Reign of Terror
I am excited to have this beautiful zinnia as a new addition to my dye garden.
When people think of terrorists, names like [redacted] and other militant extremists come to mind. Some people might even consider environmentalist groups like [redacted] to be terrorists, too. No one ever thinks of squirrels, though. Yet, this is exactly what they are. These furry, malicious miscreants have enjoyed an uninterrupted and repulsive reign of terror over my poor, precious potted plants; and we’ve all had enough. It needs to end now. And that is exactly what I plan to do. They might think they have the upper hand, but the US government and Navy spent a lot of time and money to turn me into a highly effective war machine, and their training methods have yet to fail. There is a reason we’re back-to-back World War champs and these squirrels are about to find out. They are not prepared.
The next phase of this war started when shockingly, but somewhat expectedly, I woke up to more squirrel damage in my dye garden. Unfortunately, aromatics alone just aren’t cutting it. They need some support because I’m pretty sure these squirrels can simply adapt to the different scents. In my last post I talked about having high hopes for the mint as an aromatic deterrent. Sadly the transplants didn’t take. It was a regrettable loss. So far the death toll is six madder, three murasaki, five weld, one marigold sprout, and countless more innocent bacteria and soil microbes at the claws of these murderous menaces. The casualties inflicted on us by these relentless assaults are simply unsustainable. I might lose my whole dye garden in a matter of days if this continues. So, today I got to work.
I finally caved and bought some chicken wire. It really wasn’t that expensive; and it likely would have saved me a lot of trouble if I had just used it from the start. But, I wanted to experiment with other methods first. This is all for science, of course. I built a cage around the four containers that kept getting hit by the squirrels, but unfortunately I ran out of wire before completing it…another trip to the hardware store is in order. I just haven’t had a chance to go back there today.
The other thing I did was go to a local nursery and buy mature marigolds, zinnias, and lantanas. I also bought a bag of river rocks. I still haven’t fully lost hope in the idea of using aromatics, I just feel like they need to be used in conjunction with something else. This is combined arms warfare at its finest. I planted the flowering marigolds and zinnias in with my other dye plants. Zinnias don’t exactly deter squirrels, but they don’t attract the either. They do, however, produce a yellow dye, like marigolds and weld, and are beautiful to look at. I don’t exactly remember the last time I fell in love with something at first sight, but I’m pretty sure it happened today at the nursery when I saw zinnia blooms for the first time. I hope you feel the same way as you view this little zinnia gallery.
I’m not sure if lantanas produce a dye, what color it would be, or if they have any medicinal uses, but they looked pretty so I bought two. One had orange blooms and really complemented the orange mix of zinnias and marigolds I bought. At the nursery, I noticed that one was hosting several large bumblebees. I hope it will do the same in my garden. The other one had blooms that ranged from deep purple to magenta. I couldn’t resist buying it because purple is my favorite color. You wouldn’t think that from my plant haul today, though. Everything was more orangey-yellow.
After transplanting the marigolds and zinnias to my dye planters, I still had a lot of plants left over. I decided to put some in the flax bed (another active squirrel zone) and then cleared out some space in another bed to plant the rest. The other bed was intended for beans and vegetables, but it ended up being taken over by weeds. We never got around to planting anything there so I let the hostile takeover happen. I really didn’t mind having the weeds there. They acted as pollinator-friendly plants and kept the squirrels from digging up the soil. Everyone always hates on weeds, but I’m beginning to throw in my lot with the other side. The pro-weed people might be on to something. I haven’t identified all the weeds in our yard yet, but I know we have a large thistle population. I’m not sure how beneficial the thistles are, but I think they have very beautiful blooms. So do the bumblebees! I’ve witnessed the friendly pollinators linger on the purple flowers longer than anything else in the garden. I also noticed another weed with an incredible bloom coming up for the first time in some beds this year. After some research, I think this plant is Carolina Horsenettle. Apparently it has some medicinal uses but is also poisonous. I guess I’ll just have to do my best to take in this plant’s beauty without eating it. The local bumblebees enjoy it though.
After I filled the empty space in these beds, I still had a few zinnias and marigolds leftover. Fortunately, we had a few containers and some potting mix lying around. I re-homed the rest in those containers. It was very fulfilling and pleasant work. I felt like it was great for the soul. I was a bit worried about one container, though. It was the exact same type that the squirrels liked to “play” in, and there wasn’t enough room for it behind the chicken wire cage. I’m hoping the marigolds in that container can ward off the squirrels, but I also topped it off with some river rocks. Alone, I don’t think the marigolds and river rocks are 100% effective at keeping squirrels out of the pots; but I’m hooping their combined efforts will be effective. I’m also hoping the cage can keep the squirrels out, even with the giant hole, until I can get more chicken wire to properly seal it. I will certainly be posting updates. Stay tuned!
Please enjoy the rest of my plants as of today.
Thank you so much for sticking around to indulge my stories. I hope to see you in the next one!
