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Thursday, July 2, 2015

Deer read blogs, and other June gardening failures

Do you know how I know this? Because only a few days ago I had boldly (naively?) posted that since planting a Salvia Clevelandii they hadn't bothered my roses.

Needless to say, all 3 Lafter in the front garden have had their newest growth chewed off since then.


It's like they read my post and said "Holy cow, we totally forgot about her roses! Let's make it a point to head that way tomorrow, after we've chewed up someone else's dreams and pooped them out in their yard."

I haven't yet given up on my dream of having roses, but in the back of my little pea-brain I know the odds are stacked against me. At the very least, I'll have to break one of my own rules: they'll be high-maintenance because I'll have to spray them periodically with that gawd-awful stinky deer repellent stuff. (It smells like a rotting carcass that's been urinated on by a bear who ate a ton of asparagus.)

And as long as we're talking about my lessons in humility, I came outside on Tuesday to see this:




HOW?? WHY?!?!

No warning signs, it just up and died. I can't blame the summer heat, nor can I blame excess water: it just quit.

I also lost an Aralia 'Sun King' late last week. Well, technically speaking it isn't lost: I know where it is, and it's dead. I was so full of hope for those. There's one left....

3 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your roses. It still surprises me that deer choose to eat something covered in thorns. Is that dead lamb's ear or sage? I seem to lose my sage every year, just up and dies. Course I keep planting it in the same location.

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    1. I know what you mean about the roses - I thought surely the thorns would be a deterrent! But apparently they are clever enough to avoid the thorns and just eat the new growth. I need dumber deer.

      That's a lamb's ear! The ones right next to it are fine (at least right now). My Dad gardens in Virginia and he says voles eat the roots from underground but leave the top of the plant untouched, so you're just left with a little dirt toupee. If there are voles in my new neighborhood I might just quit. ;-)

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  2. Oh deer! I feel your pain, Wendy.

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