Betty and the Marigolds
Published: Friday, June 15, 2018
"It's a shame we have to keep our flower garden fenced in," I remarked to my husband Brian. "I feel like the daylilies are in jail."
"Yeah, they do look boxed in. But you know Betty."
I did know Betty. She was the fat mother squirrel I'd nurtured since she was a bundle of fur. She came up to me frequently and I fed her peanuts. However, she simply refused to leave my flowers alone.
"Remember the tulips?" Brian brought me back to the present.
"Yeah, she ate bulbs and all."
"My family had a solution to the squirrel problem. Betty would taste good in a pot with squirrel gravy."
"How can you say such a vile thing?"
"Just sayin', there's a simple solution."
"I wish we could plant some flowers out in the open that squirrels do not eat." Betty was not the only squirrel in our yard. She had a whole group of relatives that lived there as well.
Consulting his phone, Brian remarked, "It says here that marigolds repel squirrels and rabbits. They don't like the smell. And it also keeps pests out of the garden."
Betty and her gang had been eating the tops off our egg plants. We also had some rabbits I wouldn't let Brian shoot. Perhaps marigolds are a simple solution to save our garden, too.
We picked one of the hottest days of the year to plant our marigolds. The temperature was 98 degrees and it was also an ozone action day.
"The flowers do stink," Brian remarked as he raised a blossom to his nose before sticking it in the ground. "No wonder squirrels and rabbits won't go near them."
"But they sure are pretty," I added. "They give a lot of color around the garden. Now let's plant the extras at the back of the lot."
Betty came close to see what we were doing. "We're planting marigolds," I explained to her. "They're real pretty, but you're not to touch them. I got you some extra peanuts at Big R. You leave the flowers alone."
"She won't bother them," Brian chimed in. "They repel animals. My phone said so. And it's never wrong."
Betty appeared to be skeptical. Sure, she liked peanuts, but she also liked most everything else. And I was convinced those flowers looked good enough for her to sample.
As we staggered up to the patio for a tall glass of iced tea, we felt satisfied with a job well done. "Those flowers are varmint proof!" Brian exclaimed.
The next morning, I couldn't believe my eyes! Betty was sitting on her haunches with a yellow blossom in her paws. I ran to the back of the lot, while she ate. "How could you!" I yelled. "You've decapitated our marigolds."
Betty continued chewing. I spotted yellow blossoms stuck between her jagged teeth. She showed absolutely no remorse for beheading all of those marigolds.
"I thought you said those flowers were varmint proof!" I snapped at Brian when I got back into the house.
"Shall I get my shotgun?"
"Of course not," I told him as I grabbed a handful of nuts for Betty.
"How come you're rewarding that rodent for eating our flowers?"
"So far she hasn't touched any of the flowers around the garden. I figure if I feed her well, maybe she'll leave them alone."
Brian shook his head, "Not a chance."
Laurie Lechlitner can be contacted by email at Laurielech@aol.com.
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