Squirrels need hugs too

I love the squirrels that visit our garden, but they do like to cause trouble with their antics. I learned long ago not to put nuts in the feeder nearest the house as I keep all my pots and seedtrays by the house and the squirrel loves nothing more than to dig up my little seedlings and replace them with peanuts.

A few minutes ago Ian pointed out that one was digging in a pot of rosemary. I opened the back door to shoo him away. He proceeded to what we call pond 2 (the smaller pond that we put in at the end of last year) and I thought he was looking for somewhere to bury something, perhaps a nut he had dug up from the rosemary pot. Just before dinner I divided the bugle in the larger ponds bog garden and planted a piece in the pond 2 bog garden. The squirrel proceeded straight to the newly planted bugle. Since we have clay soil it's pretty normal for the squirrels to bury things where I've recently been gardening as the soil is much easier to dig. To our absolute astonishment, rather than bury something in the soil, the squirrel got up on its hind legs, put its front paws round the bugle flower and gave it a hug. The flower is now sadly leaning, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.