Bad Bambi!

We've been adding to our garden with varying degrees of success. This spring Frank purchased a number of hosta plants and put them in the shady area just outside his office window.

A few days later, I notice the tops of some of the plants were missing.And a few days after that, just about all the hosta had been eaten to some extent. And a deer had left hoofprints in the garden.

But we kept on planting flowers. In an area next to our parking spots, we planted some purple coneflower and a couple kinds of lilies. That afternoon I walked out the door with Scamp and saw a deer standing over there with one of the coneflower plants in her mouth. Scamp barked furiously and the deer dropped the plant and bounded off into the woods. I replanted what was left of the flower and scolded the deer, probably uselessly. The lilies were partly chewed, with all their blossoms gone.

Neighbors are also reporting garden raids by the deer. I suppose we should expect this when we live in the woods.

There are some plants the deer have left alone such as iris and marigolds. We are trying some things that are supposed to repel deer: dog hair, encouraging the dogs to urinate near the garden, gel air freshener... Scamp helps by barking at the deer but Ben barely notices them. I considered buying some deer repellent at a nursery but the active ingredients are just pepper and garlic so I'll save ten bucks and use make use of spices from the kitchen.

I've always liked seeing deer, but now I'd to see them stay out of our yard.