I've never heard of iris rhizomes being eaten either! You have a very hungry critter there! Living in the middle of the woods, I've had to resort to all sorts of less aesthetically pleasing tactics in order to have just about any kind of tree/bush/flower/plant! We have beavers, so lots of trees are protected with chicken wire. I make lots of little circle fences with the chicken wire and have to put it around anything new planted in the yard. We have deer, beaver, coons, opossums, birds that peck seeds out of the garden, ferrel cats, mice that eat plants, and on and on! (we've even had horses and cows run through the property). Do you have a fencing around your yard? I just can't plant anything outside that fence without protecting it. What I've found is that something out there (I think a cat or a coon), is attracted to freshly-dug soil, and maybe the scent of my hands in the soil, and digs everything up. It usually doesn't eat it, but the roots die when exposed to air. Rather than a circle of fencing around something like your newly-planted iris, you can lay a piece of chicken wire on the ground over them for a about a week. After that, the fresh soil and scents don't seem to be as attractive to the animals, and then you can take the wire up. One thing for your little pond..........maybe you could fashion a chicken-wire dome that sits over it. That might be a little more pleasing to look at, but still would let your taller plants grow. And you could take it off during the day. Most animals won't mess with wire.......but you know coons.........they're usually pretty determined.....so I would anchor that fencing well.

Depending on the variety of clematis you have, the clematis sounds like it has clematis wilt, a common occurrence for type II clematis. This is especially true if you noticed no breaks on the stem where the part was brown and wilty looking. All you can do is remove the part that has wilted and wait and see what happens. All clematis should be planted several inches deeper in the ground than they were in their original pots since this buries dormant nodes that allow the plant to resurrect itself from clematis wilt or if a critter comes along and chews it off. For what it is worth, knowing what you purchase and its pruning class are paramount for successful clematis growing. Even the type I and IIs which typically don't get cut back should be cut back to within a couple of inches of the ground the second spring they are in the ground. This encourages root development and can cause dormant nodes to break, resulting in more vines out of the ground. In my garden the type IIs which don't typically get cut back, are treated as type IIIs which get cut back every year. For those that I have done this to, they are bushier, more robust, and more floriferous than if I don't. Usuallly by mid summer, the type IIs get browned out severely regardless of how much watering you give them. I just whack them back by half and am rewarded by more blooms in the early fall. Here is a picture of Proteus and Piilu, both type IIs planted together, earlier this spring after I cut them to the ground. The hacking back to the ground has not affected them one bit, they are back just as vigorous as ever, and are now about ready to bloom. Here are the plants today with some blooms and many buds on them ready to pop. Moral of the story is don't be afraid of cutting back all your clematis. You may delay or put off blooming for one year, but in the long run, you will end up with a much healthier and robust plant for it.

I think it will be fine as long as there is a continuous path of intact cambium (green layer under bark and over that white exposed wood). It looks like you have that on the left side and maybe the back. Looks like rabbit damage and you can see about how high they can reach so you know how high your protector needs to go.

As for the bush choking, the bush is on the other side of the sidwalk opposite of it, it's just positioned that it blocks the sun from that little corner. The bush is much bigger than it should be, but hubby didn't get a chance to trim, and now it's blooming and he wants to wait. It's REALLY big, but the only choking that will happen is if their roots go under the sidewalk. I don't think that's the issue since the steps to the porch are right there. Kathy, I was wondering about that possibility, but it didn't actually freeze here (near Fayetteville) It did get to 37 once though. I was seriously worried at the time, I gotta tell you. I think I'm going to let it go for a bit and see if it recovers, or if there's any additional damage. it may have received some sun damage BEFORE the danged Dahlia's exploded, but I know it won't get it now. And Jon, you just taught me more about Hostas in one post than I knew ever. But then, I'm not that "huge" of a gardener. I'm like the "lazy gardeners", I try to set out a garden and not mess with it beyond watering. I've been known to stake up my lilies and such, but I really don't have the health to spend out there all the time worrying about it. Yet, I adore when everything blooms. this year's garden is rather awkward because I had to plant some plants, and some bulbs. So my lilies are done, while everything else isn't even close yet. But Neeeexxxt year - it's gonna rock! LOL Ok, maybe. If My hosta recovers and does ok, then we'll assume it was early sun/heat, or it was the cold. Either way, I'm hesitant to add more, even the amazing ones mentioned here, because my gardens really do not get tons of shade, and it's true, it can get mighty warm around here. At least Gardenweed has convinced me it's probably not the sand and acid causing the issue, thought those varieties you're using sounds awesome! Without my annual influx of top soil here, I'd have nothing but sand (in fact, next year's project is a raised garden around the mailbox, cuz all that area is is sand, and I can't see top soil staying there). You guys have been awesome! Thanks so much. And when the Dahlia's start to bloom, I'll post in the forums here. :D