Home invasion

I’m beginning to hand out the potted hyacinths that have been forcing away in the root cellar for the last couple of months—and have had a most unpleasant surprise. I did notice a couple strangely stunted-looking buds pushing out of two of the bulbs, but now that I’ve seen an actual half-eaten bulb, I have to admit the worst. Mice, rats, squirrels? Any of these would be most unwelcome and I have instructed the household enforcer to eliminate this scourge by any means necessary. He hopes those means will simply consist of blocking their ingress, but we’ll have to also make sure none of the creatures are currently inhabiting the cellar.

Thank god most of the bulbs are intact. I keep the ones in forcing vases for myself and give out the pots. This year we have Woodstock and Yellow Queen. Woodstock seems to have the head start.

I must say the mice or whomever don’t seem to have enjoyed the bulbs much. Rather a half-hearted effort.