A few weeks ago, Layanee posted about how the birds relish the fruits from her 'Prairiefire' Crabapple. I also have a 'Prairiefire,' but the birds never get the chance to sample the fruits. The squirrels have staked out the crabapple as their territory. Over a week ago, the gray squirrel my children named Crabapple harvested all of the easy to reach crabapples from the tree. To get to the remaining fruits, Beggar had to engaged in some squirrel acrobatics.
I find this rather entertaining. What is not so amusing is that when the only remaining fruit is on the tips of the branches where that fat squirrel can't reach, it clips off the branches to get at the fruit. Then I have to prune those clipped branches to remove any stub ends. Too bad squirrels don't care about proper pruning practices.
13 comments:
You're getting great pictures, at least! :-)
Again, I'm glad you got home safely.
"Too bad squirrels don't care about proper pruning practices."
I think you can trust your tree that it can deal with these little damages. Nature has prepared them well for accidents like these.
Great pictures!
Thanks, Shady Gardener!
Hi, Corinna. Welcome & thanks for visiting! Yes, I think the tree will survive the squirrel attacks, but I would like the tree to look nice too.
Perhaps you should enter them at a pruning properly course? ;-)
Lovely pics of squirrels in action!
Squirrels don't care about much other than filling their fat little bellies. Proper pruning courses for squirrels! That makes me laugh. While we are at it, let's train them to backfill the holes they dig in order to eat the crocus corms. Tee hee.
I will just say it for you...Those rotten little buggers. I think they are cute and they are energetic but I haven't found anything that they are good for. Why don't they eat Japanese Beetles for instance. Or why don't they dig up wild garlic or wild onions instead of eating tulips and crocus bulbs?? Rotten little buggers.
School indeed. They need to be schooled on how to behave in mixed company and not to be such furry pigs at the feeding stations and water features.
Bark bark bark...
Yolanda Elizabet & Healing Magic Hands - LOL! About the only thing I can train the squirrels to do is run when they see me coming.
Lisa - I don't know why, but I get the feeling that you really don't like squirrels.
Hi there, Mr McGregor's Daughter :-)
I hadn't spotted your post on squirrels before I wrote mine :-)
Our grey squirrel in Scotland looks quite different to yours. We don't have fox squirrels but we do have red. Unfortunately our native red is the less dominant so the greys are taking over and sadly it looks like one day we could lose the red completely :-(
Thank-you for posting on yours. Yes, I too can see Lisa isn't too keen on Squirrels :-D
Shirl - I left a comment on your post about my "Squirrelhaven" post with the peanut picture. I wonder who is more dominant, your greys or Beggar? In addition, to them, there are also a few all black squirrels around here. I believe they are a form of grey squirrel with recessive genes. They are actually quite pretty.
MMD: Love your squirrel and thanks for the link! I've been running all week and am just catching up so I missed this initially! Love your snow pictures also. We had a light dusting this evening and what looks more magical! Supposed to be warmer tomorrow though!
Layanee - I'm glad you enjoyed the squirrel pics. I can't wait to see what your Prairiefire looks like next Spring.
You know, I've only just begun "getting to know" people in their blogs. I think I'm going to have to start a notebook on each person I visit, so I remember particular facts, flowers, information, etc. about each gardener I enjoy visiting!
Squirrels... they act as though I have an "x" on my hat in Aug. or Sept. I have many near misses from squirrel-thrown green hickory nuts. They taste them and toss them down on the lawn. I picked up 6 or more 5-gallon buckets this year!!
Shady Gardener - I haven't been attacked by my squirrels yet, maybe because we don't have any Hickories around here. I think squirrels have a sense of humor, a perverse 1.
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