Oh, my Bleeding Heart!

Earlier this year I planted Bleeding Hearts around one side of my koi pond. I was so delighted when two of the plants came up and proud to show off the foliage to my husband, son & visitors. Here is the sad part. The plant was about 7-8 inches tall when I left town on Sat AM. Now, there is NOTHING there. Not a leaf, a stem in the ground, not a thing. No animal prints either. So the question is – what happened to my bleeding hearts?

I can only think of 3 culprits. First, the snails. For some reason, the snails this year have been terrorizing my petunias. They gang up on one plant and overnight, the entire plant is gone. So we put out slug/snail bait.

Next – the rabbits. Generally, the rabbits don’t come this close to the house as my Koi pond sits in a little 12 x 12 alcove surrounded by 3 sides of my house with only an opening out to the front of my yard.

The Gargoyle Squirrel. An onery squirrel has taken up residence in my yard. At first he was cute. Then he started digging in the back yard and taught the dogs a ‘cool’ place to dig. Once started, I now have a 3 foot by 20 foot of St. Augustine grass missing in my yard. The dogs are being monitered more closely. After the grass came my backyard experimental raised garden. Again, the digging squirrel followed by the digging dogs. This battel is on-going, but the Hibiscus and Potato plant ground cover are the only remaining plants. Lavendar, zinnia, marigold and others have bitten the dust. Next, the squirrel came across the roof to the front yard. He got his name ‘Gargoyle’ from sitting on the corner of my porch frequently. He’d leap down into my large flower planter and dig up the petunias. He also makes frequent forays into the garden by the corner of my drive. He doesn’t bother the geraniums or ice plants – just digs the petunias. Now – has he learned to like the bleeding hearts? I’m a pretty good tracker but so far, there doesn’t appear to be any dig or tracks around the spot where the Hearts were last seen. Just smooth dirt. So maybe it’s not the squirrel? 

Oh, my Bleeding Heart! Come back!