Why native plants?
According to the The National Audubon Society:
Restoring native plant habitat is vital to preserving biodiversity. By creating a native plant garden, each patch of habitat becomes part of a collective effort to nurture and sustain the living landscape for birds and other animals.
What our community is about—
This community is for everyone who is interested in planting native species in their garden. Come here for discussions, questions, and sharing of ideas/photos.
Rules:
More for you to explore—
I've wanted a butterfly weed plant for years and this year I finally just decided to buy some small ones and remove any guesswork. That night the idiot squirrel that lives on my property dug them both up, so this is my solution to protect the new one i was graciously given for free from the same nursery i got the others.
I used like ten 6" landscaping staples to anchor the wire, and if the squirrel gets through that I'm gonna lose my shit
I use a similar method for rats in my city. But I also use a ring of lava rock around the mesh because they hate the way it feels. My mom stole this method from me to save her herbs from squirrels and it seemed to work so well that she now puts lava rock in all her flower planters to keep the squirrels from digging up the flowers.
In my head there's a moat of molten lava around your plants and that's metal AF.
Huh, that's interesting
I find that squirrels have a lot more time in a day to try to figure out how to get to food, than I have to try to prevent them.
If I stop the squirrels, its more interesting to the bunnies, so then they join in to try.
If the bunnies try, then it becomes a competition with the chipmunks and ground hogs.
Within a week I have a deer in my yard claiming victory over all the tiny animals that aren't as great and majestic, while standing over the hole that used to be my special plant.
I typically try not to fight nature, but I've wanted a butterfly weed plant for YEARS and refuse to sacrifice this one
My wife wanted tulips. So we bought a dozen and planted them in a row next to the driveway. As they came up the bunnies and squirrels ate them. My wife was sad. So my wife said, if they eat a dozen, they won't be able to eat a hundred before they bloom. So we planted a hundred. After several years, we still have a couple, but we need to plant more. The critters will eat what they like. If I wanted something, I'd plant more than 3. In all seriousness, I hope it survives and thrives, I have a few, and the critters and insects like them.
Would it help to spray a mix of blended chilis and/or cayenne pepper powder on the plant and surrounding area?
It probably would. I got the squirrels to move out of my attic this way... But then the wasps moved in.
Probably, but i wanted a no-shit solution since this was plant #3
I planted deer resistant plants and it turns out that every deer has to take a bit to know this.
SQUIRRELS KEEP OUT
Maybe a squirrel-feeder elsewhere in the yard would keep them away from the plants.
Lol, in my neighborhood, it'd just attract more squirrels.
Sounds like a double win.