Unfortunately, it seems the shasta daisy I planted in that bed and planned on leaving is gopher candy and it has discovered every place I have a shasta planted. It is making the "feeding" holes, running over ground and snacking on all the yummy shasta daisy leaves it can find.

So out go those shasta daisy! One of the white fly/snooty mold infested hibiscus already died. That leaves two more and the 4 that I planned on digging up and potting.

And the Mexican/Santa Barbara daisy that the gopher does not eat but uses as cover on the shasta trips.

So now I have my bed pretty well cleared and ready for Grandmothers Hat and Reine des Violettes in some seriously lined holes.

But, I need a couple of bigger plants to fill the "scorched earth" method of gopher control.

Mom loves the peachy colored Carding Mill, which everyone is sold out of.

I am looking for something to go between Grandmother's Hat and RdV under 6+ off the ground windows (so tall is okay the windows open in)

Otto's, where I was just at, still has the following in stock:

Any thoughts on:

Peachy-what moms seems to be drawn too
Crown Princess Margareta
Jude the Obscure

Or a different pink:
The Wedgwood Rose

Or Yellow:
Teasing Georgia
Golden Celebration (I have one but it is not doing that excellent-might be it was not a good one Costco Bareroot)

I have one other spot I could put one of these, need something lower for this area:

Strawberry Hill
Crocus Rose

It will be closer to RdV and by a lilac (if it makes its)

Suggestions or thoughts? Mom is looking forward to a garden party and right now that part of the yard looks bad!

This is a south facing wall, the tall end gets more shade. The house is white, so no white roses. And this area gets extra recycled water

I have not grown any of the roses you listed, though several are on my wishlist, but I thought I might share which companion plants have resisted gopher attack in my gardens. These perennials usually have either poisonous or strongly flavored roots and stems, they can suffer some nibbling but are tough enough to shrug it off. I like to use them to fill in between the plants in cages like roses and clematis.

Lavender, Salvia, Yarrow, Penstamon, and Mexican Daisies are my standbys, Foxglove and Heuchera do well in part shade, and bulbs for seasonal color like Muscari, Narcissus, Crocosmia, and Belladonna Lily. There are also lots of sedges and ornamental grasses that the gophers around here seem to ignore.

A tip I picked up for prepping for garden parties is to get some nice looking annuals in pots and just bury the pot for the duration of the party. It gives you instant blooms without transplant shock, and afterwards you can either plant them, or pot them up, or give them away.

I hope you have a great party!

Michael-your a different zone so guessing mine would grow even bigger, but how tall is your too tall?

Seven feet tall would work, but I don't want to drown out Grandmothers Hat and RdV. The wall is 25-30' long (one end has a lower window.

Peachy-thanks for the planting ideas. We already had some narcissus bulbs and I have plenty of Neked Ladies I can move around. Plus my favorite companion plants are the Lavender and Salvia so hopefully the gopher beasts leave the bed alone and the lawn in front of it. We only have a postage stamp of grass under the clothes line but at 88 I can't have mom falling in gopher holes hanging out her danties!

Drive down to Nopalito in Ventura (SOON! They're going out of business) and buy a Salvia in deep purple or blue, or a smallish (Hidcot or Munstead) Lavender.

Or maybe Sticky Monkey Flower, if you want yellow.

We particularly love salvias, and plant them wherever we can.
I just got a 'Winnifred Gilman' S. clevelandii, which is dark-blue. These plants won't take much water, and they don't need much care. If they get too big, whack 'em back.

Jeri

I love Salvias and Lavenders and have bunch already. I put in the Hidcote Lavenders I had planned picked up and then decided they needed more room before I put them in. I have Munsteads by the other rose bed, Goodwin Creeks and thought about Provence for a different planter, but the ones here look a bit sad. One end of the bed that was full of the black and blue salvia, but the shasta daisy was killing them off.

Anyone know if the Russian Sage, Perovskia atriplicifolia, is off the gopher menu? The neighbors ones look great and they are closer to the source of the invading gophers.

I was poking holes in the lawn today to see if I can find more of their tunnels and have a couple of spots that might be bigger nest spaces. After tomorrows party next door I might dig those sections of lawn up and see if I can trap the varmints.

Back to the rose drawing boards!

Grandmother's Hat and RdV both had some nice roots wanting to sneak out the bottom of their pots already and are now in wire lined spaces in the bed.

