Spring Blooming Bulbs: Trojan Horse or Squirrel Food?

If you live in zones 6-7, it's time to plant spring flowering bulbs now. You have to plant them now if you want to enjoy their displays in spring. There's also a sort of poetic justice in planting them now. Soon we'll be robbed of our glorious fall foliage and plunging headlong into the inevitability of winter, causing us to feel a bit spiteful. Planting spring flowering bulbs is more than just a landscaping chore; it's also a Trojan-Horse trap that we set for Old Man Winter. He'll soon tighten his icy grip around our spring flowering bulbs -- but little does he know that they are the seeds of his own (eventual) destruction.

I'm in zone 5, myself, so I've already planted mine. The weather was pretty miserable on the day that I planted my crocus bulbs. I was proud of myself for weathering the elements that day and doing my planting in time. With satisfaction, I stood back and looked at the plot of ground I had chosen for them, thinking, "Well, that's that: now I can look forward to some nice color there next spring." As it turned out, though, my work was not over: squirrels (I presume) came along soon after and stole my crocus bulbs!

Marie Iannotti provides some helpful tips for planting spring blooming bulbs. Given my recent experience with pest problems, what I find especially interesting in this article from About's Gardening Guide is her discussion on how to discourage squirrels from eating your spring blooming bulbs.