That's a lovely rose, Ingrid. I'm so very sorry that you can't grow the roses you love. I've caught a few ground squirrels in my time. I released 2 at a school, and found out later you should not ever relocate a pest from one place to the next. I shot the next 2. I know there are still some around, but so far they are leaving most of my garden alone, so I"m leaving them alone. I'm also spraying Deer Out to keep the deer and the rabbits at bay.

Deborah, I'm now toying with the idea of transplanting two of the pitiful specimens from the front to be placed near Wild Edric with the hope that the squirrels will leave them alone. These are Aloha and Lamarque, and I'll keep my fingers crossed. I would be elated if at least these two would survive and grow, although my recent experiences haven't made me terribly hopeful. I'm glad that the squirrels have left your garden alone for the most part. I imagine near the coast conditions aren't as severe yet for the wildlife as they are here, and I hope you have many lovely roses. Now I can't wait for the gardener to get here!

Oh, Ingrid, Wild Edric is so beautiful!

I am continuing to fight gophers here. I need to put all new roses in gopher root cages but am not digging up any unafflicted until the roots get eaten. Then I put them in pots to regrow roots in their ICU. This is not the romantic gardening we all dream of. Our Gopher Hawks work but we have to keep at it.

I know you are too tender hearted to off your critters.

Between the two of us, we would have whole plants. My tops and your roots. I have just seen the largest rabbit grouping of 6 at once so I hope my tops don't get eaten too.

Well. I'm anticipating losing almost all--perhaps ALL--of the 80-90 box in my garden, some of them quite large, to box moth. But I wouldn't trade situations. I hope all your gardens, somehow, grow! Good luck!

Oh, ye gads, Sheila, that sounds like a lot of work, but I'll keep my fingers crossed that no more of your big and beautiful rose bushes are affected. I'm so sorry that this is happening, and now rabbits too. I'm sending out telepathic death rays to all your furry pests.

Melissa, they may not be roses, but the destruction of such a large number of plants in your garden is mind boggling, as is the prospect of having to dig up and dispose of so many plants. I hope that some sort of miracle will occur and that they won't all succumb. At least you have so many beautiful plants, the roses of course being not the least of them, that I imagine your garden will still be a very beautiful one.

Deborah, sad to say, from doing research on wildlife pests, I, too, learned that releasing trapped animals is a very bad thing to do,and that is actually is kinder just to kill them outright if you can't fence them out or learn to live with them.

Ingrid, what can I say but I'm so sorry. It's too bad you can't fence out those critters. Perhaps it's a stupid idea, but might it help to leave things for them to eat OUTSIDE of you property, to lure them away?

Wild Ed is a toughie for sure - I hacked mine almost to the ground over winter and it is rebounding with vigour. You know, Ingrid, it is a very good rose for a wilder, less romantic but still fruitful native type of garden. Looks good with grasses and wildflowers. Best of luck.

O Melissa - same here. Not that I have 80-90 but I did have a dozen or so largeish box which I liked to shear into balls and cubes and such. Always so great to see during a dry East Anglian winter...but 2 years running with moth and they are in tatters. They are so defoliated, they simply give up in a single season. I did try spraying with BT but had to do it every month all summer and I just couldn't keep it up (or afford it, tbh). They are untouched in the wood (where I allow them to grow as they want) but in urban environments (and all my customers gardens) box is now a dead loss.

I had so many dead shrubs to deal with that I sort of went into destructo-mode and cut EVERYTHING back, including several hazels which never gave a single nut after the squirrels discovered the trove...but popped up all over the plot. After feverish hacking and burning, (and scarred arms and blood) the allotment has been transformed - light and space to get to places I have not walked in a decade, so some silver linings at least. The amount of dead wood took up a space of almost 100m3 (I have huge ramblers) - days and days of chopping and burning in an incinerator.

Gorgeous rose, Ingrid! I wonder if this one is escaping being eaten because it has managed to get tall enough to keep the most delicious bits away from the ground squirrels. I hope it stays uneaten!

bart, it's not a bad idea to lure the squirrels away, but I no longer have the energy to walk to the edges of my property, especially as most (actually all) of it is either uphill or downhill.

primula, for me Wild Ed is a rose for everywhere because of the beauty of both its leaves and flowers, and when it's grown as it should be, and not as an armature of naked branches with tufts of leaves waving about at the tips, it's a sight to behold. In my wild winters it never completely defoliated, and it's really a rose that everyone should be able to grow, even more so in these days of climate change.

K S, I seem to recall that the rose was gobbled up completely from top to bottom when we had many more squirrels, so it seems that there's not a lot that will deter them. They are a motivated bunch when it comes to their tummies.

I just went out earlier today and counted twenty-five buds on Wild Edric! That's up from eight buds from a while ago and I'm so happy. The drip watering seems to have made this rose take on a new life, and me right along with it. Even if I never have another rose, just having this one and seeing it bloom has been practically a life-changing event.

Wild Edric has a fabulous color! I, too, am disappointed that Austin has discontinued so many fine roses.

Rabbits have never nibbled on my Eglantynes, they are quite thorny with rugosa heritage. They don't have an interest in Gertrude Jekyll, that one is thorny as well.

I so agree about the color, Krista. Some roses' blooms can look a bit harsh in certain lighting situations, but not this one. And that fragrance!

Ingrid, I am so glad your Wild Edric survived! 

I've had mine for almost three years and love it so very much. What a flawless rose. The fragrance and blooms and that nice rugosa foliage... What's not to love!? 

Looking forward to seeing pictures of him in your garden when all those buds open!

Ingrid, your WE is a winner! It has color and fragrance and sheer tenacity going for it. It's perfect to have near your door. Every bloom can be enjoyed to the fullest each time you step outside without having to make a special trip out to the edge of your property.

I am so happy that I'm not the only one who has Wild Edric. I wonder how easy it is to propagate. I doubt that I could do this as the squirrels would eat a short bushy plant. It's a rose that deserves to be preserved and grown by more gardeners.

My Wild Edric (bought when it was still commercially available) is blooming for the first time since I moved it into the ground from a container years ago. I had bought it to give as a gift, but the occasion passed, and I decided to keep it. Unfortunately, it is not in a good spot because of competition from the roots of our huge street tree, not to mention shade. The bush is also quite stunted from being in a container, and that is perhaps a good thing, given my lack of space. But this year it has numerous buds and a scattering of open flowers. I notice that these flowers, in addition to being a lovely color and shape, last a long time on the bush. Photo from yesterday, May 3, 2020

Ellen, that's so splendid! I hope that from here on out Wild Edric will give you many beautiful blooms for years to come. The shade from the adjoining tree may possibly help the blooms to last longer.

Thank you Ingrid. The shade from the tree is not the real problem in my south-west-facing front yard. It is the impenetrable web of voracious feeder roots from this dirty, pod-shedding allopathic black locust that are the problem. I wish we had planted something else, years ago, but enough about that. It was a gift from the city. Anyway, some things are managing to live there and I am grateful for that -- or any few inches in our Lilliputian urban estate. I think Wild Edric's roots have finally managed to reach far enough underground to find nourishment -- that and the unusual rains. Nearby Gruss an Aachen looks like it is going to be spectacular.