I took a photo of uprooted irises, after they bloomed. I decided to pull the grasses/weeds out from around the remaining leaves after the blooming. It seems that something just chewed away at the long remaining leaves, after my light cleaning. I surrounded this area with a five foot high circular fence which has 6 by 8 inch wire, That didn’t stop more rhizomes from being found on the pavement, meaning there was more digging up. Is it normal to look this way, as in your “botanical word of the week” https://torontobotanicalgarden.ca/blog/word-of-the-week/botanical-nerd-word-rhizome/, so that some water and soil nutrition will bring back the irises? It seems to happen annually, If it’s time to divide and transplant, then this video has the detail https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK67etlmM7Q. I’ve made an area for transplanting already.
Rabbits, moles and voles will eat iris rhizomes. But it looks to me as though a larger animal has been attacking this clump. Is that fur I see??
I suspect that raccoons have dug up the plants, searching for grubs. They are good at climbing fences.
There are many products available that claim to deter raccoons. I have had good luck with a solar-powered device that emits a sound that we can’t hear but that disturbs them.
But most importantly, I wonder if the reason they are attracted to your garden is that you do have grubs, their favourite snack!
Our article on dealing with grubs can be found here.