Nick Plummer wrote: "That just leaves the effing voles to deal with. " Nick, I hope you're right. I'm in the same boat this year: my community garden plots, where I grow most of my lilies, have a deer fence which has been supplemented with plastic coated chicken wire at the bottom. A group of us drove out the resident rabbit last week. I've been setting traps for rats. And this week I had two ugly surprises: some young roses looked a little funny the other day: I gave one a tug and out came whole stems neatly nibbled at the base and utterly rootless. And when I flipped a board near some nibbled lily bulbs, out ran a fat little vole. And now I'm noticing the little vole holes here and there.And then there's this: while driving through the neighborhood the other day, a perky looking little light brown critter the size of a cat was sitting up alongside the road, seeming to wave to me as I drove by: woodchucks have moved in. If they get into the garden it will be a real disaster. For those of you outside eastern North America, woodchucks are gigantic ground squirrels the size of a lap dog - and with appetites to match. Jim McKenneyMontgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I sometimes wonder if I should just take up golf. _______________________________________________ pbs mailing list pbs@lists.ibiblio.org http://pacificbulbsociety.org/list.php http://pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/