deer damage

The Herd

| Flower Roberts

My daughter, Rose, sent these photos yesterday evening of our herd settling down for the night. Only eleven of the fourteen are in this group. As you can see, this is their habitat. My job now is too remove my artificial food source.

Deer herd eating in our yard

I am making decisions about what stays and what goes in the gardens. The criterion is
Do the deer eat it?

Poor hydrangea

If the deer eat it, it will be removed. My favorite daylilies will be moved inside the fence. The rest will be given away. I also have deer on the mountain, so I will not be taking any there.

Now that the herd is more hungry and less finicky, they are eating plants they used to ignore.

Most of the herd next door

Here is the purge list:

Solomon seal

Lily of the Valley

Daylilies(except favorites)

Tiger lilies

Hydrangeas

Sedums (not in pots)

I refuse to be part of the problem any longer.

Relaxing before dark

I have spent enough time and money deterring the herd.

FLOW KNOWS WHEN TO SAY WHEN

The Lavender Experiment

| Flower Roberts

Deer do not like the scent of lavender. I decided to plant lavender in my flower beds to deter deer snacking. I wanted to see which lavender hybrids did best here in Zone 7.

The experimental row of lavender.

I purchased seven different varieties.
Here is the list in order of best to worst performance. All of these have survived two years of neglect (except Superblue which died). Keep in mind I only used one of each variety instead of many test plants per hybrid for more data.

1. LLOYD TRAVEN #pp24193( Lavendula x Phenomenal) great form, many flower stalks

LLOYD TRAVEN PP#24193 lavender


2. PROVENCE: nice mound, long stalks, light purple

Provence lavender


3. HIDCOTE: smaller mound, deep purple, chunky blooms

Hidcote lavender


4. PHENOMENAL: tall stalks, survived traffic, lovely green

Phenomenal lavender


5. MUNSTEAD: small mound, lovely gray tint on short stalks, chunky blooms, good size for a pot

Munstead lavender


6. BRIDGET CHLOE: really tall stalks, survived traffic

Bridget chloe lavender


7. SUPERBLUE= died

Lavender row

Any of these will deter deer at close range.

The herd still went behind two lavender plants to ravage this Lacecap Hydrangea. BLAH!

Poor edible lacecap hydrangea
Blooms out of deer range

FLOWER

Deer Damage

| Flower Roberts

I am back at the lake for a weekend. There has been drought conditions here. I expected things to be dry. The unexpected find was the level of deer damage. The herd is hungrier than ever.

We might as well dig up all the hydrangeas.

Butchered bush

They usually leave the tiger lilies alone. Both stands have been beheaded inside support rings. Their are only one or two tops left that may bloom. The rest are done for the year.

Beheaded tigers


The patch of pineapple lilies has been sheared off to only five inches high. I will fence this in tomorrow. The flower stalks emerge later, so they may still be able to bloom.

Eaten pineapple lilies

I still have some Amaryllis/Hippeastrum out in the gardens. Poor Moonscene was mutilated.

The only Moonscene bloom not totally destroyed.
Munched on Moonscene

The two pinks had fences on top, so they are safe.

Atleast sweet little Santiago is safe on the porch.

Santiago

I must accept that this place has reached the point of diminishing returns. It’s tough to see decades of work go down the drain.

I will be rescuing a few favorites and letting the rest go. I am hiring help for a big purge. I have been losing this battle for years now. It is past time to cut my losses.

There have been some good things, too. Rose caught a catfish this evening. 

Catfish:caught and let go

We all got to see the gorgeous fox come out at dusk. I will appreciate what is still here while I am here.

I miss the mountain.

The view from the porch.

FLOW