Even underground, gophers must know what time of day or night it is. Otherwise, they would not know when to “lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans” (Micah 2:1). Why do they bother being so sneaky with their exploits? They know that there is not much I can do to stop them. Why are they so creative with their damage? Is it just to flaunt their ability to get away with it? Gophers enjoy this too much.

1. Only the Heavenly bamboo to the right in the background is standing upright to show off its red new foliage. The other four (with two in the background) are suspiciously flopped forward.P00229-1

2. It was as if they were just set on the surface, with no roots to hold them down. Removing their carcasses was like picking up litter. They flopped forward because of wind a few hours prior.P00229-2

3. This is all that remained of the roots. It is amazing that the foliage was as fresh as it was. This much damage did not happen just recently. Foliage should have started to desiccate already.P00229-3

4. The worst of the four demonstrates how thorough the damage was. It was like a mean prank. It seemed as if someone pulled them up, whittled the roots away, and plugged them back in.P00229-4

5. Yarrow gets partially eaten by gophers too, but somehow survives. Supposedly, only the thick tap roots get eaten, while lateral roots are ignored. Gophers do not seem to be so discerning.P00229-5

6. Daffodil is how I should end this mostly unpleasant six. No one eats them. Many are still blooming. I probably should have posted pictures of flowers, instead of what gophers are killing.P00229-6

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate:

https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

41 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: More Gopher Problems”

  2. Oh, that’s a shame. Here, our common name for them is woodchucks. They’re just about impossible to garden around–and they’re one of my most common lecture questions. Short of planting everything with a wire cage around its roots (which is no guarantee that they won’t eat the aerial parts of course), you have woodchucks until you sell the property and move.

    Karla

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  6. Thank God we don’t have gophers in the UK! That really is a devilish prank. It’s enough to break your heart seeing them sitting there but they are actually not rooted down any more. Bad gophers.

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  11. Oh, I see!! All those plants were Heavenly Bamboo and the gophers left one alone? I thought the other three were other kinds of bushes. Maybe by the time they got through ravaging the first three they died and never got to the fourth one.

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    1. Oh! That would be sad! I hope he or she just relocated. Maybe he or she is out in the forest eating roots of poison oak or other vegetation that I do not want.
      There are actually four other Heavenly bamboo that got eaten. The two in the background look like one specimen. They are not as red as the survivor because their foliage flopped forward, exposing more of the undersides of the foliage.

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      4. There must be other scary animals that can do that sort of damage. I do not know who lives in your region; but I doubt that gophers would pointlessly chew a dead stump above ground.

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