Ah, thanks so much for your kind words, dear Barb! :)

Yes, it was a bit of overwhelm. I'm okay with some damage, but to have almost ALL of my beloved perennials just come up as gnawed sticks with barely a tug was rather unsettling.

I like your container idea, as this would at least keep the voles and their beaver-like tendencies out of the equation.

I'm wondering if the really cold, dry weather we had for about 2 months might've zapped back the grasshopper numbers? I'm hesitant to use NoLo, as it might affect field crickets, but I'm not sure. I'll look into it.

Thanks so much for the FCN tip! I'll definitely head over there.

Very much appreciated,

L

Laura, sorry to hear about your situation. Grasshoppers come and go. Some years there's hardly any then others there's lots. After the major disruption to your neighborhood is done their numbers will probably settle down. As far as Japanese beetles, grrrrrrrrrr, good luck. I've had them really bad in Aurora for a couple years and here in Westminster some showed up last year so this year there might be a onslaught. It's going to take a few years before the predators figure out this new food source.

Some self seeding annuals might be a good way to restart your vege/pollinator garden.

Oh no, Laura .

That sounds awful. I am not super helpful with pesticides but i can probably help by sharing some plants. I have tons of Fire Spinners and Bee Balms and may have other perennials. Please let me know if I can share some with you this spring.

Dang! tough luck. we all have something , don’t we. sorry to hear of it

Yikes! Sounds like Laura shuld get first dibs and extra turns at the swap.

We have had grasshoppers bad that last 2 years.

Laura,

I can bring some Shasta daises, Rudebeckia Goldstrum or daylillies or you can comeover and dig some up anytime. These make a good base, I think.

gjcore, speaking of japanese beetles, I picked 3 or 4 off my grapevines last year. When do they show up for you?

Aw, thanks so much for the empathy, everyone. I guess I just needed to vent to someone who would understand! (My neighbors aren't that much into gardening; one has even removed all the grass in their backyard and covered it with white landscaping gravel.)

GJCore -- Yeah, I remember the grasshopper waves of the 1980s. I've poked around some scientific papers, trying to figure out if it's a cycle somewhat akin to what we get with miller moths...so far I get more info on the Great Rocky Mountain Locust Extinction, which is a fascinating story unto itself. As for the Japanese beetles: do they have any local predators? I'm hoping they are tasty to sparrows.

I like the idea of self-seeding annuals. Do you have any favorites that do well?

Gardenchloe -- So sweet of you to offer. <3 The bees loved your fire spinners so much! I never asked for bee balm before, as I had tons of my own, but I might take you up on those as well, seeing as I'm not sure if any has survived. We shall see in a few weeks...

L Clark -- Indeed. Thanks. :)

Jerry -- Yeah, the whole front range seemed to be crawling with hoppers! Not a bad thing for the wildlife that eats 'em, but not so good for us gardeners. I was amazed at the variety of the species, as seen in the video clip.

--L

Probably the most important predator of Japanese beetles are nematodes. I believe they need to be released into turf areas and they'll destroy the grubs. There's also birds and certain flies and wasps.

Concerning self seeding annuals some that I like are cosmos, calendula, snapdragons, borage, buckwheat, crimson clover and sunflowers. Borage and buckwheat tend to spread a lot but are easy to remove. Then in the vege/herb category dill, chives, garlic chives, lettuce, radish, coriander/cilantro, arugula and mustard.

If there is a swap this year there's probably a variety of perennials to divide and seeds to bring.

Jerry, as far as I remember they start showing up early June and then start going away (underground?) late August. It seemed somewhat helpful doing a soil drench with neem oil around the grapevines but difficult to measure the effectiveness. There were still LOTS of beetles. Maybe it should've been done on a regular basis.

So sorry to hear about the decimation of your garden. We've had construction around us that lead to infestations of voles and we've had bad years with grasshoppers, but never all at once. Our next door neighbors' and we don't use pesticides, but I think most of our other neighbors do. The foliage of our plants gets pretty chewed up by the late summer/fall, but it's never been bad enough to kill the plants, thankfully.

