels ( like most people ) line up the flavor of a raw Allium cepa just a little too hefty to make into a meal .
