Re: Amer. Gardener article/Wild Greens

In a message dated 01/26/2004 1:08:41 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
mtalt@hort.net writes:

> They have never hit my Pachysandra terminalis although I have read
> they will get P. procumbens.  Another one they never browsed is
> Stylophorum diphyllum, the wood poppy.  It has a rather caustic sap,
> which may be why they leave it alone.  Another one they ignore is
> Tovara 'Painter's Palette', which is now something else I can never
> remember; it's one of the name shifting Polygonums.  Kitty may
> remember what it now is.  I even put a bunch of seedlings outside the
> gate just because they don't eat it and while they mowed about
> everything else there, they didn't touch it.  I would imagine other
> related plants - there are several out there on the market now -
> would also be deer safe.  In all the years they were mowing my
> garden, they never hit my Galanthus, either.  Now, it grows up
> through Lamium galeobdolen (which they also ignore), so maybe they
> never really found it.  They also left my Vinca, both major and minor
> alone.

You're right, Marge, they don't eat my Pachysandra, or the Lily-of-the-Valley 
- both of which grow like weeds in my driveway and around the boulders.  And 
they don't seem to touch the Vinca.  But again, I think it's because they are 
too lazy to stoop that far unless they're starving.  They really eat just what 
is at nose level.  There is a ten-or-eleven-foot boulder by our drive covered 
with Hedera helix (don't have a clue as to variety - my sons gave me a pot 
from the dime-store for Mother's Day when they were small, maybe 30-35 years 
ago).   In the winter there is a three-foot band eaten bare from about two feet 
above the ground to five feet - lush foliage both below and above.
And, no, they don't eat Lamb's ears if we are talking about the same thing.  
There are a couple of plants that go by that name - Stachys lanata is one and 
I can't at the moment remember the other, but it is low-growing with large, 
furry leaves.  Once again they would have to bend down to eat it.  Don't touch 
the Sweet Woodruff at the same level.  I don't think they have ever bothered 
the Liriope.  See, there are lots of plants that are reasonably safe, so I do 
have a garden of sorts.  It's a game to stay ahead of them.  I really can live 
without daylilies and roses -  and there are always the rugosa roses.  I have 
'Grootendorst Supreme' and 'Blanc Double d'Courbet', but then pruning them is 
another matter...
If spring ever comes, I'll try for some good pictures.
Auralie

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