Have you seen the birds? I had the same problem in Haverhill MA when I lived there, turned out to be a ground hog that just loved the tender tops of my Phlox and New England Asters.

I think it's grackles, but maybe we do have a groundhog. One of the neighbors said she saw blackbirds stealing the plants.....hmmm.
Salbwil

I have woodchucks (AKA groundhogs) and I have grackles, and I'll bet on the woodchuck. I've never seen the grackles bothering with phlox, but I have seen this:

That was a newly sprouted phlox 'David' that was being eaten on April 28, 2011. The phlox was in between two clumps of ornamental grass so you can't see the whole plant.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Sat, May 31, 14 at 18:07

Cute little fella! I bet you didn't feel that way, though, Claire. So far I've been blessed by an absence of groundhogs - fingers crossed.

I'd be REALLY surprised if grackles (or other birds) were shearing phlox. Grackles eat a lot of insects at this time of year, and if they're around, they may be taking care of an insect problem for you.

Woodchuck it is !!! Now what ? It has devastated all the phlox and now is moving on to the lilies that have survived the red beatle so far this year with daily hand picking . He , or she , is a hungry little creature.
Salbwil

My sympathies, Salbwil! I moved about a dozen defoliated phlox stems into a fenced area (AKA Phlox Protection Zone) a few years ago and some of the phlox have come back there behind bars (note that woodchucks can climb fences if they're desperate).

They haven't touched the lilies here, and they don't eat meadow phlox (Phlox maculata) which I have in abundance. Of course, that may because they happily eat the birdseed I put on the ground for birds and squirrels, and they're probably not terribly hungry.

If it is a she, the babies are very cute.

You can tell that my attitude is "If you can't beat them, you might as well enjoy them."

Claire

edit note: I just checked the date on the woodchuck baby photo and it was taken on June 10, 2013. That means that the next week or two is prime time for woodchuck babies to appear. Oh joy.

This post was edited by claire on Wed, Jun 4, 14 at 13:46

Woodchucks will eat and/or shred every plant that suits their fancy and are about the only critter with which I can't coexist, though ticks run a close second. I am not as kind as Claire . . . after no broccoli and destroyed pea plants for several years, we now kill them as soon as they appear (they always dig a hole in the exact same spot in the center of my daylilies, sometime as many as 4 per year.) Either a .22 or fill all but one entrance hole when the 'chuck is inside, toss in a woodchuck bomb (we get them at the hardware store) and fill in the final hole. My apologies to woodchuck lovers, but salbwil asked, and this is one choice. Most of our 150+ acres they are welcome to, but not in the vicinity of the gardens.

Our neighbor's dog seems to share Nhbabs sensibilities about groundhogs. While they are entitled to much of our yard, the 25 or so feet the cats have been forced to cede to him are off limits. They have been fenced out of the vegetable garden, after a month where they ate all of the greens, but seem happy with a diet of lawn weeds. It is funny to watch them go from dandelion to dandelion, eating nothing else. They seem to leave the flower gardens alone. The troublemakers there are larger, and possess hooves.

I didn't have woodchucks when there were daily patrols by the neighborhood dogs. Unfortunately, the two hunting types are deceased, and the remaining dogs are either closely controlled or more interested in eating the peanuts and suet I put out for more innocuous critters.

Claire