Last fall, when I saw mounds of dirt surrounding my prized rose bushes, I was worried. "Moles," I was told by local experts. "They only eat the grubs. They leave the roots alone." So you can imagine my horror when, in the process of moving a rose bush this spring, I found its roots had been chewed down to a nubbin. The little monsters that had been chewing the roots of my valiant plants were not moles, but were gophers. "This is war!" I declared. But I had no idea what gophers or moles looked like,let alone how to defeat them. Moles, the dictionary says, are insectivorous mammals, about 6-1/2 inches long, with velvety fur, small eyes and very strong forefeet, living chiefly underground and eating grubs, roots and bulbs. Gophers are burrowing rodents, 8-1/2 inches long, that can cause severe damage to plants by nibbling their roots.
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