A few years ago, I had a raised bed garden and grew many flowers from seeds. One type I grew were Bachelor Buttons, and there was a mixture of blue and pink flower seeds. They sprouted and grew, and finally, buds began to appear! Blue ones opened up and I took lots of pictures. At about the same time, I discovered that some ground squirrels had dug their way into the garden, and I began a war that I would ultimately lose. The first casualty was this flower. That morning I saw that a pink Bachelor Button had opened up and I was so excited! Before I had a chance to go into the house and come back out with my camera, a ground squirrel found the flowers. When I arrived, the pink flower was gone. I was so upset--I had obviously disturbed the squirrel when I came back because at the base of the plant was the blossom. I brought the flower into the house and floated it in a bowl of water for this picture.

My fight with the squirrels became an ugly battle that raged for months. At the end of summer I gave up and decided that I would no longer try to keep a garden because it wasn't worth feeling so angry every single day. Especially because I adore those squirrels and it's terrible to feel such rage because they keep attacking my flowers and tomatoes. I would love to have another garden, but the next time I'll have impenatrable fencing where there aren't ground squirrels.