What Did You Do In The Garden?

Rhodie Ranch

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Damn deer are eating all my bulb tops - even pulling some bulbs outa the ground.

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Dahlia

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Damn deer are eating all my bulb tops - even pulling some bulbs outa the ground.

View attachment 39205
I
Damn deer are eating all my bulb tops - even pulling some bulbs outa the ground.

View attachment 39205
That is so maddening! I once had a garden in the desert and the voles would get to it. They would bite my snow peas off at about 2 inches off the ground, let the plant collapse take a bite or two and leave the garden! So most of my snow peas were ruined in this manner!
 

Artichoke Lover

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I could not grow tulips in Arkansas because of the deer. They'd eat them to the ground. Iris and daffodils were OK though, the deer did not bother them.
I think daffodils might be the only deer proof plant. Then again I haven’t seen them eat the Irises yet either. The deer around here eat everything.
 

Zeedman

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I think daffodils might be the only deer proof plant. Then again I haven’t seen them eat the Irises yet either. The deer around here eat everything.
Same experience here. We had a nice bed of Red Emperor tulips on the south side of our home when we moved in. Almost every year, the deer mowed them before they could bloom... sometimes more than once. Most of the tulips died. But ever since we put up a six-foot welded wire garden fence 6' away from the wall, the deer have (usually) left them alone. Maybe they are afraid of getting trapped against the house? (The thought has crossed my mind on occasion.)

Deer will occasionally eat a few of the emerging tiger lily shoots, and sometimes bite (then spit out) the iris. They have even eaten some of the perennial onions a few times. But they have never eaten either garlic or daffodils. DW has given up on sunflowers, because the deer will mow them to a stub; and they will sometimes eat the moss rose. Geraniums, marigolds, and petunias are seldom touched.

The amazing thing is that our hosta was undisturbed last year. Hosta seems to be deer salad, they usually start eating it close to the appearance of flowers & keep coming back until they have mowed the whole row. :mad:
 

flowerbug

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i've had the young deer come through and chomp on daffodils, but they don't come back for seconds. the problem though is if you get enough young deer they can still do a lot of damage even to the supposed deer resistant plants.

i started an edge along the front where i alternated tulips and daffodils every six inches. almost none of the tulips are still alive, the daffodils are still there. some of the tulips that are more hidden among the daffodils have survived, but they haven't done as well. all of them that i planted were extras from my other tulip garden so while i wasn't happy they got eaten since they were not protected by a fence i didn't expect them to do all that great. between the deer, rabbits and other creatures...

right now we're seeing the deer tracks in the snow where they are searching for something to eat and finding little. the comfrey they were chewing on last fall is mostly dead back to the ground and there's not much else around for them to eat, they'll be after the cedars again. we don't have fence around all of those. just the way it goes... until i can get an enclosing fence put up.
 

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