Thanks all! Enjoying all the talk of celebrating gophers (ha, ha). I will have to check out some of these suggestions. I bought some beautiful bearded irises at the Celebration of Old Roses and I am hesitant to put them in the ground due to the gophers and the deer. Doing my research. I am also newly interested in Clematis as companions to roses. Do the deer/gophers go after those too? I assume the answer is yes. I think I might as well assume yes and use the wire baskets...I just hate having to do that every time. Jeri - so they don't go after the lavender? Interesting as they haven't gone after mine either. Herbs too ok? So it's ok to plant herbs between roses? Not a bad idea. Any specific recomendations? Thanks again for your rosy input!

Hi Sandy, do you have a pic of your contraption? And this may sound silly but what species is a gopher? Do they dig the roots of your plants or do they eat the plants? We have "woodchucks" here which are also sometimes called ground hogs and gophers. I used to battle them in my veggie garden at the previous house. The thing that works best is having a dog. Next, a gun. But since I have neither of those, I use barriers - mostly fencing and caging on the plants that they like. Last year i started using hardware cloth around the roots of the perennials that the voles like best - Echinacea, Phlox, Savlia Black & Blue, etc. That works well and so does the castor oil.

I'm South Jersey- We just upgraded from 3 small preformed ponds too a 11x21.5ft pond 2 weeks ago, while we were digging the hole 2 herons flew over each night-like they knew what we were doing -but we figured because we have outside cats wondering around and a couple dogs in and out , we wouldnt have to worry about our fish....Not so . This past Sunday morning I noticed 2 of my big shubunkins where gone and a few little fish. A small turtle and 2 dozen minnows we had kept in one of the small preformed ponds...I thought coon, cat or those Heron's..we suspected it was a heron- so last night we put up string, criss crossed etc. because that is what we use too keep the geese and swans out of the bogs because they do alot of damage too the cranberry vines on the farm, in the fall and winter- I also put a blueish grey pelican statue about 3 ft high along side my pond Sunday evening that my dad gave me. No fish were missing Monday morning and none today , however my neighbor called at 6 am this morning because there was a Heron sitting on the peak of our roof...but by the time we got out there he was gone.at least we know what we are dealing with.so whether it's the string, or the pelican statue (the statue was there before the string) keeping him at bay I dont know but am hoping he just finds a new place for breakfast...we are only a couple hundred yards from a creek that goes into a lake and why he would rather eat my poor fish -then get some good crayfish and catfish out of the lake is beside me. I was sick to my stomach all that hard work building a beautiful pond for a lousy bird too come ruin it, but hopefully now we have it under control. Will let you know if he comes back to visit.

After awhile, some people get over their aversion to killing rodents. Especially after those rodents destroy several years worth of your hard work in the garden, not to mention some very expensive plants. I've never seen any non-lethal gadget that worked permanently on any pest animal, whether birds, coyotes, or gophers. They all get used to mechanical & electronic devices after awhile. For a truly permanent cure, lookup a gadget called the Rodenator. Even if you never use one, the video is a hoot! Here is a link that might be useful: Rodenator underground rodent exterminator