Thursday, July 9, 2009

Oh, dear! It's the deer.

Last year my friend, Carolyn, who is a terrific gardener, planted sunflowers seeds in a big container on her patio and they grew so tall that she could see them on her second floor deck. What a good idea, I thought. I'll do the same by putting the pot on the grass outside my deck, which is only three steps up from ground level. When they were mature they would be showing their glorious heads up above the deck railing. I planted the seeds, watered faithfully, thinned them out and they were about a foot from the deck railing yesterday, strong and sturdy with big healthy leaves.


When I went to water them this morning, this is what I found. Could you hear me screaming from where you are? Here in the North East, we gardeners are in constant battle with the deer. I have to spray anything that they like (and they like almost everything) or they will munch away. And this is suburbia, not the country. They will walk right down the street at night and eat everyone's mailbox plantings. They will come right up to your front door and eat the flowers at your doorstep. I guess that I neglected to spray the sunflowers or least not often enough.


Day lilies are a real favorite. See all the nipped of flowers. There are still buds so I will get more flowers.


These were Rudbeckia (black eyed Susans). I have tons of these so I don't feel too bad, but the sunflowers..........I'm mad! I think I'm going to plant more seeds. It's still early in the summer and they just may grow tall enough.  I will be more diligent , but that's no guarantee.

Now to go spray my Stargazer Lilies, that they really love.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Norma, I feel your pain. We have less of a deer problem because they hunt up here but while we were away, all of my asiatic lilies disappeared. I'm allergic to them so they are out by the street and I guess with the dog absent, there were no deterrents.
I hope you can grow another crop of sunflowers.

Vivien Zepf said...

Oh Norma! I love sunflowers too and I'd be screaming with you. Good luck with next batch.

Anonymous said...

I hope my howling is going to scare the deers! Too bad that scarecrows don't chase them away... You can plant seeds again, they grow pretty fast. I am so sorry! You can always make a sunflower quilt in the meantime to bring some sun in you heart.
Benedicte

Anonymous said...

WOW, what healthy deer you have, Norma Jean! CCC

Sue Andrus said...

I really hope you are able to keep those deer away from your Stargazers! While I was away at QSDS, all the rain here washed off the spray and I came home to many munched things- I have one lonely Oriental lily bud left on what are usually my tallest ones. So far they don't bother my daylilies-that was a real surprise to see they got yours!

Rayna said...

Yep, my daylilies are all gone, too - as well as a bunch of other buds. The deer just get immune to that spray. GRRRRRR.

We have woods behind our condo and I notice that the people at the bottom of the hill near the street still have all their flowers.

www.welovequilting.com said...

I feel for you.. Something ate ALL my watermelons but one last night. They look like birdhouses. Hulled out the inside and left a hole in the melon. MADE ME SO MAD.
chriswheelerquilts.com

Unknown said...

Norma--we have the same problem around here. I've heard that if the male of your household (or a friend) has a lot of liqiud to drink (like beer!) and goes outside and...um..."marks" the plants, the deer will steer clear. It's worth a try and theres nothing to lose but a couple cans of beer....
Well, good luck!

Natalya Khorover Aikens said...

oh no... and I can only imagine what the deer are doing in my garden while I'm away....