I am cleaning up the gardens and have a few questions. One of my perennial gardens has been invaded with violets and thin, scrawny thorny off shoots of, I guess, the rose bushes, I have cut down all of these but there are way too many to get at all the roots. Any suggestions on how to prevent them from coming back? Some type of mulch, perhaps? Thanks for your time.

Kristin

I don't think mulch will kill rose shoots. For pesky roots of any kind, be it tree roots or shrub roots, I would fire up my tiller and dig them out. If you don't have a capable tiller, there are plenty of hand tools that can attack the roots, including a spading fork, landscaper's mattock, "sharp shooter" spade, etc. I wouldn't want to poison the soil with any kind of herbicide.

MM