It may not be too late to save your tulips from the ravages of squirrels. Try this Squirrel Deterrent Recipe from household ingredients. (adapted from Readers  Digest, Vancouver). I have been using this recipe successfully now for three years.

7-8 cloves of crushed garlic
¼ bottle of Tabasco sauce (original)
3 tsp Cayenne pepper
1 small onion
Dash of antiseptic soap handwash (makes ingredients stick to plant)
1.25pt water

Put in blender, then sieve through fine sieve and decant into spray bottle, Spray shoots of tulips and lilies as soon as they emerge and repeat every 10 days or so depending on the weather. The first day I tried this, I noticed a squirrel on the flower bed looking rather peculiar…sniffing the air. He didn’t come back for two weeks. I sprayed again…hey presto..squirrels left the tulips alone! The effect seems to last about eight to ten days dependent on weather. It does not seem to deter birds or other animals.

Original garden to be redesigned in Dorset (completed garden pictures to follow)

For me, landscape designs don’t come from garden makeovers or even from the drawing board but from integrating impressions, most of which are fleeting images, and observations with a detailed knowledge of plants, structures, and the site. Here are some impressions I would like to share with you.  Click each image for large view, hover on lower right for title.