Ep 262 - Beneath the Surface: The Mystery of the Missing Roots

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green.

During a recent garden tune-up at the home of my longtime client, Pat, the gardening team noticed that one of the roses along the foundation was loose in the ground.

I had planted that rose the previous summer to replace another one that died after its roots were gnawed to bits.

We assumed chipmunks were responsible.

There are plenty of them darting around the adjacent rock wall looking almost too adorable to accuse of wrongdoing.

Almost, that is.

Chipmunks can do a lot of damage.

What made the new rose especially puzzling was that earlier in the season, it had pushed out a profusion of flowers.

From above ground, it appeared to be flourishing, but the entire plant lifted easily from the soil, and voila, virtually no roots remained.

The rose had used its stored energy to flower, despite what was happening beneath the surface.

Andrew, the lead gardener, mentioned the juicy fruit gum remedy that my dear friend and design colleague Marty Carson swore by.

Andrew worked in Marty's garden and knew the story very well.

I shared the tale in episode 66, Chipmunk Remedies and Legends.

I'll put a link in the show notes.

I love the legend of chipmunks.

So when I first heard it, Marty had said, you know, drop the old-fashioned Juicy Fruit gum sticks into the chipmunk holes behind the boulder wall, and the theory is they will eat the gum and their innards would bugger up.

Not very humane, I know, but the punchline is my chipmunks like Juicy Fruit gum, and it seems they invited their friends to join the party.

Maybe they'll croak from rotting teeth.

Anyway, she also suggested an outdoor cat.

but that was before Miss Jolie arrived on the scene, and she's a pretty good chipper.

After I visited Pat's garden, I went down a research rabbit hole, or should I say vole hole.

Chipmunks certainly dig burrows and can disturb roots while stashing food, but when a plant lifts from the soil and its roots appear chewed off, voles are more likely to culprit.

The soft ground beneath Pat's shrubs provided another clue.

Walking through the bed felt spongy even though they're only a few inches of mulch.

Andrew assumed the softness came from chipmunk tunnels, but voles create a network of shallow runways beneath grass, mulch, and leaf litter.