A 4-foot tall gopher would be interesting indeed. Pix plz.

Dan

Could you have a groundhog? Those are exactly the plants that they went after in my garden - watch your roses, if you have any: they love them too.
Groundhogs live in burrows deep underground, but don't make tunnels all over the place, just a couple leading to the main burrow. The one in our yard that we FINALLY trapped had the main tunnel opening under our garden shed.
They are smart, can climb, are about the size of a good-sized cat, and are a pain in the butt. If that's what you've got, you or an exterminator will have to trap it and take it really, really far away. Then you will have to fill in as much of the tunnel you can get at, or else another one will move right in (personal experience,here). The first step will be finding the tunnel opening - look under overhanging bushes, under porches, under garages, and look for piles of dirt.
Good luck!

Never rule out the bunnies. They can nibble at the base, then it falls, then they devour. Only my baby bunnies eat my plants, the adults rarely. Put money on the woodchuck/groundhog; they have no problems devouring tall plants.

Dang, I had a large pot loaded with old seed I decided to throw down and loads of seedlings sprouted. They were just getting to a just under a foot tall and wouldn't you know it, the woodchuck mowed them down. Grrrrrrr...