The war of the roses

I love my roses. To live on my property, you have to love roses, there are dozens of bushes, and that means a lot of pruning and spraying, and caring.

At the moment I am at war to protect my roses!!!!

I don't mind the usual enemies, things like black spot, or aphids, I know how to fight them, and currently I am winning these battles, as my gold bunnies attest.

But there is a more sinister enemy out there that is trying to decimate my bushes.

These beautiful native rainbow lorikeets are everywhere here in the hills, and they are extremely destructive, orchardists have to net their fruit trees to stop them eating their crops.

This is what they do to my precious roses:

Before:

After:

Again, before:

and after:

I'm sure you would agree this is very disturbing, as they are simply being destructive, sucking the sap out of the new shoots, leaving the flowers to wilt, and the plant with no new growth.

Here is an example of their work......

so I have declared WAR on these monsters of the sky!!!!

They strike, when I am at my most vulnerable, using guerilla tactics, usually swooping before dawn. Now, I have been through an exhaustive investigation of the tactics available to me and here are my findings:

1. I could run around flapping my arms in my PJs at 6am to scare them off, but that really doesn't appeal to me, and could be a bit embarrassing if I am spotted by the neighbours.

2. I could hang CD discs from the bushes to scare them off. This has been tried by others with limited success but I like to listen to my CDs, and besides I think a garden full of shiny discs hanging from bits of string looks a bit naff.

3. I could put nets over the bushes, but what's the point of having them if I can't see the flowers?

4. So this is my preferred method of attack:

I boil up a mixture of these potent ingredients, and spray them on the bushes!!!!!!

The poor little birdies don't like the taste and go away!

And if this doesn't work my gardener has some really foul smelling stuff that is my last line of defence.

Chemical warfare .............as a last resort!

Be afraid pretty little birdies, be very afraid!

Please be aware that the aim is not to harm rainbow lorikeets at Elmbrook simply to stop them from ruining my roses!