Garden Adversity

So, no words of encouragement then?  I was thinking of relocating the captured squirrels to a small central MASS town near Quabbin Resevoir ;D

Two reports today:  trapping and relocating squirrels has definitely taken the edge off their incessant diggings.  While these beasts are opportunistic and will move in to fill territorial voids, it takes them a little while (weeks) before they do so.

Secondly, it's been an unusually dry spring, the soil becoming very dry, an attraction for cat on-the-go litter box activity.  I noticed today that the spot where my rarest and moist choice of Chinese Alliums, the true Allium forrestii, was disturbed and somewhat dug up.  I tried to smooth out the dusty soil depression and grabbed right into a big, fresh, stinky cat turd :-X  :(.  Not only are the several cats that occasionally wander through my yard useless for any rodent control that I can tell, not only do they leave their fresh turd calling cards, but of course they select the most prized plant received from a European correspondant to carry out their dirty deeds.  I don't like cats; grrrrr!

Ultimately the Allium will be okay.  But today, I spotted a woodchuck (groundhog) scurrying about here and there under my garden shed; marking the third year of battling with this large and voracious garden devastator.  Tomorrow, begins woodchuck wars.

Sometimes stuff just happens. In the corner of my yard, the anchor to my woodland garden, is an enormous Sugar Maple tree.  It has been on the decline in recent years, with some limbs dying off, and posing a definite "under tree hazard" one windy days when I worry that sizeable dead limbs will come crashing down.  In fact, with limb and trunk decay, sometimes limbs just decide to fall without any wind provocation.

But, I was not prepared for what happened this past Saturday, when various isolated weather fronts were passing through, announcing themselves with sudden bursts of refreshing gusty air.  My wife and I on our deck, were witness to the cornerstone goliath tree simply snapping off near the base during one of gusts, with a thundering crash as it fell in a direction away from our house.  But due to its size and branching, large limbs crashed down into my garden, snapping two ornamental Magnolias and a Japanense maple off at the base, and a host of choice woodland plants now concealed by a monstrously large trunk and hefty limbs.  

The real damage will come when I call the town highway department to cut up and remove the tree.  This work is dangerous (removing such huge tree trunks and limbs), and the trampling by the tree cutters will surely be devastating in a garden full of woodland treasures.  Directly underneath the gigantic fallen trunk and limbs, is Cyprepedium reginae, C. parviflorum, Arisaema sikokianum, Iris koreana, Jeffersonia dubia Korean Form, Kirengeshoma koreana, and dozens of other choice items. I have a variety of Cimicifuga cultivars in this area, most have been squashed and snapped off, already cleaned up what I could and disposed of the damage.  It seems in a year, when I have lost much of my Allium garden due to invading grasses last year when I took on a job after long unemployment, and having to work many weekends so little time to spend in the yard and garden, this is just another step backwards in the whole gardening scheme of things.

This week is impossibly busy, with lots of travel; I'll have to try and not think too much about what the garden will look like after a crew of men come in to cut up and remove the mega-trunk and trample my garden mightily... I'll be traveling, I'll just have to wait and see what it looks like when I get back.

Thanks Lori.  I think rhizomatous perennials like Epimedium will make it okay, even if herbaceously damaged this year, but with things like two diffferent Cypripediums, they rest with an easily damaged "nose" and I fear I shall lose them if squashed.  The few "woodies" might sprout from the base, but the beautiful Acer japonicum 'Ukigomo' which snapped off at the base about 2" above soil line might resprout, but as most Japanese maples are grafts, I won't get the true plant.  

I was just about to show my enlarged circle around this beautiful Japanese maple, planted with one flat of about 120 Jeffersonia dubia seedlings, but as the maple is no more, I either just have to leave the "Jeffersonia ring", or if I want to replant a tree, remove all of the Jeffersonia to replant with a new ornamental tree.  Not sure what to do yet.

My younger daughter always worried about this tree hitting the house, but it was far enough away it was not a threat to the house, but was very much a threat to anyone working beneath the tree canopy.  I'm glad it came down.  But a huge long arching branch sticking out to the right remains, defying gravity, another danger,. only a matter of time before it falls, I will request the highway department to cut it down; it leans into my yard and is posed to squash a row of hemlocks I planted, and a variety of choice perennials growing below.

GRRRR, gardening can be frustrating. I have 7 patches on the beautiful white Crocus malyi. Two 5-yr old patches are from inplace scratch-and-sow technique, sown as soon as seed ripens in June/July. Each had ~30 buds ready to pop, holding off the last couple sunny but cold days, today is warmer and I went out to photograph. I was so excited, because a few had blue color to bud tips, others had blue petals; I was aching to see the potential hybrids. Today, every one of approx. 60 buds was eaten, not one left. Several of the other patches of C. malyi (named forms) were about half eaten. Here's a close-up photo showing some eaten stubs, the petal "rings" visible. Notice in the upper left, the long arrow pointing to one that has a blue ring of chomped petals.

Interesting, that you had the same species decimated by rabbits.  There are a few things I noticed:

1. In the past, squirrels have shown a penchant for nibbling Crocus blooms, but they don't typically eat the whole flower, just nibbles. Often they simply snip off flowers at the base of the stems; there were a few severed blooms on C. angustifolius lying like fallen soldiers today.

