Gypsy Rose damage

[redcrx]

I have shown this Gypsy Rose over the years. It sits in hot sun and handles it well. This spring the crown eyes got eaten by rabbits and deer. So now I have a mess.

Here it is in early 2011:

Gypsy Rose - May 24, 2011

Here it is in early 2012:

Gypsy Rose - May 19, 2012

Here it is in early 2013:

Gypsy Rose - May 18, 2013

Here it is today - it got eaten back in March:

Gypsy Rose - May 23, 2014

[Linda P]

Ouch. That one hurt. I hope it makes a good recovery for you!

[thy]

Sooooo sorry for you

[boops]

Oh man-thats gotta hurt. So sorry-I'm sure it will return next spring (the hosta not the deer) I accidently got Deep Woods Off on Captain Kirk last year and it really did a job on it, it came back just fine this year.

[redcrx]

I need an opinion:

This is a "huge" plant. In 2011 it had over 30 scapes on it. (In 2012 the deer ate the scapes and in 2013 extreme heat took a toll on it.) With the damage the deer and rabbits did this spring, I was thinking of taking it out and potting what will be a lot of pieces of Gypsy Rose and planting some other Striptease sport in its place. Or leave it alone and have one huge and probably odd shaped mound of Gypsy Rose.

[irawon]

Hi Ed,

What a magnificent Gypsy Rose you had... so sorry it was attacked. If I were you I would lift GR to check what the underside of the bare patch in the middle is like. My personal preference would be not to have a lopsided clump. I'm interested to hear what others have to say on the subject.

[redcrx]

The Gypsy Rose did not come back as I had hoped. Today I went out to clean-up the spot and do some weeding in there.

Gypsy Rose - July 25, 2014

I dug under the center and there was nothing there. They material felt like peat-moss. There wasn't any smell to it.

Gypsy Rose - July 25, 2014

Here is the remains of one of the eyes that was eaten back in March.

Gypsy Rose - July 25, 2014

scene Gypsy Rose 14 08740zb-7-25.JPG (35.77 KiB) Viewed 1363 times

Another photo of the dead material.

Gypsy Rose - July 25, 2014

[boops]

Could it have been voles?

[redcrx]

Once I cleaned the spot out and took out something else that was just past it (and wasn't doing anything - just some grass-like plant that never flowered), I had a "big" space that needed something. This is a reverse L shaped garden with the long edge being Striptease family plants and the short edge being red petiole type of plants. I had a choice of which to go with but I wanted color in the spot. I thought about Alan Titchmarch with its bright yellow center but I was afraid that when it switched its center to white the sun would "cook" it. (I may still use it when I redo the opposite side of this walkway.) I also considered Can Can with its super white center - it would probably work since I have a White Bikini in that space already - but didn't go with that either. I started looking at my pots and found Sparkle (streaked longipes type) - it had only one streaked piece and 2 really healthy green pieces. I grabbed that but kept looking. I came upon one of my stable pieces of Tassels that is huge and thought why not cut it in half and use it - so that's what went into the spot. I did use the Sparkle at the far end of the space to pull the green pieces off.

Tassels stable from "Pasties" - July 25, 2014

Here is a photo of the far side of the space. Green Sparkle and Sparkle have been added. The plant at the top left is Almost - it's not looking as well as it usually does.

Green Sparkle and Sparkle - July 25, 2014

I added one more plant to the group - just to the left of the new one. A plant the had been torn out by deer during the winter. And I tried annotating the photo to see what it would look like.

[boops]

Now that looks great!! Haven't added many new guys this year-running out of space I don't have any of the ones you mentioned.

[redcrx]

No, not voles. I think when the deer/rabbits ate the "eyes" they killed the plant or some fungous got into the open wounds and killed it. I'm not sure where all the little "babies" came from. They are like TC plants. I filled one trough and 7 pots with the babies.

Gypsy Rose fragments - July 25, 2014

Gypsy Rose fragments - July 25, 2014

[boops]

Thats so cute. I love the babies.

[redcrx]

Many of the red petiole ones in that space were given to me over the years by Art Wrede a hosta hybridized from Maryland. Some of his plants are Miss Ruby, Mr Blue, Designer Genes.

Others are ones I bought like Lady in Red and Rocket's Red Glare because they have red petioles. There is also a Miss Ruby in there but not shown and a longipes hypoglauca next to the Green Sparkle. And a Red Alert was added this season to try to give some color to the otherwise "green" collection. What's odd is that I never put a 'Katsuragawa Beni' or Chopsticks in there - I have them in pots but they never made it in there.

I found a seedling in there today when I was weeding- just plain green.

[boops]

I love the red petiole ones, I have The Razors Edge, Maraschino Cherry, Paradise Island and Red October. Hmmm Looked in the Hosta Library and that Designer Genes looks very interesting. I did find a new place to put a few new ones next year, I'm about done this season.

[redcrx]

I hadn't thought about Paradise Island. I have a pot of that around and two pots of Volcano Island. I wonder how much sun they can handle. For some reason I feel they would cook in there. When I clear out the other side of the walkway I'll see. (The "other side of the walkway" is overgrown with bee-balm for the hummingbirds and the bee-balm has spread into some other hosta in that garden.)