Though my lovely red and yellow parrot tulip had faded to red and white, I still enjoyed it. I was shocked to discover it one day, lying on the ground decapitated. A long thread of tulip stem attached, along with a memory of last year’s garden told the story.  A snail or slug had feasted on the stem and the flower was collateral damage.  But not for long! When life chops your tulip stem short, put it in a vase.

I later donned my garden gloves and felt along the underside of the pot rim. Aha! There was the culprit—a big fat yellow shelled snail. Banished to the wild area of our garden where it could eat whatever it wanted. Manufacturers of flowerpots should catch on to this and create rimless pots, removing hiding places for plant marauders.