2.  Squirrels invariably leave some little divots from their infuriating digging, I saw no such holes today.

3.  Many other crocus buds were in the same ready-to-bloom state; the fact they weren't touched, and based on your own experience with varmints devouring C. malyi, this Crocus species seems particularly attractive to whatever varmint is eating the blooms.  This is the first time ever that C. malyi has been eaten, and I've grown some patches outside in the garden for a decade.

4.  I'm inclined to believe it is a rabbit, or a groundhog.  In the past several years, there is a single (or maybe two) rabbits that I see regularly, they mostly wiped out Viola pedata and a couple other viola species, decimated Vernonia lettermanii last year (several times).  Then for the past 4-5 years, I've been battling a family of groundhogs (we call them woodchucks here), that all but decimated any Aster species, and a favorite native plant Porteranthus trifoliatus (syn: Gillenia trifoliata).  They have burroughed under one of my garden sheds, making it extremely difficult to get rid of, and making the shed smell strongly of animal urine.  Last year I finally had them leave by dusting the shed perimeter with pepper (many animal repellents are pepper-based), although I was never able to discourage the rabbit.  I only have Hav-a-Hart traps sizes for chipmuncks and squirrels, may need to get a larger one for rabbits and groundhogs.

5.  Today I dusted my crocus with black and red cayenne pepper as a deterrent, I hope that works (has no effect on squirrels, hopefully does deter rabbits and/or groundhogs).

I posted this to facebook as well, someone suggested that I should be looking for an animal pooping little red arrows ;D

Next year I plan on using lightweight "hardware fabric" or rectangular wire mesh, which is easily cut and bent to form heightened wire covers for plants.  I could make these in sections, then re-use them in subsequent years..  The 1/4" screening is not exorbitantly expensive, and has become a regular defense in my "gardening toolkit" in the last two years to prevent infuriating squirrel and chipmunk digging into seed pots left to the weather outdoors.

Charles, I'm encouraged by your successful attempts to humanely trap at least a couple rabbits and woodchucks over the years, I might buy a larger have-a-hart trap and give it a try.  With chipmunks, they are easily trapped, often minutes after setting the traps; I once caught 12 in one day, put them in a large barrel with leaves, kept in shade during the day, then released to a new lovely woodsy spot miles away.

IMYoung wrote:

McDonough wrote:

Then for the past 4-5 years, I've been battling a family of hedgehogs (we call them woodchucks here............. They have burroughed under one of my garden sheds, making it extremely difficult to get rid of, and making the shed smell strongly of animal urine.  Last year I finally had them leave by dusting the shed perimeter with pepper (many animal repellents are pepper-based), although I was never able to discourage the rabbit.

Hedgehogs, Mark, in the USA?  I thought those spiny little critters were absent from the Americas? They don't eat plants here - they are  helpful devourers of slugs and snails.
I think of Woodchuck  as being  another  name for a Groundhog - that  burrowing rodent , Marmota monax ?
:-\

Yes Maggi, no hedgehogs in the USA (and I do know what these creatures look like, cute lil buggers); I did say groundhog 3 other times in the same post, but somehow introduced a mental slip and said "hedgehog" once.  Thanks for the correction and keeping me on my toes, I might not have caught the blunder otherwise. By the way, do they still play croquet with hedgehogs and flamingos in the UK these days?  ;) ;D

As fans of the many versions of Alice in Wonderland, when my wife and I and our two daughters would play croquet, the girls would imagine the croquet balls were indeed hedgehogs.

Anne, how sad to see the damage to your daphnes, the antlered rats at their worst.

Don, hopefully your area has recovered from the winter-weather-in-spring situation that seems to be plaguing many areas of the US & Canada this year.

We had two late snows in March totally nearly 3', but April has been fair and seasonably cool, with a few nice warm days thrown in, so flowering on spring plants, bulbs, and Magnolias has been excellent.  Although tonight supposed to go down to 25 F, so I will be protecting a few plants, and accept the fact Magnolia blooms will be fried and turn brown for the several types currently in flower.  But overall, I really can't complain, it seems we have escaped some of the worst of temperature and weather swings.  

We don't see much of our friend Panayoti on NARGS Forum these days, as Facebook and his own blog take up much of his time, but apparently Colorado has experienced a terrible spring so far, with lots of plant devastation. Panayoti has written two blog entries describing their winter-in-spring conditions:
http://www.prairiebreak.blogspot.com/2013/04/winners-and-losers.html
http://www.prairiebreak.blogspot.com/2013/04/you-dont-know-what-youve-go...

My continuing frustration is a stealth varmint that I have not yet seen, but does serious garden munching, eating the blooms off of crocus, and now moving on to tulip species, I suspect it is a rabbit.  Saw a tip for using a sprayer, and a mix of common tabasco (1 tbsp) and water (1 gal), and spraying favorite bunny-food plants each night, I might give it a try.

Below is Crocus malyi 'Sveti Roc' (photo on the left), a dwarf form of C. malyi that is nearly stemless; normally the species has tall-ish tubes. One may notice one eaten off flower. After this photo, the following day, every flower was gone, eaten off.  Next to it (photo on the right), is Tulipa bifloriformis, now each day when I go out, more and more of the flowers eaten off.  Grrrr.