I found the struggling remains of the Green Rose that had originally been planted there, thin and anemic-looking, and tried to preserve its few spindly branches. It's amazing it survived the triffid thicket at all... Once the chainsaw carves up the trunk of the Banksia, I'll have to get a mattock and rip up the roots. I love the Banksia in bloom, a mass of yellow powder puffs, but I don't love the way it takes over the universe.
Pruning back the 6-foot canes of the noisette roses by the driveway was a picnic, after that struggle. Even if one of the thorny moss roses whipped around and speared my hand pretty well, as I was trying to tie it to the trellis. Silly me, I'd taken my gloves off to do the tying. Said hand swelled up to half again its normal size by nightfall, though I swear I got all the thorns out. Obviously, there was something on those thorns that my system didn't like. My forefinger is still slightly swollen today, but it's mostly back to normal, now. Revenge of the roses for my attacks, obviously.
It's a huge relief. I tossed out some poppy and sunflower seeds to fill the bare space for spring and summer. With luck, the critters won't eat the sunflower seeds.
Oh yes, and my rats... I have gone through huge amounts of "bio-friendly, humane" rat bait, and will soon have to buy more. The rats are now pooping out pale-colored droppings, so it must be doing something. At least they're not eating my trees (and my boxes---they've gone through several cups of the stuff, over where they were gnawing the boxes in the garage). There is rat poop everywhere. Maybe it also gives them the runs. I don't know. I really wonder if the silk tree can recover from the damage done before I began my rat-feeding project, though. It's pretty badly damaged, and I may end up just calling the tree service, sigh. Spring will tell...
