The Dirt Diaries

First bloom of 'South Africa'

In 1785 Robbie Burns wrote “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.”

I can attest to the fact that the best laid plans of gardeners can go sideways as well. Very sideways. I thought my roses were safe and sound from winter winds and critters, but alas, I was wrong.

It all started during Christmas week when we had several days of below zero temperatures. I’d covered the roses in pots in my “Driveway Garden”. The roses in my cottage garden all had a nice blanket of leaf mulch around the canes. Everything seemed to make it through the cold pretty well.

By early April I noticed several of the driveway roses had turned brown. The Christmas cold and several late freezes had taken them out. Then I brushed against one of the roses in the main garden and it toppled over. The roots were completely gone.

The same thing happened with two rose trees and six other bushes in the cottage garden.

Bloody Voles.

Vole photo courtesy Britannica

It was sad and infuriating. I have tried to put two of the roses (‘Emily Bronte’ and ‘Double Red Knockout’) into intensive care in pots. We’ll see if they make it. But in the meantime, I had a lot of roses to replace.

'Emily Bronte' is on life support

So, I placed orders with Roses Unlimited and Plant Addicts. Three weeks ago, ‘Music Box’, ‘True Gratitude’, ‘Bonica’, ‘Outta the Blue’, South Africa’, ‘Flamenco Rosita’, Caramella Fairy Tale’ and ‘Snowbelt’ arrived. I already had ‘True Sincerity’, ‘Iceberg’ and ‘Peach Drift’, and ‘Baby Ballerina’ standing by from the driveway pots (all looking very healthy, I might add.)

Hope my 'Flamenco Rosita' is as pretty as the one at the Biltmore

Before I gave the voles more goodies to chomp, I did a little research. I read that putting a layer of chicken wire at the bottom of the hole should keep the varmints out. Another suggestion was a layer of pea gravel. I decided to do both and yesterday had a gentleman come out and help me plant nine roses with the wire and gravel protection. Everything looks terrific as of this writing.