Yarrow-be-gone!

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The latest issue of The Cheerful Iris focuses on Achillea millefolium. The headline is "Have You A Brown Thumb? Try Killing a Yarrow Plant!"

Well all it takes is a hungry gopher nibbling your yarrow from the root up. I wasn't sure what was going on with my tall stalks of creamy white and deep red yarrow which were losing color, until I went out one morning to see this...

Well, at least Mr or Ms Gopher left the seedhead!

The moral of this story: Plant your yarrow in gopher baskets!

Comments

Radhika said…
Nice one! Gopher-proofing, I did not promise :) Now, if the gopher had enough food in their natural habitat, then maybe they wouldn't eat the yarrow, or maybe they just had a tummy-ache.
August 4, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Country Mouse said…
Interesting - according to http://www.altnature.com/gallery/yarrow.htm - yarrow will cure what ails you. But I know most gardeners would be less than interested in improving the health of gophers! My gopher remedy is to allow our rat terrier free access to the garden (but not the wild life) areas of our property, to discourage critters from moving in. Doesn't always work! Well - the gophers were here before me.
August 4, 2009 at 11:04 AM
healingmagichands said…
really! The absolute gall of the rodent! I had no idea they liked yarrow. Glad we don't have any of them around The Havens (knocking on wood).

My father tells a story about the garden in CA where I was a baby. The gophers were ubiquitous and hungry, and they were losing their carrots. He actually watched as one of the carrots shook and trembled and then the entire thing disappeared down into the gopher hole under neath it. Even the greens were devoured.
August 4, 2009 at 11:27 AM
lostlandscape (James) said…
Well, hopefully you have a few yarrow left. I'm realizing my own gopher problem is worse than I'd realized, and I'm going to have reevaluate some of the plants that I'd written off as not liking me.
August 4, 2009 at 7:54 PM
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