I am looking to buy a replacement Cowardly Lion for the one squirrels dug out of its pot. I looked in Plant Scout, but found no info on where to find one. Thank you for any help in locating this begonia.
Tussee
Need help finding a begonia
Thank you so much for the links. I have been in mourning since finding my very large and beautiful plant in dried up pieces, thanks to the squirrels. :( This is probably my favorite begonia.
Tussee
I thought we were going to Antonellis, Lali.
Antonelli's is not open to the public. We might get an appointment but I'm not sure if they do that.
I thought you could get us in. Or maybe you thought they were going to open to the public?
Tussee,
Speaking of squirrel damage, I wish I had a better understanding of what causes squirrels to dig in certain pots. I find that some of the pots are visited almost daily, and I am not sure if they are burying food, smelling possible food in the soil (such as eggshells), or just wanting to be totally maddening. I have tried using cayenne peppers, pieces of Cuban oregano, or pieces of cactus to discourage them, but it has not helped. Making a custom-fit piece of hardware cloth to cover the surface of the pot around the stem can help, but it quite a bit of effort. Other pots, such as my wax begonias, the squirrels visit early in the spring, but then lose interest in those. Even hanging a plant is no protection. I have a sanseveria hanging that is dug up almost daily, but the plant has survived so far. I have three pots of Meyer lemons, and two of the pots are generally untouched; the third had the tree chewed off at the base this summer (though it was a small tree). Is anyone successful at outsmarting these guys?
Susan in Minneapolis
Here is a post of the last time I went to Antonelli's
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/494290/
Once upon a time I had two pots of Cowardly Lion, a friend wanted a start, so I gave her pot and all. Around the same time the squirrels dug out my plant, I visited my friend's garden and there sat the pot I had given, and CL was awesome. I wanted to become an Indian giver on the spot...just did not seem fair. I kept my mouth shut about my misfortune as she would have insisted I take her plant. Oh, sometimes it's hard to be good. Anyway, I was rewarded for my goodness several days later as a lovely plant appeared on ebay. It will take a while to grow it out to the size I had, which was in a 14" pot, but at least I have it again.
The squirrels are currently overly busy digging into all of my potted plants, which is how they usually behave in the fall. If they repeat a dig, that pot comes inside posthaste. I would bring all pots inside if I could, but construction is happening around the gh and it is not accessible. I'm in big trouble if anything delays construction as cold and frost is just around the corner.
Susan, I obviously do not have a good answer for the squirrel issues, but should I have further losses from their mischief, I may go on a search for my son's old bb gun.
Tussee
Glad you found one Tussee. I have been looking for you.
Oh George, I never went down there and now I so regret it. I am all hot for tuberous now too. What a shame it burned like that.
If you don't mind a gravel mulch, then this seems to help keep squirrels from digging in pots. There can be other problems associated with this method though - such as keeping too much moisture in the potting mix and losing the gravel if you carry the plant in one hand at an angle (it's like flushing money down the drain). It can be very decorative as well from white marble, Mexican black pebbles, red lava rock, aquarium gravel, rough colored glass chips, glass marbles of any color, or polished river rock for example.
I don't use gravel mulch anymore due to the number of pots I have but if I find a squirrel has been digging in a pot I usually put large rocks in the pot to keep them from digging until the plant establishes itself. Squirrels tend to dig in loose soil (newly planted pots especially just seeded pots) and avoid mulched pots or pots that are full of plants.
Antonelli's list of available is really to die for. I hope they deliver on their internet orders. Here is a link to what it looked like before the fire. http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/449406/ If memory serves me right, they had seedlings for something like 59¢
hcmcdole, using a few good size rocks on the surface of a pot is a good idea. I'll give that idea a try as I have lots of the black, smooth rocks. As long as I can see some of the surface, I'll be okay. I no longer rot my begonias as I've learned to only water when the soil surface begins to look dry. Killed a few choice plants before I learned the error of my watering ways!
Tussee
Have you tried Kartouz Nursery, in California? (The web site is:
http://www.kartuz.com) What about Logee's Nursery? (The web site is: http://www.logees.com) Both of them seem to be rather pricey, if you ask me! Cowardly Lion is a fairly common Begonia, here in the Houston area.
Hope this helps you find a replacement for your squirrel-eaten Begonia!
jeankei
Thank you, jeankei, for the sources but I finally found CL on ebay. I agree with you on Logee's and kartuz being a bit pricey.
Tussee
I was just at Kartuz a couple of weeks ago. Their begonias are huge for such a small pot. End of season has its rewards.
Susan in Minneapolis, get a cat!?
We used to have lots of the little buggers. But we've always had cats too. We hardly ever see a squirrel anymore. They finally stopped coming around. We even have pecan trees. I don't mind them, as long as they mind their own business! We have red ones here, I enjoyed seeing grey ones in Chicago.
Slowtornado,
A cat probably wouldn't do the trick here; I have a dog and 6 birds as pets, and the cat couldn't run free in the yard where the squirrels do the most digging -- in my front yard pots, and even in hanging pots. (City cats are generally indoor cats here.) I'm thinking more of the rocks would help, although ultimately the rocks mix with the soil. I really thought placing dried arms of spiny plants would stop them, but they just throw them on the ground, and proceed to dig.
Susan