A self-seeding annual that does really well in our garden is California poppy. I have some seeds I can share with you that you can sow anytime if there's a swap not too far from me. I've only been to one swap (in Longmont-- I think it was 2010 or 2011), but now that my kids are older maybe I can make it this year. You could also try hollyhocks.

Thanks so much for the kind offer, eastautumn! I don't know why, but I can never seem to get CA poppies to grow! Maybe something's eating the seeds, but I've tried twice now and nothing comes up. Do you do anything special when sowing them? I'm gonna try again with a packet I have left over, but if that doesn't work I'd definitely appreciate any extra.

I took in the last three sempervivums that I found under some leaves (the lone survivors out of several hundred) and potted them up before they, too, disappeared. They must be really tasty, or else the critters were just that hungry. Ooof.

So funny you should ask... I was actually wondering what other people do to get flower seeds to come up around here because I have had terrible luck with direct sowing seeds of everything EXCEPT California poppies! I can't remember what I did to get them started now because I think it was about 10 years ago that I spread some California poppy seeds in my front yard, and the next thing I knew they were everywhere. I have to pull them up like weeds every spring when they come up by the dozen in places I don't want them (especially in cracks between the front walkway and mulched beds. I can't even remember what time of year I spread them, but it says you can sow them any time.

There are so many flowers I'd love to grow from seed, but I seem to fail at all of them. Last year I tried hollyhocks, but I think I left them in warm water too long (in my attempt to help them sprout), because nothing ever came up. I tried starting moonflowers and morning glory vines inside last year and the year before, but after getting them to sprout and hardening them off before transplanting them outside, they never took off and eventually each one died. One year shortly after we moved into our house, I did get morning glory vines to thrive after transplanting them, so I don't know why it's not working for me anymore. Maybe I'm less attentive now that I have more yard tasks and plants to attend to. This year I'm going to try again with some of my seeds, but am not terribly optimistic.

Yeah, starting flowers from seed can be tricky! All my most successful plants were volunteers that originally came from nursery-bought starts: borage, muscari, catnip, and chives have been popping up without my help for years and years now.

Maybe I should try purchasing some CA poppy plants and let them decide when to sow themselves?

Lately I've been entertaining myself by watching flower farm videos on YouTube. Here's one (from Lakewood, I believe) that gets some pretty impressive results with her seeds. Link: Blossom and Branch Farm

Of course, having a proper greenhouse and other fancy tools helps, but I've still gleaned a few good tips on fertilizers and how to make soil blocks.

--L

I've never seen California poppy plants for sale, but if you did find some I'll bet it would work to get them to spread from the seed of just a single plant. I've read the seedlings don't like being transplanted, but when I first started growing them and wanted to spread them out more, I would dig up some soil around the roots of the tiny plants (being careful to keep the clump of dirt undisturbed), and I had luck transplanting them that way. Now I'm ruthless about weeding them where they are coming up too close to one another or in places I don't want them. I'm curious to check out theBlossom and Branch Farm YouTube videos.

I’ve had luck with doing bare root poppies (despite leaving them in the bag too long after they arrived). Happy to share anything I have. It’s fun to be able to finally share back after years of being the one begging for plants. I have a lot of things from the swaps over the years and a lot that aren’t.

bug nets. garden will be covered when Beatles come

Hi,

So my container tomatoes are claimed. Rest still available for the swap.

I forgot that I will have few Mexican Sour Gherkin (cucamelon) plants as I said i would last year.

Laura, I think I have a few calif poppy plants for you (yellow/orange). I planted a few before the snow, did not protect them, and they made it fine. Seems like they transplant Ok to me. Plants are small

So I spent the better part of an hour yanking out the remainder of the dead plants and shubs today. My Autumn Joy sedums, 10+ year-old Blue Knight spirea, chocolate flowers, coneflowers, Agastache Blue Fortune and one butterfly bush are additionally toast. (Thought they might pull through, but the voles are still digging and gnawing, albeit at a much reduced pace than in winter.)

That being said, some Angelica sedum seeds have sprouted in the gravel, and indoors I've managed to grow several ice plants from discarded seed pods. *cheer*. The Major Wheeler honeysuckle not only survived but is thriving, putting out the most blooms ever, and the volunteer lilac bush in the corner leafed out even though I thought it, too, had been gnawed to death. A handful of penstemon and monarda shoots also pulled through.

