Whatever it is, I'd like it to go elsewhere! This isn't the first time it's gotten into my containers, and it likes to dig in my daylilies, but it's never ripped an entire plant out before.

We used to have a neighborhood skunk, and a chipmunk that was on a mission to keep me from growing peas, but I haven't seen either of those since I adopted a couple of rescue dogs last year. I know we have raccoons and opossums, but I've never known them to do this. One of my dogs did tree something the other night, but it was too dark to see what it was, even with a flashlight.

Any ideas on what would do this in a suburban neighborhood? Or maybe how to get rid of it?

You could try dusting the container with hot pepper (Hungarian hot paprika works well, but needs to be renewed frequently), or topping the soil with a layer of sharp-edged gravel. Either would deter animals from digging in the container. I'm not sure what would pull a plant right out, although a raccoon might do so by accident. They generally just like to feel around in loose dirt, looking for buried treasure. I once had a fox dig up some perennials and bulbs - it was attracted by the smell of the bone meal fertilizer I had used when planting.

It's interesting that my photo got cut off. Trying again:

JuneOntario said:You could try dusting the container with hot pepper (Hungarian hot paprika works well, but needs to be renewed frequently), or topping the soil with a layer of sharp-edged gravel. Either would deter animals from digging in the container. I'm not sure what would pull a plant right out, although a raccoon might do so by accident. They generally just like to feel around in loose dirt, looking for buried treasure. I once had a fox dig up some perennials and bulbs - it was attracted by the smell of the bone meal fertilizer I had used when planting.

I have a few bags of broken egg shells that I was going to put in one of the larger beds, do you think that would be sharp enough to deter it?

When you click on the thumbnail of your photo, it should expand to show the whole picture. If that feature is not working for you, you might report the problem on the Site forum.

We cross-posted. On the subject of egg-shells, while they might deter snails and slugs, they might actually attract raccoons and possums, which eat eggs.