2019 Gardens

[catherine]

Catherine, I imagine it would be too isolating and cold in the winter. For some reason I thought you were going to rent a apartment in town during winter.

Our two top choices: Rent a winter place in Florida and do the snowbird thing. Rent a winter off-season place in a Jersey beach town and force ourselves on our grandkids every weekend for 4 months.

[dado potato]

Near the end of the season I pull off the cages... and I have cubic hostas for a while, and then the deer eat them.

[nswef]

Cubic hostas...great description!

[lmerullo]

Our two top choices: Rent a winter place in Florida and do the snowbird thing.

I live year round in FL. I notice pricing has really gone up for those rentals that are not annual. Snowbirding is our future plan, but we have a home to come to. Not sure it would be affordable as a rental situation.

[rosarugosa]

Dado: The local deer population must really appreciate you!

[dado potato]

rosarugosa:

The deer know that if they wait long enough, they can get a square meal at my garden.

[rosarugosa]

rosarugosa:

The deer know that if they wait long enough, they can get a square meal at my garden.

:

[iris lilies]

:

I do not find jokes about deer eating ornamental plants at all funny. Ever!


Haha just kidding But these deer are going to be the bane of my existence.

DH says he will build a deer proof fence around an area where I can grow lilies so we shall see. There is a major grower of daylilies and hostas in the area of our
Hermann house, and they have a deer fence. It is a double fence both about 8 feet high. We have read that deer do not like double fences because they’re afraid of being trapped.

But any Lily garden that is successful still will not solve my inability to grow beautiful hostas. I have a gorgeous shady area under a huge tree where hostas would be great and I have wonderful hostas here in the city that need to be divided but alas, a hosta garden is not to be.

[rosarugosa]

Groundhogs are the bane of my gardening existence, and they don't seem to like hostas. I hope that doesn't change, because I just ordered a bunch of them from Bluestone Perennials (annual sale now in progress!)

[CathyA]

I have deer that eat everything but daffodils, hyacinth, poppies, and primroses. Some years the animals eat lupine and tulips, but I think they need to be unusually hungry. They leave garlic, parsley, asparagus and chives alone, and they haven't come close the house (but there is nothing to stop them).

The best remedy is probably a deer-proof fence. I believe there is less expense to grow container plants ( I have been happy with cherry tomatoes and arugula grown in pots on my deck. This year I am trying Okinawa Spinach in pots.)

For swiss chard, hostas, and trillium, I cover the plants with cages when they first send up shoots. My cages are sold as storage shelving, they are painted black, and have not rusted after 3-5 years. They snap together (5-sided, open to the ground). I will attach a picture of a hosta in a cage. In time the hosta gets crowded, but I like to think it would rather be crowded than eaten.

In the past whenever I uncovered my hostas, they were eaten within 5 days.

Attachment 2776

Hi Dado. Out here in the country, we've learned what we can and can't plant because of bunnies and deer. Every time we plant a new tree/bush/flower, we have to put a wire fence around it........for many years........enlarging it every year.
Recently we had to remove all the 4'high fencing around 9 small spruce trees to mow around them and then put it back up. What a drag. But I remember once, hearing Martha Stewart talk about the problem she had with the deer eating her hostas. What she did was to put up something like 3-4 wires on stakes around her entire hosta area. I think if you start about 2' up from the bottom and put the wire every 2' up to about 5-6' it would probably be enough to keep the deer out. I know that sounds like a lot of work if you don't want to do it, but I thought I'd mention it. And you'd probably want to start back a ways from the hostas or they'll munch on them under that 2'.

After this weekend of taking down those huge wire cages around the 9 spruce trees, I've decided to go with the wire thing next. It should be much easier.

Actually.....I have 3 larger spruce and I put metal stakes around the group of them and just used twine around it all, in three layers, and it has kept the deer from rubbing them to death. It looks bad, but once the trees get larger, we won't need to do that.

We've worked so hard to grow about 10-12 white pine and protect them from the deer. Last year, we decided to remove all the fences. Now they are dying from a pine disease. It's a constant battle, unfortunately.

Hey......just grow weeds and nobody will bother them. haha