The newly-transplanted carpeting thymes survived the recent arctic blast -- even the woolly thyme, which I thought was a goner due to being nibbled down to the dirt; but it's trying to make a valiant (if slow) comeback.

So things are looking up, and I hope to slowly fill in the empty nooks and crannies with new plants. I've recently joined the Rocky Mountain chapter of NARGS, and hope to tap into their collective expertise, as well.

Thanks so much for the poppy offer, Jerry. I'm looking forward to seeing you and the gang again soon. I was going over my old account here, and saw that I've been a member of this forum since 2008 (!).

My, how time flies.....

--L

if you want to dig out honeysuckle I have bush that has to go. lets connect at swap

baby blue spirea is on me.

Laura, I have just finished your tale-of-woe and I encourage you to use the following organic method which will control your vole (and or mole problem). My customers do and it is easy.

Purchase a cheap plastic 2 or 2.5 gallon watering can. Next, purchase a bottle of Castor oil at your pharmacy.

Now, fill the watering can with water. Add 3 tablespoons of Castor oil. Stir the contents with vigor using a throw away stick. As you plant annuals, perennials, shrubs, etc. water each well with plain water and then top that off with about a quarter of a cup of the castor oil water per plant directly on the roots. This treatment should last through the growing season but can be reapplied any time as necessary. As fall approaches, work through your garden with this mixture around areas that that contain grouping of plants to discourage vole damage.

Final thought. The watering can will turn black and nasty looking. Use it for this purpose only.

Laura,

So sorry to hear of your plant loss. If you can tolerate it get a bull snake. You can advertise on Nextdoor. There is always someone who wants one removed and there are always teenagers who will go catch them. Our yard always does better when we have a bull snake.

We had a whole bed wiped out by a vole one year and replanted with swap plants.

We had a vole start in on a bed this winter and we put out snap traps. They kept disappearing. Not sure if the birds of prey were taking the trapped animal and the whole trap or what.

You must be so disappointed to lose so many plants. I know you've been working really hard on establishing your rock garden.

Nandina -- I'll be sure to try your castor oil recipe, as the one I used before wasn't strong enough, apparently. Thanks so much.

mmmm12COzone5 --- Snakes are a gardener's friend! Thanks for the reminder. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any snakes in a few years. I just pinned a sign on our neighborhood HOA board saying "WANTED: Garter Snakes and/or Bullsnakes for our garden." Will let you know how it goes. Haha.

--L

We have snakes in the garden here. I've gotten over the initial surprise when one slithers by. There's at least two living in the backyard now. I have no idea what they are but the mouse population seems to have plummeted also have not seen a rabbit on the property since last year.

gjcore -- lucky you!

Maybe someone could bring a snake to the swap....? I'd trade one for a very naughty parrot who chewed up some magazines this morning. ;)

(I think he got inspiration from the voles.)

--L

Laura,

Adorable! Conure of some sort? I used to have parrots and loved their antics! They live a long time so I probably won't get another but they are great company. I miss chatting with them through the day.

Yeah, parrots are awesome company. I always tell people it's like caring for a creature with the intelligence of a 3 year old....for 50+ years.

Our Skeeter is an adopted 19 year old African red-bellied parrot. This species isn't super common in the pet trade; I'm guessing it's because they tend to bite HARD and don't let go!

Skeeter is so adorable though, and so wicked smart that it almost makes up for the scars he's given me, the little feather monster. ;)

--L

Ah, good times. When my Orange Dusky Lory was about 3 or 4 he bit my lip straight through. Luckily I was able to pry his beak off so it was just a puncture wound and didn't scar. As I remember it I had just woken up and found him sitting on my pillow looking at me. I shooed him away and told him to go back to his cage. He didn't take kindly to it.

He only bit me twice. The first time I verbally scolded him but treated him like normal afterwards. The second time I gave him the cold shoulder. Stopped talking to him and stopped looking at him for about a week. Ignored him completely in favor of my very sweet Yellow Dusky Lory and two cockatiels. He never did it again after that. Parrots hate the cold shoulder.