Leslie, one of my all-time favorite plants! I think a suet cage would have holes that are too large. A vole can get through the tightest space. Maybe your local hardware store has hardware cloth that you could make a cage from? I think it comes as small as 1/8". If you make it big enough there should be enough room for roots, and the roots would grow through the holes anyway. I've had voles decimate part of my clumps of this plant so you're probably right to protect it.

Hi thyme2dig,

Thanks for answering. I did manage to get the plant into a suet cage --it wasn't easy because it's already in bloom! But I carefully worked the 3 shoots into the holes and managed to knock extra soil off the roots without disturbing the rhizome. I was thinking of using hardware cloth around the sides and bottom of the suet cage for extra protection but I don't think I can cover the top because of the shoots. I should have asked for an earlier ship date, I guess. A bare rhizome would have been easier to work with. --At least now I can lift the rhizome without causing it much damage as I try to reinforce the cage. (As an aside... I asked about hardware cloth as Lowe's and the man I spoke with had never heard of it. Despite the fact that we found shelves of it a few feet away.) I will add hardware cloth to the sides and bottom (and over the top when it stops blooming).

Thanks very much.