Ken, you called it. ==>>> you are welcome .... lol ... no.. wrong answer ... i mean.. translating it to YOU WERE RIGHT ... i cant hear that enough.. around my own house... lol .. so i have to get it from you guys... welcome to reality ... rabbits are vermin ... and not to be encouraged ... as i previously said.. so i will not repeat it ... mine all worked above the snow.. your history of them tunneling under snow.. makes no sense ... mine also girdled shrubs ... striping the bark.. not eating the center wood on a variety of stock .... again.. you confuse me ... i have a lot of damage... now that the snow is gone.. 2 or 3 feet up a branch/trunk ... where they worked their magic ABOVE the snow line ... i have what used to be a 5 foot paladin lilac .. dwarf huh??? ... that is about 8 feet wide.. now half is 5 feet tall .. the other 3 feet ... lol .. no flowers on the shortened stuff ... and they did eat it all on that ... i wouldn have thought deer damage.. but i didint see any tracks in the deep snow ... or it was done before the snow.. and i missed it .... but the upside is.. that you are going to learn about what i mean when i say that most of what you planted.. you can run them over with the truck ... you cant kill most of these things ... as i recall you not having anything that foo foo ... so tell hubby.. to suck it up.. and trim everything effected to about 3 to 6 inches.. and watch how mother nature responds ... with no insult to the root system.. you might be pleasantly surprised how well everything responds... growing to near the same size by fall ... this is the next prediction.. and i will look for the 'you were right' post in fall ... lol .. and try to contemplate.. anything lost ... is a planting hole for something new... and while you are at it ... may as well dig out the burning bushes ... as apparently they are fodder.. and irritating.. not to mention that which you dont want to hear about .... sometimes.. regardless of your wishes.. certain plants just arent worthy ... of the space provided ... look forward to the pix.. i am guessing.. they are not going to be as bad as you think they are ... yesterday i cut down a 10 by 15 foot shrub... to 6 inches.. i have no worries.. it will come back ablazing .... though i will miss its flower show.. but the other 20 of them..will take care of that ... ken ps: and tell hubby.. who cares what the neighbors think.. we dont garden for them ... live and learn.. its all a learning curve ....

yeah, I knew all about them before I brought this guy home..so I knew what I was in for. I was outvoted..I'm a sucker..As long as he doesnt eat my fish.I dont care what everyone else around here says, he eats a fish, he's gone! It is my pond after all, lol. I have a bunch of little fish, I dont know what kind, maybe about an inch to an inch and a half long, that my daughter netted in the lake we got Frodo from, and we put them in there, and some kinda baby fish that appeared out of nowhere. He can eat them, I dont care, thats why I agreed to put them in the pond. Of course I treated them first. He can eat all the birds, mice, moles, tiny fish, little critters he wants..but if any of my goldies go missing..The Koi is def way too big for him, lol..thank god. I have to admit..I do like hearing him making noise at night. And its fun to watch him eat bugs out of the air. Mondotomhead, he isn't ginormous, but he is good sized. He keeps eating like he does and he will be ginormous, lol.

I keep thinking of all those ladies who like to wear bright sunny dresses for Easter Sunday. It's not going to be quite the same this year, even if it is going to warm up a bit (and rain) for the weekend. 27F out there this morning, and we're well past the average last freeze date and nearing the average last frost date (next Tuesday). And yet it's been such a mild winter overall; I know I didn't drop below 20F here the entire season. But spring marches on. Warm weather will get here eventually. I hope! The long term forecast suggests above normal temperatures for April, so I guess the NAO is heading back where it belongs.

If ever there was a rose that we wish could have been saved...... You've gotten good advice above. I'm going to go a bit father. You need to check windflow in front of that porch. You also need to check upwind of that location and try to find an infected rose within a half mile of your place. That rose is so perfect there. You have memories with it and so many good feelings. I had a similar love for James Galway. And JG got RRV. And we dug it out. And I missed it enough that I replanted it after two years (multiflora rootstock which I know can persist.) If you have a bit of stubborness in you, this is what I'd do. I'd clear out some of the other plants near by / upwind to increase air flow. I'd replant Lassie next spring. And next fall I'd take cuttings and start replacement plants. I would consider this to be the right rose for that spot, and I'd be ready to replace it. Yes, your photo homage to it is that inspirational. For companion plants near it, I'd go heavy on Compositae (both for spring and fall and midsummer blooms). I'd put in the grass Miscanthus (based on some results that the Tennessee tests have seen up on the Plateau. If I had that great a photo of my Mother in front of a rose, I'd get really stubborn. (My replacement James Galway is up to the size of the one that got RRD and I did tweak the airflow, and so far, healthy.) Ann