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Oh, deer....

Sometimes, I get into these silly games with myself.  I wonder if I should be spending more money on deer repellants then I do on the plants I'm protecting.  Then I justify by figuring what a great deal I had made in acquiring the plant - bargain shopper that I am.  It's a never ending juggle and in the end I know I purchased and nurtured the plant because I loved it and it gave me joy .  So, of course, I have to continue caring for them and spray diligently with deer repellants to protect them from being devoured.  

I ran out of spray with my last application.  Overnight a brand new bed of tulips popped up.   I didn't get a chance to spray and yes the deer ate them all last night.  Thankfully, I had decided on daffodils for the entire hill I planted last autumn.  The deer won't eat these cheerful flowers.   A new idea I have begun experimenting with was to plant a token foxglove (digitalis) in each of my beds.  I have the shady yard that foxglove need.  Foxglove is toxic to deer.  I even placed one in the center of a whiskey barrel last year surrounded by impatiens.  Not one impatien got eaten.  Each of the flower beds actually faired very well.  I have an entire bed of just floxglove and crocus.  The deer never (never say never) in 13 years have touched one of these crocus.  

Bobbex is the product I use.  Repellex is a newer and intriguing product.  Repellex tablets get planted with your new shrub and is absorbed by the plant systemically.  This is perfect for your larger ornamentals because it lasts for a couple of years.  It is a natural product that deer find very bitter - I wonder what kind of face they make?  It takes a month or so to become effective, so it is important to spray in the interim.

Not long ago, I was chatting with my friend in northern Vermont.  She was laughing at my little deer stories and shared this:  One day she decide to sit by the window with her cup of tea.  Just as she got comfy, a large (imagine there aren't too many small) moose came right up to the beautiful perennial bed outside this window.  It swallowed an entire hosta in one bite.  She said whatever this moose didn't chomp up, it devastated with it's big hooves.  But worst of all with my friend's tea on the floor and her jumping up and down at the window, the moose decided to fertilize her garden as well.  My friend tells me no, it does not come in the nice little pellet form of the deer.....

 4/13/01