Ep 262 - Beneath the Surface: The Mystery of the Missing Roots

A thriving rose suddenly becomes loose in the soil, revealing a mystery hidden beneath the mulch. What first appears to be Chipmunk Damage leads to a closer look—Voles, a likely culprit. 

Mary Stone explores the differences between Moles and Voles, practical ways to protect treasured plants, and how gardens often remind us that what we see on the surface rarely tells the whole story. 

“Sometimes the greatest lessons, in gardens and in life, begin when we dig a little deeper.”

In this episode:

• A garden mystery unfolds beneath a client's rose garden. 
• Chipmunks, moles, and voles—who's really responsible? 
• How hardware-cloth baskets can protect valuable roses and shrubs. 
• Why poison is not an ideal solution. 
• A white pine update with encouraging news. 
• Reflections on accepting what we cannot control while tending what matters most. 

Enjoy the Companion Blog Post: Beneath the Surface: The Mystery of the Missing Rose Roots

Related  Episodes to Enjoy:

• Ep. 261 – Treasures from the Warwick NY Garden Tour 
• Ep. 185 – Preservation of the Paulinskill: Overcoming Hardships - how tree tubes used in habitat restoration inspired another way to protect vulnerable plants from unseen damage below ground.
• Ep. 66 – Chipmunk Remedies and Legends 
• Ep. 54 – Sharing Comfort & Dividing Perennials - including a heartfelt reflection about ‘The Boy, the mole, the fox and the Horse,’ illustrated and handwritten by Charlie Mackesy.  
  
  

Connect with Mary Stone
Visit: AskMaryStone.com
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone@gmail.com 

Thank you for listening and for sharing the Garden of Life.🌻

More about the Podcast and Column:

 Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

 It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in, in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone 
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
Direct Link to Podcast Page

Transcript

Ep 262.Beneath the Surface- The Mystery of the Missing Roots

Sat, Jul 25, 2026 5:49PM • 12:08

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Garden dilemmas, nature inspirations, wildfires, countryside garden tour, unusual plant, Eclipdega, lion's ear, root damage, chipmunks, voles, mole tunnels, weeping white pine, pruning wounds, garden lessons, wildlife impact.

SPEAKERS

Mary Stone

Mary Stone  00:00

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries. It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from Mother Nature, and carrying these lessons into our Garden of Life. So let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other; we have lots to talk about. 

Mary Stone  00:23

Hello there, it's Mary Stone on the screen porch on a gorgeous summer day with low humidity. What a welcome shift from last week's oppressive heat and the smoke drifting south from the wildfires in Canada. Whenever I hear about wildfires, I think of the people whose homes and communities are threatened, and the wildlife, the trees, and the flora caught in the path. I hope the fires are contained and that people and animals and forests are spared from further devastation. It really is so hard to imagine. 

Mary Stone  00:58

Before we dig into today's garden dilemma, I want to thank those who reached back after our last chat. Treasures from a countryside garden tour. Tara shared the article and episode with Pat Rienheart, president of the Warwick Valley Gardeners, and she was thrilled. Pat couldn't wait to share it with club members and the generous homeowners who open their gardens for the tour. What a lovely outcome from an already memorable day. 

Mary Stone  01:26

And I heard from Monica from the Garden Club, who solved the mystery of the unusual plant we admired at Cassie's garden. It had square stems and the fascinating appearance of one flower growing from another. It's called Leonotis nepetifolia, also known as lion's ear or Christmas candlestick. it's a member of the mint family and native to southern Africa. I just adored those tall stems punctuated by whorls of peachy orange flowers, so unusual. Gardeners truly are generous detectives, willing to share ideas in the name of a plant. And speaking of garden detectives, today's story began with a rose whose roots had vanished, and it starts like this: 

Mary Stone  02:13

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. During a recent garden tune-up at the home of my longtime client Pat, the gardening team noticed that one of the roses along the foundation was loose in the ground. I had planted that rose the previous summer to replace another one that died after its roots were gnawed to bits. We assumed chipmunks were responsible. There are plenty of them darting around the adjacent rock wall, looking almost too adorable to accuse of wrongdoing, almost that is. Chipmunks can do a lot of damage. What made the new rose especially puzzling was that earlier in the season it had pushed out a profusion of flowers. From above ground it appeared to be flourishing, but the entire plant lifted easily from the soil, and voila! Virtually no roots remained. The rose had used its stored energy to flower, despite what was happening beneath the surface.

Mary Stone  03:11

 Andrew, the lead gardener, mentioned the Juicy Fruit gum remedy that my dear friend and design colleague Marty Carson swore by. Andrew worked in Marty's garden and knew the story very well. I shared the tale in episode 66, Chipmunk Remedies and Legends. I'll put a link in the show notes. I love the legend of chipmunks. So when I first heard it, Marty had said, "You know, drop the old-fashioned Juicy Fruit gum sticks into the chipmunk holes by the boulder wall." And the theory is they will eat the gum, and their innards would bugger up. Not very humane, I know, but the punchline is my chipmunks like Juicy Fruit gum, and it seems they invited their friends to join the party. Maybe they'll croak from rotting teeth. Anyway, she also suggested an outdoor cat, but that was before Miss Jolie arrived on the scene, and she's a pretty good chipper. 

Mary Stone  04:04

After I visited Pat's garden, I went down a research rabbit hole-or should I say, vole hole? Chipmunks certainly dig burrows and can disturb roots while stashing food, but when a plant lifts from the soil and its roots appear chewed off, voles are more likely the culprit. The soft ground beneath Pat's shrubs provided another clue. Walking through the bed felt spongy, even though there were only a few inches of mulch.

