I’m feeling rather like Elmer Fudd lately. Critters have been eating the bejesus out of my flower garden. And they don’t just eat a few leaves. They leave NOTHING. The morning glories…stripped down to bare stems. My brand new lupines…only a few leaves left. The zinnias….gone.

I’m not sure exactly who the perpetrator is. We saw a woodchuck last year, and this year we’ve seen a small rabbit lurking around the garden. The rabbit is small and cute, but quite brazen.

I decided to try animal repellents. The first one was a pepper based one…no good. Then, last week I picked up one that contained dried fox urine, and sprinkled that around, and put in some replacement zinnias. When I came home last night, the zinnias were nearly gone, and the garden still stank. Great.

I think part of the problem is that there aren’t as many cats around as there used to be. Our cat Mugsy is long gone, and the neighbor across the street who had cats died a couple of years ago, and her cat isn’t there anymore. I first noticed the problem late last year, but now it’s out of hand.

I’m not sure what do do now. I like having flowers in the garden, but I’m restricted to what the animals won’t eat. So far, they haven’t cared for the impatiens, portulaca, roses, or snapdragons. For some reason, of course, they don’t seem to like weeds. I guess I need to decide if I want to care how things look, and then see if I can find some more plants the animals don’t like, or just throw in the towel.