Beaver Problems-Good Plants

Q: I live on a lake and we have beaver problems. What can I plant that they won’t be attracted to? They have destroyed azaleas, dogwoods, forsythia, elaeagnus, and Knock Out rose.

A: I think they chew on just about anything. With a nearby lake, you’ll never eliminate them so the best you can do is protect your plants. Wrap tree trunks with thirty-six inch wide, one-half inch mesh hardware cloth. Loosely surround each tree trunk with a couple of layers of wire and secure the ends so they won’t come undone. You could also paint plant trunks with a mixture of one pint of fine sand in a quart of latex paint that’s been color matched to the plant bark.