Beginner Gardening: wind, 1 by PhilsFlowers

PhilsFlowers wrote:
If you shelter your magnolia, you shouldn't have any trouble. The wind never bothered mine as it is sheltered by larger trees on the north and northeast sides. However, there was a problem when a huge branch came crashing down from a tree in the neighbor's yard behind us during one of our gales and broke most of the branches off the front of the magnolia. Three full-grown, hefty men could not lift this branch, they had to saw it in pieces, which took two days, then have a thing with a lift drive across my lawn down the side of my house, pick one of the pieces up and transport it to a flat bed truck on the street. I can't find a picture of the tree itself, just the magnolia flowers. It doesn't look too bad once it has leaves in place, it is just in the winter and early spring, until after the flowers drop, which is happening right now, that it looks pretty awful.

BTW (by the way) does anyone have any idea how to stop a black squirrel from snapping off a magnolia flower, nibbling away at the end then dropping the flower onto the ground and going on to the next one? So far there is only one squirrel that does this but if any more develop the habit, the fewer of these beautiful flowers there will be. That would be a shame as they are enjoyed by everyone around here.