Mike, It may be that the rate of reproduction exceeds that of predation... but I currently have in the ground: bowiei, hirta (2nd year), obtusa, purpurea, incarnata, rubra and triangularis. Also glabra in a gopher cage. I have several others (thanks BX) in pots which I am tempted to stick in the ground as well. One issue is that once I do this things get mixed together and I lose the ID's etc... Some of my ID may be suspect, but the pink rubra (rhizomes), bowiei and triangularis have been ignored - tunnels right through them. O. incarnata (I'm guessing) has stem bulbils and walks out of pots and spreads badly - but it stays "low" so its OK for now, especially compared to pes caprae. I have not seen evidence of gophers actually eating O. pes caprae - no cut stems etc. but they sure like to collect the bulbs for later... We have always had cats (Pudge currently has been catching squirrels) and I have not detected any plant damage I could attribute to above ground rodents.. Chad -----Original Message----- From: pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org [mailto:pbs-bounces@lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Michael Mace Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2010 1:17 PM To: pbs@lists.ibiblio.org Subject: [pbs] Oxalis and gophers Chad wrote: >> I want to try the well behaved ones in the garden as much as possible since they appear to be gopher safe. Please let us know how that works out. I tried a number of different O. obtusa in the garden, and they were eaten aggressively by some rodent. It may have been mice -- I eventually had to put chicken wire in my pots to protect them. Mike San Jose, CA