"Garden? What garden?"
"Oh, your garden? We weren't anywhere near your garden! Seriously."
"Well, maybe we wandered in to take a peek... just to see what's blooming, you understand. You know what would taste, I mean look really nice? Some delicious, I mean beautiful tulips... Yeah, that's right, tulips... "
"What do you mean you don't plant those because we would just eat them?
"It wasn't us. It was him!"
I spent the day in the garden yesterday, cleaning up the god awful mess... Is that a word? One word or two? Should I have capitalized god? Somehow it seems less sacrilegious if it's not capitalized... :)
Does anyone know of any good deer-proof perennials?
Posts
Daffodils - deer don't like the Dafs. (o: But, oh those tulips - yummy. Marigolds, Gerber Daisies are a few that I have been able to grow without being eaten.
ReplyDeleteI had a pot of Impatients on the front steps one summer - yep, our deer came right up and just snipped off every flower. But I love them to pieces. (o:
Happy Weekend
Hugs
It's so frustrating to have your hard work and favorite plants eaten for dinner by deer. Fortunately, we don't have too much trouble with deer; but here is a website with perennials listed that are "deer proof"... or at least less tasty to deer.
ReplyDeletehttp://hortchat.com/info/deer-proof-perennials
Hope this helps for future plantings.
~ Babs
Yes, daffodils. Our deer don't bother our poppies, bleeding hearts, hyacinths . . . it's weird because they bypass some perennials that the books say they should like.
ReplyDeleteBut roses? Stand back. They love 'em.
I wanted to plant those bloomin' knockout roses along the upper driveway to keep down weeds and look nice. I'm probably planting lavender instead. Oh well. In this, the deer win.
But they're cute. A little spooky when you go out at 5am with the dog and they are silently slipping thru the shrubbery like ghosts, but still -- cute. I love the fawns.
Cass
Other than a 12 gauge, I use a product called "Skoot". It leaves a brown splat on the plants, but I guess it has a bad smell (and taste). I've successfully used it for a couple of years (as long as I remember to spray it on!!). Someone told me last year that I could spray it around the plants and it would work as well. I'm going to try that this year.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Stunning pictures Mary, but I feel your pain. My bunnies love to chew my perennial plants including the roses. You are a wonderful photographer.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh while reading your post, Mary. Do you know I put a TRIPLE potent liquid all around my tulip and daffodil sprouts---red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, and jalapenos. Yesterday morning I went out and the squirrels STILL dug up more bulbs! They must have hot taste buds, that's for SURE. OLE! So. The flower bed now has chicken wire over its entire top. Hope that helps.
ReplyDeleteYour deer photos are superior. Susan
Hee, hee. That's why I have rosemary planted all over the place! It keeps away all kinds of unwanted visitors.... Yep! It works!
ReplyDelete.....now if the rosemary would just keep some of the hungry neighborhood kids away......
They are so pretty to watch, but oh they do ruin a garden. Hugs, Marty
ReplyDeleteThey don't like the mediterranean plants and most herbs, but die for anything in the rose family, including apple trees. Boo! I concur on the daffodils (unappealing to gophers and squirrels, too), whereas tulips are a delicacy! In my area, they are fond of Arborvitae, and seem to sheer them into quite interesting, womanly shapes!
ReplyDelete(I'm actually lucky, because aside from digging our apple trees, the deer in my neighborhood are more interested in my neighbors' veggie gardens than anything else on my property. It might be the dog...)
Amazing !!!! You are really good !! Ag
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain. We moved a year ago to this house where the deer graze regularly. Lavender, rosemary, daffodils, and most herbs have succeeded, but other than that they eat things that aren't even on their dietary recommendations. Hence, our big new fence!
ReplyDeleteIt's not impossible, but nearly so. I learned the hard way - - 200 tulips for breakfast. I've learned to love daffodils. Also, lilacs, iris, peony, purple coneflower (inc. most coneflowers), shasta daisy, black-eyed susan, daylilly, yarrow, heuchera, ferns, coreopsis, boxwood, butterfly bush. Those stalwarts are the heart and backbone of my garden the deer NEARLY always bypass. Once in a while they do nibble on hostas, but I have fairly good success with them. Also, most sedum do well once they're past the new, tender stages of spring. It's REALLY hard to keep color going all summer with perennials that deer don't eat. Seems like all I end up with is yellow. I add zinnia, snapdraggons, vinca and marigolds for annual interest. Forget about tulips - ever. I swear they'd eat a store-bought bouquet off my kitchen table. Also forget about garden phlox. I have a hard time finding perennials that flower in the shade or perennials with pink and purple flowers that they don't eat. It's a challenge. And, forget almost entirely about vegetable or fruit gardening. I try every year and every year they take the fun right out of it, but by the time spring comes around again, I've mustered up enough tenaciousness to take them on again. They always win.
ReplyDeleteAngela, actually the deer in my area eat coneflowers, Shasta daisies, black eyed susans and hostas as well... And my soil is clay, so most Mediterranean and herb plants don't do well... I think I may concentrate on boxwood, Siberian iris and peonies... Oh, and hellebores and daffodils. I haven't found a late summer bloomer that they won't eat yet...
ReplyDeleteCactus....I'm sorry about that....seriously, I don't believe that there is anything they don't eat....they must be part goat!....smiles...TGIF~
ReplyDeleteOh I love the deer! We get them around here too...Christine
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures! The deer blaming the squirrel....sounds like my classroom:) Gotta love 'em:)
ReplyDeleteSo sorry about the deer! The ironic thing around here is that out in the country, where we live, there are very few deer -- but in town the flowers and shrubs are stripped as high as the deer can reach. I hope you still have some left to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteLove the photo Mary. They are beautiful creatures but I'm so glad we don't have deer here in Oz.
ReplyDeletei don't think there are any....but they are beautiful. someone told me that if you plant things they like at the edges that they will not come closer as they are full
ReplyDeleteI agree about daffodils. They don't seem to like my lilacs, bleeding hearts, or day lilies, either. But don't plant asian lilies except as deer food!
ReplyDeleteAwww, the deer are so cute. Mary, I am sorry about your tulips. I think you need to get a dog. The deer hardly ever come near our yard because of the dog. But, we do have a problem with the groundhogs eating everything in sight.
ReplyDeletetoo cute! It reminded me of Peter Rabbit!
ReplyDeleteI would think it a wonder to have deer wandering through my garden...but then I live in the suburbs and don't have wildlife just wandering through eating my plants. My Aunt had a possum eat her tulip bulbs, so I guess that is the same thing. Anyway, adorable post. Thankyou!
Love the amazing photography you do...the deer and the bright showy forsythia combine to make the heart sing.
ReplyDeleteHappy Monday
arg! The deer! We love watching them BUT how dare they eat our plants! We have about 4 around here all the time too.
ReplyDeleteDamn deer. It doesn't help that they're so beautiful.
ReplyDelete