Sunday was a special day all round -- beginning with pancakes for everyone! Claui, Justin, and Josie along with Uncle Ethan who was here for a quick visit. I wish I had gotten pictures, especially of Josie twirling and rough housing with her daddy on the sofa, then falling down and saying Wow! - while cutting her eyes at Ethan to make sure he was appreciating the show. (He was -- he said Wow! too.)
After the gang left, I took advantage of the warm, clear day to get outside, pull some weeds, and clear some space for future planting of some deer-resistant pretties. (Does anyone have any suggestions?)
I had to get up close to spot this little grape hyacinth amid the weeds -- may it multiply!
A few early wasps and bees are out and I saw one tiny blue butterfly -- which disappeared before I could grab my camera.
The minute pretty purple blooms of invasive Creeping Charlie. I harden my heart and out it goes!
And the mottled foliage of a trillium.
A Confederate violet -- technically a weed but I made an executive decision and left it.
What a day! Pancakes, family, and digging in the dirt! And a big bucket of spring green for the chickens to enjoy.
8 comments:
Lovely!! These are the plants that the deer have not eaten in my yard: daffodils, coneflowers, lavender, allium, ferns, butterfly bush, chrysanthemum, peonies, crocus, iris, spirea, zinnia, marigold. I tend to work from one of the lists put out by the state - both NJ and CT have them - of plants that are rarely grazed by deer since we have so incredibly many of the critters here. Unfortunately they don't eat either poison ivy or the very invasive rugosa roses or I might like them better. If you are dedicated to it, you can protect plants with deer spray, but they need to be sprayed as soon as they emerge from the ground and sprayed weekly or after every rain. It's very frustrating trying to garden in deer territory!
Looking good. We're still knee-deep and it will barely rise above freezing today, but it will get close to 50F on some days in the next two weeks.
How sweet those new little blooms are. And as my friend says, don't forget to call "weeds" wildflowers...just in the wrong place. I love getting back into the dirt, and smelling it...even if in flower pots here. (Incidentally, I'm making some new ones so I can not have a porch full of plastic pots!)
Bee balm is not often bothered by deer and neither is lantana. We have several Pieris shrubs and they have not been bothered. Snowdrop bulbs are usually safe. Snap dragons but they are annuals. We have found that there is nothing the deer won't try. They come into the yard and the first deer takes a bite and spits it out. The other deer in line will also take a bite. Enough of those and the plant is damaged. We use a deer repellent which helps a lot. But it must be reapplied to the base of the plants after every rain.
Iris - any variety are deer resistant, lantana, foysythia, gardenia, are also deer resistant. Your local library or extension agency should have information on what will grow good in your gardening zone and also be deer resistant.
Unfortunately no suggestion... we only have cats and hedgehogs crossing our garden... but so your garden is always looking good.
I'm so pleased to see your spring pictures - they give me hope. Today we are sunny with a high of -3C. This may help with the plants in your region that deer don't like: https://www.gardenguides.com/list_7302575_north-carolina-deer-resistant-plants.html
Many thanks for all the suggestions! I know I'm not diligent enough to deal with deer repellent so I'll have to stick to what's unpalatable to them. For so many years, we saw no deer at all, then, maybe three years ago, they began to be a bit of a problem and now -- now they are eating almost everything. Gone are the beautiful azaleas and all the smaller rhododendrons. I just have to adapt . . .
Post a Comment