Mary Stone  04:32

Andrew assumed the softness came from chipmunk tunnels, but voles create a network of shallow runways beneath grass mulch and leaf litter; their tunnels are closer to the surface than chipmunks and undermine it enough to make the ground feel squishy underfoot. 

Mary Stone  04:48

A side note here: voles and moles are often confused. Unlike moles, voles are rodents. They resemble stocky little mice with short tails, small eyes, and ears. Partially concealed by fur, they eat grass, roots, bulbs, bark, and other plant materials, and they can sure damage lawns and ornamental plants, and strip bark or sever roots from trees and shrubs. Moles are insect-eating mammals with powerful shovel-like front feet designed for digging; they feed primarily on earthworms and grubs, slugs and other soil-dwelling creatures, not rose roots. And moles are often blamed for plant damage because their tunneling disturbs soil and can expose roots. Voles may even use abandoned mole tunnels as underground passageways, leaving the mole to take the blame for the damage, but both of these critters serve a purpose. Moles help turn and aerate soil while feeding on insects, and voles are an important food source for owls, hawks, foxes, snakes, and other predators. They belong in nature. We would merely prefer they not eat roots in the bark of trees, however.

Mary Stone  06:03

I suggested that Pat place a replacement rose in a large container. The boxwood hedge in front of the roses is now knee-high, so you wouldn't even see the pot. Yes, it may require extra winter protection in our climate, but at least its roots would be beyond the reach of the underground dining committee. Then I learned about hardware cloth baskets. You can make one from quarter-inch galvanized hardware cloth by cutting a generous piece of mesh and shaping it into a wire bowl. Fold the sides upward, overlap and secure the corners, and leave the top open. The basket is then placed in the planting hole, fill it with soil, and the rose is planted inside. For a shrub or rose, the basket might be 18 to 24 inches wide and 12 to 18 inches deep. 

Mary Stone  06:54

There are ready-made bowl baskets also available. For a rose, if it's in a three- or five-gallon nursery container, I would suggest you get a 10-gallon basket. That way, the rose has plenty of room to grow. The rose's fine roots can eventually extend beyond the mesh, but its crown and central root system will receive valuable protection. 

Mary Stone  07:18

I also came across bags of mole and gopher poison at a farm supply store. I didn't buy it, though, because poison introduces an entirely different dilemma. They can expose children and pets if the bait is not securely contained. Depending on the active ingredient, a poisoned animal may also be eaten by an owl, a hawk, a fox, or a snake, or a domestic pet, creating the possibility of secondary poisoning. Plus, using poison to eliminate voles could harm the very predators that naturally help control them. Every action creates another reaction. For Pat's rose, a wire basket feels like a far more sensible approach, protecting the plant rather than affecting our environment in a negative way. 

Mary Stone  08:05

The missing rose roots weren't the only mystery in that garden tune-up. Pat has a beautiful weeping white pine growing near the house, and the canopy looked very thin, and there were white flecks and streaks marked on the trunk. At first, I wondered whether disease or insect infestation was causing its decline. A closer inspection showed mostly green needles without the widespread spotting, banding, or browning we would expect from a serious needle disease. The white streaks appeared to be dried pitch flowing from old pruning wounds. The tree had formed callus tissue around them and had been compartmentalizing those injuries for years, but I believe the pine was impacted by the especially dry conditions rather than catastrophic disease because after the significant rainfall, it started looking noticeably better. As with the disappearing rose roots, the first appearance did not tell the entire story. We had to look more closely. 

Mary Stone  09:07

Garden dilemmas resemble the setbacks in our lives. We have no control over many of them. We cannot force another living thing to become something it is not. We can't change the instinct of voles or moles or chipmunks. We can't command a plant to thrive when its roots are compromised. We can't control the weather or decide which trees can endure droughts, storms, or disease. 

Mary Stone  09:31

One of the lessons I've learned in the garden and in Life is that people and plants are not ours to fix. Yes, we can water, and we can nurture, and we can encourage, we can build little wire baskets around tender roots, but we can't force another living thing to become something it isn't capable of becoming or surviving. 

Mary Stone  09:53

I often dictate notes to share before I sit with you on the screened porch, and as I was dictating the sentiment above, Jolee spotted a chipmunk at the edge of the farm field, and I didn't see the chipmunk, so she lunged toward it and nearly knocked me off my feet. And I have to tell you, it's like her purpose in Life to chase chipmunks and squirrels. When I remind her that she's on a leash, if I see the chipper first, she usually listens, but I can't change her instincts. The same is true in relationships. We can care deeply and offer support for others. We can hope someone will grow or accept help, but we can't do another person's growing for them. 

Mary Stone  10:35

And gardens and nature have taught me that the answers are often hidden beneath the surface. The culprit isn't always what we first suspect. We don't always get to choose what tunnels beneath our lives, but we do get to decide how we'll tend to our roots. 

Mary Stone  10:54

Indeed, there's always so much to notice and wonder about in gardens and nature, and I so enjoy sharing the time that we discuss them together, and all the little things that come up in my Life and yours that you share with me. I invite more of you to reach out to me at askmary stone@gmail.com. I just love hearing from you. And until next time, every little critter you come upon, although you may not see moles and voles too often because they're underground- every one of those creatures has a purpose in our lives. And yes, it can frustrate us, but it is all part of the perfect unfolding in the garden of Life. Thank you for visiting with me. See you next time on the screen porch. 

Mary Stone  11:38

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook or online at gardendilemmas.com, and on Instagram at hashtag MaryElaine Stone. Garden Dilemmas: Delights and Discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch, and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of Life. Have a great day.