The two bold ones stick together.
The third hangs back peeking from behind cover.
When the pair get out of sight,
the third starts bawling and running after them.
Fawn drama…
from three fawns in the yard.
FLOW
Three Fawns in the Yard
Deer
Deer Damage
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.
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.
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.
I still have some Amaryllis/Hippeastrum out in the gardens. Poor Moonscene was mutilated.
The two pinks had fences on top, so they are safe.
Atleast sweet little Santiago is safe on the porch.
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.
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.
FLOW
Fawns Eating Apples
Mama brought her fawns for a quiet feast.
I love it here.
FLOW
It is a Different World Here in Zone 5
I brought up some ‘Lucifer’ Crocosmias to put in our mountain garden, because the deer never ate the blooms in our Zone 7 gardens.
The night before the planned photo shoot featuring a perfectly shaped stand, the deer here came through and beheaded most of the clump.
There is a new type of slug here. Great!
I will be switching to blogging about nature instead of battling it when I fully recover. I have been at war too long. I will always want nature to win, despite my dreams of gorgeous flowers and tasty herbs.
My family sent me photos from home of my flowers. Here are two plants thriving in my absence.
FLOW switching tactics
Home for Battle
I may be a weakened and injured warrior, but I still have a fighting heart for my green babies. It is past time for Deer Protection Phase II. That means that fence rings were put around all deer delicacies to protect the emerging foliage, but no stakes were in place to hang the rings.
My family tried to intervene with deer deterants, but the herd is so big now, they were undeterred. When we moved here there were no deer or squirrels and very few people. Things have changed drastically in the past decade.
I have been hiking and hauling up and down the hills for hours. Stakes were placed for Mr. Flower to hammer in, since I should not stomp them in as usual. My body is now too expensive to be used as a gardening tool.
I must admit that I automatically stomped several in before I caught myself. I was pleased to get away with this move without an ambulance ride following. I hope my two PT people, Rick and Jeff, do not read this.
I also use tomato cages and a hanging fence ring. Things start looking a bit messy this time of year, due to my using any old thing on hand to inconvenience our hungry herd.
They eat daylily and Asiatic lily buds before they open. They behead all sedums be it new foliage or blooms. This year I was shocked to find an entire Tiger lily topped off. They usually leave the tigers alone.
I am pleased that my hips, knees and shoulder allowed me to work all day. I am sure they will not allow me to sleep tonight as punishment.
I hope all this will save my blooms. I am too old to battle a big herd of hungry deer, but I am not out of the fight yet!
FIGHTING FLOWER
The Deer are Here
The deer are here every day now.
Eating and listening and watching.
Our refuge is their refuge.
The sounds that surround us
have herded them here to our haven.
We will share, we must be fair.
My most delicate treasures will be moved
to a bunny yard without bunnies.
Saving only the best and losing the rest.
That’s where we are
and the deer are here.
FLOW
A Herd in the Yard
When the green shoots up the deer show up.
A pine fell and knocked down the fence around the green patch.
They started there for a snack.
Then the herd moved down the bank to the daylilies.
The big one in the front knows me.
I waved to her as she posed for my camera.
Time to fence in the expensive stuff.
I try to deter the deer, although they are dear.
FLOW
Here She Is
How can I withhold food from a nursing mother?
She was so hungry she came back to snack on the bank at 5:30 in the evening.
This mama is ravenous. Maybe she has twins?
I could see her milk bag as she climbed the bank.
At least she stopped and posed for me before running into the woods.
I guess I’ll just clean house and read the rest of the summer.
FLOWERLESS
The Not Eaten Treasure
I will start this post with a beautiful new flower
that opened for the first time this morning.
It is a ‘Splendens’ Tiger lily, Lilium tigrinums.
It has my two favorite colors peachy/melon orange with plum-colored spots.
I am extra grateful to get to see this bloom this morning.
Hundreds of my other blooms did not have the opportunity to open this morning,
because they were eaten by deer last night.
Have I put my heart in transient treasure?
Twenty-eight years of carefully planning and tending my gardens
to become a high-dollar delicatessen for deer?
My living jewels eaten by marauding mammals.
Is this really how one should invest one’s time, money and energy:
to supply the locals with exotic cuisine, free-of-charge?
I must say the FLOWER is feeling rather foolish.
So today, I will enjoy my treasures that have not been eaten.
I need to love things that are not edible…
like my bunnies.
FOOL
floweralley 