I found a terrific website. See:
"So what won't gophers eat? Among the safest bets are daffodils and naked ladies (Amaryllis belladonna). Some other plants that show up often on "gophers won't eat" lists are columbine (aquilegia), artemesia, ceanothus, rock rose (cistus), breath of heaven (coleonema), foxglove (digitalis), lantana, lavender, mimulus, heavenly bamboo (nandina), Indian hawthorn (rhaphiolepis), rosemary, and native or other perennial salvias. Keep in mind, however, that food choices of mammal pests are not entirely predictable."\

There's more, too, at the website below.

Also:

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What plants DON'T gophers eat?
Catch All, posted by Miss Gardner, a resident of Half Moon

Aquilegia Achillea
Artemesia Arctostaphylos
Buddleja Armeria alliacea
Ceanothus species Coreopsis auriculata
Cistus varieties Coreopsis verticillata
Festuca californica Echium fastuosum
Juncus Geranium
Lavandula Lithodora diffusa
Lonicera nitida �Baggessen�s Penstemon
Gold� Phlox
Mimulus Polystichum
Ribes species Rubus
Rosmarinus Santolina
Salvia (native & perennials) Scabiosa
Sidalcea Sisyrinchium bellum
Westringia Solanum jasminoides
Stipa arundinacea
Teucruim cussonii
Thyme
Tulbaghia

Jeri

I also have Strawberry hill, it may get a big large for the space you have, here it is a 5 foot rangy bush, blooms constantly with light pink blooms with myrhh fragrance.

Golden Celebration stays a bit smaller here, an arching 3-4 foot bush with no tendency to climb or turn into a monster.

Of the ones above, Jude is the one I couldn't imagine living without. Truly a marvelous rose.

That's for the heads-up about Shasta Daisys being attractive to gophers. It's always something. I was going to plant some SDs out in front of my house in what I call deer territory until I read your post.

I got my first gopher hole in the lawn about a week ago and the lady at the plant center said to stuff some rotten fish guts in the gopher hole and then s/he will leave and not bring the whole family back to my garden. I actually was able to get some fish guts at the market from the butcher as he had just cleaned some fish to put out. So far, no more gopher holes nor any damaged plants ... but I won't be planting SDs out there.

Jeri ... thanks for the list and the link.

Smiles,
Lyn

Jeri

Jeri

Jeri, I had read that article too. They had quite a variety of plants on their list.

I have found them tunneling under one of our columbines, they did some damage cause the plant is showing stress. But it is alive still.

Lyn, I was really surprised, the gophers left the roots on the shasta daisy alone, but would run and chew the leaves of. Lots of little munched leaf stems. We have skunks visiting and digging up the new lavenders and making little v shaped "holes" where they are hunting for bugs. They like the fish fertilizer I hear, so no fish guts down our gopher holes. Although the contents of the indoor cats litter box is tucked in the tunnels. (new cat who is scared outside)

One thing I noticed, when raiding the onions in the garden, it left all the garlic alone and tunneled in under the entry and on the side with no society garlic. No tunnels where the society garlic is planted (of course they just run thru it instead when heading over from the neighbors) But they don't seem to like it at all.

I think the local fox has scared all of the skunks away. They haven't been around since the fox arrived. I think my cat has the fox trained to leave him alone. The fox grabbed Scamp's tail and ended up with far more cat that he thought he was getting. No one messes with Scamp's tail .. lol.

The reason I was going to plant the SDs was because they
were supposed to be deer resistant. If the gophers eat the leaves that's as bad as the deer eating foliage. I'll have to plan something else. Now, I not only have to check for
deer resistance, I've got to check for gopher resistance. Oh joy !

I still haven't figured out which critter tried to pull a tomato through the chain link fence around the veggie garden. (The tomato got stuck in the fence.) But that's only happened once.

Have you thought of using Kim Rupert's 'Annie Laurie McDowell' ? It can be train horizontally so that it doesn't exceed your height restrictions and I am told the fragrance is beyond all expectations.

I like the Buddleja at the local nursery, they had/have a variety of colors, but I don't seen the dwarfs. I almost got one till I saw a GIANT one and thought that would be too big for the area (it filled a curb side planter and was about that 7' window height) It might grow differently here were there is no frost season to kill it to the ground. But thanks for the ideas.

I have to take another trip south, to Jeri's end of CA on Friday so trying to get some ideas.

Rose Blush,

I totally want an Annie Laurie McDowell, but I was thinking for the entry to the yard so it can be right up front. I still have to design the entry and I better hurry up and order those bands.

But I'm curious about their water needs. Are they drought-tolerant???

