Gopher dilemma - trying for a few flowers

[Oakstable]

Anyone have ideas for plants that gophers don't care for?

I tried alternating Society Garlic with Daylilies -- both drought tolerant -- and the gophers took out the daylilies. Maybe they are working on the Society Garlic too.

Would I have better luck planting something that doesn't have such bulbous roots?

[JB]

Will foxglove grow in your area? It's poisonous to deer, so might be to gophers too, and if so they might know to leave it alone.

Daylilies are quite edible - all parts, even for humans - so that's not a good choice if you're trying to foil critters, as you found LOL Bummer though because they are SO easy to grow.

I did a quick search on a lot of terms - "what grows in So Cal that gopher's don't like" :lol::lol::lol: and Dave's Garden comes to the rescue again.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/896857/

Sage is an awesome plant family - there are oodles of varieties. Salvia too.

So, to that end, you might check out High Country Gardens (http://www.highcountrygardens.com/) as they have tons of great things that grow in low-moisture areas, though you'd have to check the heat tolerance of some of the plants.

I have some salvia that I just love - it thrives in the hot NC Summer sun, even against a rock wall of the house (http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d800b3127ccec73e70d78aef00000040O00AZtmzRs2ct2 IPbz4Q/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/)

[Oakstable]

Thanks, Jordana.

I have lantanya in my front yard now for a couple years and the gophers have not messed with it.

I see daylilies all over my area because there are so drought tolerant and they apparently are not on the radar screen of gophers.

The area I want to plant apparently is a thoroughfare for gophers.

I'm ready to hire someone to gas the holes.

[draftdriver]

I found out the hard way that gophers (we call them groundhogs here) love sweet peas, lily of the valley, and lots of my other favourites. They won't touch marigolds. My guess is that they would leave chrysanthemums (sp?) alone too.

[goodhors]

If you don't mind being a little redneck, I have had good luck with the cheapy whirly-gigs. You stick them into the ground near the tunnels and entrances. Supposedly the vibration of the whirling decoration on the heavy wire, annoys the gophers or chipmunks, moles, to move them away.

I got a bunch of these whirly things at our dimestore, $2 each, made a row that I advanced across the yard, "herding" them off into the paddock. Mine were mostly moles though. They come because there is good food, worms and grubs in the roots of plants. Not usually flowering plant eaters, even good bulbs.

Around here, gophers are small, squirrel size or chipmunk sized. They act like squirrels too, run over, pick stuff up, run back to the den, but not terrific tunnelers. Mine don't eat my flowers. Groundhogs are BIG rodents, 15-50 pounds. They probably come visit the garden plants, but would not dig under them without leaving large dirt piles. You could fall into that hole yourself!