Good slope plants to keep the critters at bay

Q, We have a slope that is about 4,000 square feet and is quite steep. It's mostly bare and I have decided to plant it with plants that rabbits and gophers will not eat. Rosemary is one. Can you steer me to a source where I can find others plants that won't be eaten by critters?Â Once it is planted, I want to spend as little time as possible on the slope. -- Jack

A. There are actually quite a few plants that rabbits tend to leave alone, but unfortunately gophers are not so easily deterred. What you put on your slope, Jack, depends on how you want it to look. If you want prostrate plants that take very little water, besides the rosemary that you mention, you might try bougainvillea, which looks spectacular if left to trail down a hill, or Point Reyes ceanothus, which is a creeping variety of the California lilac. With just these three plants, you could cover your hill; and once they were established, you could almost forget about it. Occasional water in summer is all they would need.

If you want upright plants, most of the salvias and lavenders are mid-sized shrubs that take just moderate water but do need a little pruning from time to time. If you want big, go for the Buddleias (butterfly bush) and Echeium (pride of Madeira).

Check out the web site . It has a long list of critter-resistant plants; however, gophers are not among the critters. The only plant that I know of that gophers will not eat is Gopher Purge and it is unlikely that you would want 4,000 square feet of it. Gophers do tend to dig where the ground is soft and easy to dig, so the less water a plant requires, the less likely they are to tunnel near it.Â

About the only effective things you can do about gophers is to either trap or poison them, and both require that you find the main tunnel. UC Davis on their IPM web site has a pest note that will illustrate how to effectively accomplish this task: Â Â Â Â

Q. I'm hoping you can give me some tips on the most effective way (and when) to use pre-emergent weed treatments. I love working in the yard, but weeding my acre is overwhelming me! Thank you for your help. -- Kay

A. Â I am going to make a guess, Kay, that you are not talking about controlling weeds in turf, because pre-emergents are used differently in turf and gardens. In gardens, they can be applied almost any time. Most are different types of herbicides, but there are some on the market that work by stimulating growth so much that the seed uses all of its energy before it breaks ground and is able to photosynthesize. All need to be watered in thoroughly, and none have an indefinite period of effectiveness, so they will need to be reapplied periodically. Read the label carefully and follow the manufacturer's directions -- and remember that they work on all seeds, not just weed seeds.

Rose Crawford is a certified garden consultant and a master composter who lives and gardens in Vista.Â She answers your gardening questions every other week.Â E-mail questions to or write to "Ask Rose," c/o Features Dept., North County Times, 207 E. Pennsylvania Ave., Escondido, CA 92025.