Sincere condolences on your loss. It's at the top of my 'must haves' list this year so I can understand your pain & grief.

Been there!

Just so you know, don't underestimate those little remnants. leave them and they will come back pretty quickly.

Chin up!

I planted two pulmonaria/lungworts, 'Raspberry Splash' & 'Gaelic Sunset' a few years back. Both were White Flower Farms perennials so very pricey but I wanted them and just handed over my hard-earned $$, brought them home and planted them in prime locations. Two years ago we had a severe drought and they about disappeared. I was pretty disappointed but last year they came back slightly and this year they're both blooming away like nothing ever bothered them.

May it be so with your hakonechloa, wendyb.

So sorry! I've got voles now, and also Hakonechloa 'all gold' - but so far, no evidence of damage. My plants are not nearly as full as yours (or was), they were all rescued from the odds-n-ends or leftovers bins at my favorite nursery within the last year or 2.

Thanks for your condolences.

I am also missing two hostas a few feet away, so I think the voles had a feast in that area this year. There is a huge 4' decorative boulder nearby and I think there is a vole city under there. So far, hostas have been their favorite thing. Rarely have they damaged other plants, except one time a whole bed disappeared!!

I wonder if no snow cover had anything to do with extra vole damage??? I definitely did not mulch in the fall, I learned my lesson in the past. However, natural mulch from late leaves may have contributed.

I have a very vague sense about seeing H. 'Aureola' pots somewhere last year and being surprised that they were now more affordable and mainstream than in 2007. If only I could remember where I saw them.

If anyone sees them around, plz give a shout out. I will cross my fingers for what's showing to expand more.

Wendy,

OMG my Hakonechloa looks identical to yours...it feels so good to know that I am not alone (lol).

I just got a text from my county agent reminding me that due to a nearly non- existent crop of acorns last fall the small rodent population dropped off dramatically and coupled with a warm winter the tick population is larger than usual. This of course is leading folks to believe there will be a higher incidence of Lyme�s disease in the North East.

I suppose considering the above I should not be so surprised by the higher than normal damage done by burrowing rodents in my garden. Did I mention I have two outdoor cats?

That is a dramatic progression of pics Wendyb! I can sympathize with your loss. I have had tremendous losses to voles over the past year since the snowy winter of 2011. Large chunks of roots of many of my favorite perennials. Most of them look like your Hakonechloa and there are more or less remnants left. Although the bulbs in the front garden did not fare so well - they were pretty much wiped out, except for a few, and the Daffodils of course, which no critters eat.

Last summer the cat caught DOZENS of voles, and I dispatched a few myself, and they seemed to be largely brought under control. However there was one still rampaging through my front garden this past winter up near the sidewalk where the cat doesn't hunt.

So a few weeks ago I mixed up this vole repellent that was recommended on the Hosta forum, using castor oil and human urine. Used the watering can and sprinkled that over whatever perennials and bulbs were left in the front garden that I know the voles like. Lo and behold, no more losses since then!

In the next few days, I want to transplant a dozen or so Echinacea plants back in to the front garden. These are good sized seedlings and remnants I rescued last year. I plan to make permanent barriers out of hardware cloth to encircle the roots of those.