Personal Note: Argh!

[nebroadwe]

Something is digging up my windowboxes full of petunias, and I am PEEVED. What eats petunia roots? (It can't possibly be someone concocting hair tonic, can it?) Why doesn't he/she/it/they go and eat the mulberries that are dropping cornucopically from the tree not ten feet away? Come on, Mysterious Petunia-Root-Eating Monster, clean the walk for me. Who doesn't like sweet, juicy, pesticide-free mulberries? Mmm, see? Delicious.

Comments

[ishte.livejournal.com]

Hhmmmm... I'm inclined to guess that just perhaps it is Fiver and Hazel eating your petunia roots... erm... except you said .... window boxes? Um... maybe not after all... I don't think they'd climb up there. Squirrels? Beats me. I don't suppose it is a cat digging in there intent on peeing?

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at ground level I'd have plenty of suspects, but this is a second-story set of windowboxes, to boot. Squirrels do occasionally wander around the house, but they left the impatiens alone last year. Dunno about cats -- my neighbor has one, but it's an indoor cat, and I haven't noticed any ferals about. Maybe whatever it is likes the taste of the new moisture-holding potting soil I bought. Sigh.

[jennawaterford.livejournal.com]

I consulted with my mother who is an Advanced Master Gardner (certified!) and here's what she had to say:

Well - digging in window boxes is usually squirrels, maybe chipmunks. They dig the plant out which, unless one finds it right away, dries out the roots and kills the poor thing off - or they nibble on the roots. Also, cats allowed to run loose are good at burying certain unmentionables in window boxes and other containers, and of course those poor plants get rearranged in the process and often due to the acid and other things that have been deposited, the plants die. I have to deal with certain of these little critters every year. Otherwise, there is a thing called root rot (crown rot) which isn't a critter, but a disease. If the petunias are dying at the root, then something else is getting at them [which if you think it might be root rot, I have more detailed info on that so let me know - c].

Sometimes I have a petunia that just dies after planting it. Just like people, some plants are strong and healthy and some are not. But if the plant is uprooted, I'm really inclined to believe my first answer is a critter.

[evil-little-dog.livejournal.com]

"All the world seems in bloom
on a spring afternoon,
when we're poisoning pigeons
in the park...
Every Sunday you'll see
My sweetheart and me
as we poison the pigeons
in the park...
When they see us coming
the birdies all try and hide
but they still go for peanuts
when coated in cyanide...."

...I love Lehrer. *nods*

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

There is a drop-dead gorgeous rendition of this by a mixed a cappella choir that always puts me on the floor after I hear it. I first ran into it here (http://www.onlyagame.org/shows/2004/08/20040828.asp), at the end of the "Favorite Olympic Moments and More with Charlie Pierce" segment (around the 5:55 minute mark) -- listen through the "This is who we are" bit from the host to get to the eeeevil laugh that punctuates "We'll murder them all amid laughter and merriment". Priceless.

[nebroadwe.livejournal.com]

Thank your certified mom for me. :-) It does begin to look suspiciously like squirrels (when you've eliminated the impossible ... ). Must go and ask the local garden shop what's good for discouraging squirrels from messing with petunias. Or maybe for another sun-tolerant annual that squirrels don't like to eat.