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Re: [SHADEGARDENS] deer was:shadegardens Digest - 17 Jan 1998

Ummm....my local herd doesn't wait for stuff to flower....they munch the
buds.  Maybe they just aren't educated to the beauty of flowers :-)

Seriously, they do their damage in the new leaf and bud stage and generally
leave whatever flowers actually bloom alone.

But, as has been pointed out on other lists, what deer will eat will vary
with the local herd and their degree of hunger.  And, even if they decide
they don't actually *like* the plant, having several of them take a bite to
find out doesn't do the plant much good.

They are tremendously fond of daylily and scarf the emerging foliage to the
ground and then, if they can, eat the second growth.  Then, they wait until
buds are just ready to open and come back for dessert.

I have had (knock on wood) good results last season and the one before
using Milorganite, a sewage sludge granular fertilizer.  I flung this all
over my borders at intervals of from 2 to 4 weeks depending on rainfall and
they left everything alone that was treated this way...hostas, daylilies,
the lot!  They don't like the smell.  I'm only hoping they feel the same
this coming gardening season.  You never know with deer.

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
http://www.suite101.com/frontpage/frontpage.cfm?topicID=222
Gardening Topic Index for Suite101:
http://www.suite101.com/userfiles/79/gardening.html

----------
> From: Paul Reiche <proosta@EPIX.NET>
> Date: Sunday, January 18, 1998 3:13 AM
>
> >The local comment is that daylilies and hosta are deer candy and
deersalad.
>
> Just from experience, the deer seem to love anything with a red flower
> and hate anything with a yellow flower.
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