Question

Crocus   QUESTION: Hello,
The snow just melted and we found a few crocus's from our neighbor's yard randomly growing in the middle of our grass. It's a bulbing plant, so  how did it get in the grass so far away from our neighbor's garden, and plant itself so deep?  And is there a way to take it out of the grass and plant now in spring? Thanks

ANSWER: Hello Mini,

Ah, the mysterious crocus migration. As you figured, they didn抰 just get up on their little feet and relocate themselves.  But another creature with little feet did ?squirrels.

Squirrels have an annoying habit of digging up, in fall, anything they think they will need later. Then they pick a spot and put it there.  Unfortunately, they don抰 always remember where they put it. The good part is their losing track means they don抰 eat it.  The bad part is that it ends up where it doesn抰 belong.

The beauty of crocuses, and most bulbs, is that they 揷arry their own lunch? Unlike perennials, which die readily after being dug up, crocuses have their own food supply.  They are therefore fine, and you can feel free to dig them up at any time and place them where you want them.  Just be careful not to spear them.  If you have a gardening fork, use that instead of a trowel or shovel.  Then just pop them in the ground where you want them.  They will appreciate a little compost, but they don抰 need it.

Does this help?  Please feel free to write again.

Donna


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So if they do dig up bulbs in the fall, how can I prevent them from digging up any of the nicer bulbs I have like lilies and tulips? Thanks again.

Answer
Hello again Mini,

Squirrels are tough.  You will need a physical barrier. I find that the best way to keep squirrels away from your bulbs in the fall is to use hardware cloth, which you can find cheaply in a hardware store in sheets or rolls.  Do not use the plastic kind, since squirrels will chew through it. You plant your bulbs, put the hardware cloth on top of them, and hold it in place with what look like u-shaped staples, which are also purchased cheaply at a hardware store.  Both can be reused every year.  I use them to keep out rabbits, which over the winter will not only dig up bulbs but EAT them.  I once lost 48 of 60 multiflowering tulips to them (the rabbits looked very fat in the spring). The only thing you have to remember is to remove the hardware cloth in the spring so the bulbs will not be caught in it.

Hardware cloth looks like this:
http://www.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=hardware+cloth&oe=UTF-8&um=1

Galvanized staples look like this:
http://www.google.com/images?client=safari&rls=en&q=hardware+cloth&oe=UTF-8&um=1

This has worked very well for me.

Donna