Looking out at my vegetable garden early this morning, I noticed that one tomato plant seemed to be missing its top. Hmmm, what’s up with that, I thought to myself. Standing a couple of feet tall, it was unlikely a woodchuck would be able to reach the top and woodchucks aren’t careful eaters – the whole tomato plant would be a stub! No, this was something else, something I needed to investigate further. I walked out into the humid July morning to find nearly all my daylily flower buds missing from the same garden. I knew the culprit immediately – Deer!
Yes, folks, it’s a sad truth that deer love daylilies as much as we do. They wait until the fat buds are just ready to burst into bloom and then delicately nip their way through each plant. Does the phrase “nipped in the bud” come to mind? I never had deer eat my tomato plants before but then my previous vegetable garden was enclosed by a six-foot fence. That vegetable garden was sacrificed to a new septic system installation and the old fence went with it, but that’s another story. This newer two-year old garden had escaped the deer until now but I knew it was only a matter of time because NOTHING will deter deer if you don’t have a fence.
Now this is not a new problem for me. Over the years I’ve used all kinds of sprays and planted “deer-proof” flowers around my precious hostas and daylilies – the favored snacks of deer in this area. But no plant is truly safe from these voracious creatures. When deer are hungry enough, they will binge on just about anything.
Oddly enough, I’ve seen deer leave whole rows of tawny daylilies unscathed on one side of the road while the neighbor’s lilies across the street were completely stripped of buds! Deer will also leave you a couple of buds on each plant just to show they’re not entirely without a conscience. They’re mercurial and we never know for certain when they will strike or what they will eat. The only thing we know for sure is that if there are deer in the area, we will not escape their munching for long.
For us baby boomers, deer can bring back memories of our beloved “Bambi,” the Disney film that was so popular in our childhoods. It’s hard not to love deer after seeing that, to sympathize with their struggle for survival. Indeed, it’s hard not to love all of God’s creatures; that is, until they decide to have our gardens for dinner. Then, it becomes all out war! But take it from one who has fought the long battle with deer – the victory is always there’s. Guess it’s time to get that fence up!
DISCLOSURE: From time to time I may use Affiliate Links such as the ones below. I use these only for companies I trust. When you click through on the link and make a purchase from the website, I may make a small commission (at no additional cost to you) which helps me to maintain my website.