I see also that the original Buddleja davidii is classed as an invasive plant in some Western states, so I wonder if it spreads, and HOW it spreads, in a no-winter-chill climate. I don't need another devil plant to fight off in my declining years. :-)

Anyone know???

Jeri

Another one I have that came to mind is the Confidence rose sold by RU. I can't figure out how tall she gets, though. She doesn't seem to try to bust out everywhere yet like many Austins tend to do. She's certainly a gorgeous color (as is Paul!).

I grow Wedgwood Rose and love her, but she's so flexible and tall and rambly. I use her as a climber for sure here.

I adore Teasing Georgia. Get her and put her somewhere, lol! But she's a biggin', yep :)

The "Buzz" Buddlejas do interest me, and my husband is interested, too. I'll look for them.

God knows, we don't need to attract more bees, though.

We have mostly roses that open to display stamens, and our neighbor has a wild beehive living in his retaining wall. So when we work on our roses, we are surrounded by honeybees.

I LIKE bees, but this is a tad too much of a good thing. So far (knock on wood) they have not Africanized. But if/when they eventually DO, I hope they go after him, rather than us or our dogs!

Jeri

But all day I was walking past a beautiful rose at the neighbors party, I was going to wait and ask her what the name was and then when talking roses (Yves had 2 incredible blooms) she said "Oh you have to see my moms Benny Lopez" So, Benny will definitely be going in the a good spot in this bed.

One issue I have, and part of the reason for looking at the David Austins, is this bed gets extra water, recycled. So many of the drought tolerant plants would not like the zone. Plus, for years the chickens had access to the area so the ground has plenty of long composted chicken manure. The soil is some of the nicer to work with too.

Dad was a bee keeper, I have had my fill of bees. I am happy to have them visit, but I want them to fly a distance, a long distance. With all the roses, lavenders and veggies and no spray, we have lots of bees.

Jeri

When I was planting one of the new roses last week I must have had a half dozen bees helping me. Guessing that rose really attracts them. The sunflowers buzz when you walk past them too.

I hit even more traffic trying to get back to Camarillo, barely made it to Harbor Freight Tools before they closed. So I ended up missing Nopalito before they closed for the day. I did peak at their plants and a few look interesting.

Lowes of course was still open so I got my Russian Sage. I skipped the green thumb store, okay I missed the exit and had enough of traffic and was not going to try and work my way back.

BUT, Lowes had $7.98 2.5 pots of Iceberg, but not just regular Iceberg, but what looks like 3 own root Icebergs, white, brilliant pink and burgundy. I had to get a pair, now to decide where to put them!

There are still plenty of plants there, so I hope to get back up there in the next couple of days. There are some specific things I want, before they disappear.

Jeri

If that gopher was in the target area, Kippy, you've probably got the current culprit. They're so territorial, they don't live in close proximity.

But I use the word "current," because in our experience, where one gopher goes to its just reward, another will move in -- soon or late -- to occupy the attractively-vacant premises.

Jeri

I think I have two of the little beasts, well one now. I dug kind of a trench between us and the neighbors, if nothing else the neighborhood cats will have a better chance at getting them. I figure with the safety zone under the walk filled with stink, maybe that route will be less attractive.

The other beast is in our veggie garden and terrorizing my new citrus trees, but that soil is so much easier to dig and a few holes with traps is not as big of an issue.

Mom said it was a fat one, but something came and ate it out of the trap. (hope they thought it was an appetizer and plan on coming back for more)

Annie Laurie McDowell is a tiny shrimp compared to my 15 space-hogging Austins. Annie blooms constantly at the expense of growth, thus remaining small. She doesn't put forth stem growth unless the temp. is above 80's. If your temp. is below 80's, she stays small. After 5 months she's smaller than my smallest mini, Scentsational.

Last year was cool and rainy, my Austins didn't sprout octopus arms. This year is hot and dry, and Austins go beserk with octopus arms. My 2-months old Austins: Evelyn, Scepter d'Isle, and Charles Darwin are throwing out 3' long canes. Mine are own-roots, imagine what they would do if GRAFTED on Dr. Huey.

Strawberry, I am hoping my Russian sage stays manageable, the neighbors have not had issues with them sending out babies. It put it in an area that we have to access some times so if it gets in the way it might get a hair cut. It is not blocking access, just close to the zone. I am going to add a few more of the black and blue salvia, they are supposed to be invasive too, but so for the worst they have done is creep out of the bed slowly (leaving a hole behind them)

I hate to say it, but I would love 3' canes would probably be perfect to rest on the border of Santa Barbara (Mexican) Daisy.