Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: small maples, 2 by DonnaMack

DonnaMack wrote:
Pseudo, I hear you. I know what to do about voles, rabbits, chipmunks and squirrels, but NOTHING, I think, truly deters deer.We had them in my old community but only in certain sections. I would see them when I ran, and of course under those circumstances they seem wonderful but I understand that they are the most relentless creatures imaginable. The rest I can handle.

I have 30 plus roses now, and I plant daffs around them, which voles and rabbits avoid because they are poisonous to them and can smell them. I lost 50 lilies in a single winter because I didn\'t have voles for the first two years and then they discovered them - and they must have been good eatin\'. Chipmunks hate Milorganite. There are a couple of roses the rabbits would chew down, but I put hardware cloth around them and that was that. My last problem, which I thought I\'d never solve, were squirrels. We didn\'t have them where I lived, because since it was former farmland, there were no trees (plenty of coyotes, hawks, ducks, opossums, great blue herons (magical!!!) and skunks, though). Squirrels hate freshly ground black pepper, so it\'s a matter of getting a cheap pepper grinder from a thrift store and giving it a few turns over freshly dug earth for a couple of days. Here we have foxes, and if they aren\'t the cutest little things I\'ve ever seen I\'ll eat my hat. They don\'t co-exist with coyotes, since they go after the same food, and coyotes are bigger, so sadly they kill the foxes. I actually live near the Fox River, and the name is apt. So I take some precautions but I have the freedom to grow pretty much what I like. Shame on me, I take it for granted! Growing old garden roses is such a joy. I find the reblooming ones, although I do have some once bloomers, are magical. Some bloom from April into early December, and I just wish everyone could know how great some of them are, in that they don\'t get any major disease, bloom their heads off, and smell wonderful.

Here is one of the first roses I ever purchased, so perfect I have two now, because I had one at my old house and it was great. Marchesa Bocchella, also known as Jacques Cartier, French, hybridized in 1832. It\'s a Portland rose. It\'s basically what David Austin is trying to do. It blooms from April into December, it is no more that 5 feet tall, it can handle partial shade, the shape of the flowers causes water to flow over the petals, so they don\'t form yukky balls, gets no disease and smells like heaven. It grows in a vase shape, not sprawly, so you can fit plantt around it.

The first pic is at my new home, where it is surrounded with feverfew tetra strain.

And at my former home with parsley (a GREAT edging plant that attracts beneficial insects and tastes great!) and allium christophii. Gotta work those alliums back in!