The stupid bleeping voles devoured my entire clump of crocosmia this winter! There are only two individual plants that came up. It was a gorgeous, gorgeous clump. It is at the end of the day lily bed which is across the front of the property. It will be replaced. The garden center has my phone number and will call me when their supply comes in.
The new kittens have a list of assignments! Once they're acclimated and have gained a little size, I'll introduce them to the garage. The chipmunks come in there. This should be interesting.
I feel your pain, Ruff. There's no sign of my crocosmia coming up. I blamed it on the winter but if they survive your winter, they should survive mine. Hmmmm, wonder if some hungry critter got them. Everything else in that garden is okay, just the crocosmia are missing.
This past winter was a lot colder than it should have been for our zone, and I've lost spanish lavender, california lilac, and alstromeria, plus my big rosemary that is about 20 years old growing at the base of a climbing rose had a lot of winter damage and only survived because it is has a stem the size of a small a tree. Everything else is very late, with the lilacs just starting to come out now.
Did a little googling and learned that the California lilac and alstromeria have a poor tolerance for cold winters. The lilac photo was a beautiful shade of blue. The lily is lovely. One item talked about treating it like a dahlia which is to dig it up for the winter and store it like a dahlia. (My dahlias are in large pots which I keep in the cellar for the winter.) The Spanish lavender is not as hardy as other lavenders either. It sounds like a nice plant for a butterfly garden but not here in MA. It all sounds like you were zapped by a colder than usual winter. .... One year we had a record breaker freeze at -45* which is beyond the likes of anything ever heard of around here. In the spring EVERYONE was complaining of winter kill in their yards.
The crocosmia is a corm and I did have it planted in water lily crates or flower pots but I allowed the mulch to get up over the rims. After the snow melt, a lot of vole tunnels at the surface were visible over there. I'll know better when I dig it up but I think I made it easy for the vole to get into the crates.
It sure is a bummer isn't it meggie!
-- Edited by ruffles on Monday 11th of May 2009 04:24:02 AM
I had another look in the garden this afternoon and found some little crocosmia shoots so maybe it's there after all, just very late in coming up.
Thanks for the info about the alstromeria. I loved getting the flowers at the grocery store because they last nearly a month in the house so thought I'd have a go at growing them. The ones I bought were in gallon pots and bloomed all summer so I was thrilled. I'd planted one but left the other in the pot on the deck. If I'd known they were so tender, I could have just moved the potted one into the basement.
Spanish lavender is lovely. The 'flowers' look like huge purple bees, and the foliage is a grey-green that contrasts nicely with most daylilies. I'll be using my birthday gift certificate to replace it.
-- Edited by meggie on Monday 11th of May 2009 05:20:01 AM
Do you all remember "Anger gardening" from last fall? I planted 186 bulbs in about 15 minutes I was so mad at my old job. THat was the day I decided to leave Denver School of Nursing and go to work out here in Wiggins. Been thinking all winter about how lovely that garden will be come spring. Well......
Lots of vole tunnels not so much pretty spring flowers....
Ouch, I'm sure feeding voles was not in your plan. I've never had problems with voles although I know they live here. We have a lot of owls that eat them so maybe they've got them under control.
The same day I had a fox in my backyard in the morning, I disturbed a vole in my garden in the afternoon. I read in my Audubon book that foxes and owls are the biggest predators of voles, so I should be all set! I've got a regular circle of life in my own yard!
I've got a regular circle of life in my own yard!
