Soft heart!

Early Tuesday morning I was doing my usual...walking our two Golden Retrievers, Sam and Carly. Just beyond the barn I noticed our two dogs chasing a fawn. Of course, I had to reprimand them and save the baby deer! The mother came whizzing by me at a speed that seemed to exceed what was possible! If I am ever found laid out, you all will know what happened to me! The mama deer was not happy and I do not blame her! I usually encounter a baby deer each year and sometimes a few in a season. It is always a fun experience!  And this is my second such event in two weeks! I’m going to be cursing this animal next spring when it is eating at my plants What can I say?....I have a soft heart.

A deer problem with the wedding flowers

Hello everyone! I love gardening too. Yeah another hobby! Our daughter got married June 28, 2008 and my friend and I grew all of the potted flowers. She has seven big green houses! We have a deer problem where we live in Sewanee, TN. So she let me house many of the pots there and the others came to our deck. And I grew 60 Star Gazer Lillies or (Asiatic? Not sure of the difference) from bulbs. They are my daughter's favorite flower. I took a chance and planted the bulbs about 9 weeks prior to the wedding. I got lucky they started blooming at 8 weeks (a week before the wedding) and the last ones bloomed out about two weeks after the wedding. They were amazing.

After the wedding we had lots of potted flowers to give to family and friends to enjoy. We still had an amazing container garden going on! I started putting the flowers everywhere. The deer attacked! I fought back with a product call “Hinders” it worked ok. The deer still nibbled or just pulled plants up. I had trouble finding the product. It is a concentrated formula that made around 5 gallons for $14.98 when mixed with water. I found a product at Home Depot for $18.98 and it was a 32 oz bottle not concentrated. So.....I came home frustrated and decided to work on a concoction of my own. It is working! I've been testing it since mid-summer 2008. I was covering everything with sheets at night and running out early to uncover everything last spring. It was embarrassing! I couldn’t go a day before the deer would ravage our flowers if I didn't cover them up. The plants are now recovering nicely. And it is wonderful not to have to cover everything.

Spring is here again and I put all the flowers in our garage for the winter. Many of them survived and are starting to put on new growth. I am looking forward to new and more gardening this spring without the frustration of the deer eating all of our flowers and plants.