Interesting you ask the question about squirrels as I was wondering the same. We have quite a few squirrels here. I've not noticed any disturbance to the ground though. And crocuses survive just fine in my garden - I might have thought squirrels would pinch them as they're small shallow bulbs? We grew allium moly for the first time this year and I'll be annoyed if squirrels have pinched those bulbs.
Do you know when squirrels would take the bulbs? E.g. when the green is dying back, or in the autumn/winter? I've been thinking about constructing cages out of stuff wire to protect vulnerable plants at critical times of the year. I'm still annoyed that they took my cyclamen coum seed pods earlier in the year
Wow, Lyn, your snowdrops are stunning! I hope they survive any further cow damage.
As a kid I would help my parents move our heard of cows through a housing estate twice a year, and inevitably they would run through people's front gardens despite our best efforts. I'm pretty sure I've been responsible for cows squashing snowdrops at one time or another
I'd think it would be when the bulbs are dormant, ie greenery died back, but probably later on into autumn when they're looking for food more. Not sure - it was just a thought. As you say - you'd probably have some evidence of disturbed ground, so perhaps it's not that. They had a little dig in my border for the alliums in autumn. There's just the bulb down there - no foliage until next year.
Could they have rotted? Snowdrops like wet ground though, so I'd think that's unlikely. Mice?
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
My snowdrops started showing a bit of 'green' in Nov, no sign of flowerbuds yet. Sick of the squirrels rooting about in every single pot of spring bulbs I've planted up 😠. Have started covering the tops with whatever I can lay my hands on, grit, wire, old basket liners. I even took a chunk out of my carpet of mossy saxifrage to top off a pot of alliums 😆.
There is a really interesting article in this Quarters Alpine Garden society Bulletin about the difficulties faced with planting Galanthus. Worth a read if you can find a copy.
Oh and any squirrel which eats your Snowdrops is going to be a very dead rodent. They are poisonous to most mammals.
Ah - good point Berghill. Nothing's eaten my snowdrops, and perhaps they don't even try and eat them? T hey certainly only seem to have a go at my alliums, they don't touch any crocus either - I have loads of them as well as small species tulips and they're fine too.
What do you think could be eating g. noob's snowdrops? Or is there another reason you can think of for their disappearance? It's always frustrtaing if you don't know whether it's a cultivation problem or something else.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Being woodland plants they do best in areas which never dry out completely and are shaded over summer. I've split and moved lots over the years but those I foolishly planted in unsuitable places (eg raised beds in full sun) gradually died out. In the north-facing back garden I have heavy clay covered in mulch and they thrive almost anywhere there.
A trowel in the hand is worth a thousand lost under a bush.
Galanthus are what is known as 'naked' bulbs. They do not have a waterproof coat to prevent them drying out when dormant, as Narcissus and Tulips do. They evolved to cope with the lack of sun in deciduous tree cover in summer. They can take some dryness when dormant, but not as much as Tulips etc.
I would be inclined to go digging where the bulbs were planted and see what is actually there. If nothing then the situation was wrong and the bulbs have dried out and rotted away. Or if too wet they have rotted because of that.
And Garden noob. It would not have been squirrels which took your Cyclamen seed pods. Cyclamen are again poisonous. Most likely candidates would be ants which are the seed distribution vector for Cyclamen.
I wanted to say that rodents won’t eat the snowdrops bulbs as I thought they were poisonous but didn’t like to , could have started a war!😀. They will, however whip your crocus and mini daffs if they fancy one.
Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor.
Posts
Do you know when squirrels would take the bulbs? E.g. when the green is dying back, or in the autumn/winter? I've been thinking about constructing cages out of stuff wire to protect vulnerable plants at critical times of the year. I'm still annoyed that they took my cyclamen coum seed pods earlier in the year
As a kid I would help my parents move our heard of cows through a housing estate twice a year, and inevitably they would run through people's front gardens despite our best efforts. I'm pretty sure I've been responsible for cows squashing snowdrops at one time or another
They had a little dig in my border for the alliums in autumn. There's just the bulb down there - no foliage until next year.
Could they have rotted? Snowdrops like wet ground though, so I'd think that's unlikely.
Mice?
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
Sick of the squirrels rooting about in every single pot of spring bulbs I've planted up 😠. Have started covering the tops with whatever I can lay my hands on, grit, wire, old basket liners. I even took a chunk out of my carpet of mossy saxifrage to top off a pot of alliums 😆.
Nothing's eaten my snowdrops, and perhaps they don't even try and eat them? T
hey certainly only seem to have a go at my alliums, they don't touch any crocus either - I have loads of them as well as small species tulips and they're fine too.
What do you think could be eating g. noob's snowdrops? Or is there another reason you can think of for their disappearance? It's always frustrtaing if you don't know whether it's a cultivation problem or something else.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...