Deer Proofing the Garden

There are always vegetable gardening challenges associated with whatever region you live in whether it be climate or pest related.  Here in Northern Vermont the growing season is short but lush. We certainly manage very nicely and using season extenders creates an even greater opportunity for success.
Today's discussion addresses the latter issue, pests.
While we're certainly not void of a long list of critter and insect pests; my biggest challenge in recent years past has been with my lovely friends, the white tailed deer, who can wipe out weeks of your hard labor in a single feeding.
Perhaps the local deer herd has increased due to milder winters or perhaps they simply know that my entire yard is a veritable salad bowl or perhaps it's because they know I don't eat them.  Whatever the reason, the amount of damage has increased substantially over time.

About 15 years ago I installed a funky, rough cut picket style fence surrounding the veggie garden creating a separation from the veg and perennial beds.  
I installed the 36" high wooden fence strictly for esthetics with full knowledge that it wasn't adequate for keeping any critter out including my standard dachshund who could easily scooch underneath.

When a large poplar tree fell over winter taking out several sections of fence I realized my opportunity to try and address the deer issue once and for all and came up with a plan.
I decided to replace every corner post as well as the gate posts with 10' 4x4 hemlock posts sunk 4' down.  This left a very stable 6' above ground creating the anchor by which to attach the deer fencing.

Deer fencing is a mesh like, high strength and lightweight material made of UV stable black polypropylene plastic.
It's affordable, easy to install and comes in rolls of various sizes and tensil strength.
A quick search online will bring you to plenty of sites but Deer Busters is an excellent site that provides a broad range of products and options.

 Since I only needed to cover the area above my already existing 3' fence; I simply cut the mesh fencing (cuts easily with a scissor) in half lengthwise (in this case into 40" widths) to cover the open area and reach the max height of 6'. 

The method I used to install the deer 'mesh' was to first attach eye screws (see inset photo) to the posts several inches below the tops of the posts.
I then tied an orange coated wire which I had leftover from another project to one eye screw and cut to a lenth 12" longer than the opposite post.   Any wire strong enough to be pulled tight would do but I already had this wire for one thing and I also felt the colored wire would act as a visual alert for any deer approaching the garden since the 'mesh' has a tendency to blend into the landscape; a feature I particularly find appealing. 
Then I simply wove the wire through the top of the mesh fencing, thread the other end of the wire through the opposite eye screw and pulled the wire as tight as I could and tied it off.
Simple tacking to the fence and posts and that was that.

I then added a few architectural features by creating an arbor like header above both front and rear gates and made bird houses that I mounted on the tops of each corner post.
House wrens moved into the 2 front corner houses less than 24 hours after I mounted them ( I love their chattering) creating the final interest to a full garden pallette.

I'm really pleased with the end result although I realize that I could be speaking too soon since I won't know that my efforts have proven success until I know that no deer has entered the garden.... but I'd like to remain optimistic and will add my findings as an update to this post at the end of the season.
Deer or no deer... only time will tell.

 

Daylilies

Every one of the 50 United States has a designated state flower that best represents their state.  Here in Vermont the flower that comes to my mind can currently be found along almost every ditch on every roadway.  Those lovely orange tall scaped plants that everyone recognizes as the common daylily.  As common as it is one would think that they're native to North America but most of them hail from Asia and they are everywhere.
And neither is the daylily the state flower of Vermont.  That honor goes to, believe it or not, red clover.  Further inquiry brought me to another stinger;  the daylily isn't the state flower of any of the 50 states.
Oh Well...
With over 60,000 varieties and counting, this is clearly one popular perennial.  They're so popular they even have their own society!  Check out The American Hemerocallis Society for more information than you'd probably ever want to know.  I must admit though,  their database is pretty remarkable.

I've gardened most of my life but it wasn't until I moved to Vermont that I dove head first into perennial gardening.  The very first perennial that I owned was a plant that a friend purchased for me from a local nursery... and, fittingly enough, it was a daylily.

That very daylilly whose name was never known moved with me to my current garden by means of a small division and has grown (by quite a few more divisions) to occupy several prominent placings throughout the property.

The bloom is considered a spider daylily meaning the petal is at least 4 times longer than it is wide.  A stunning dark red with yellow throat,
if you think you know which variety of daylily (of the 60,000) this one is.... please call me!!

Another favorite of mine is this apricot colored with ruffled edges that came to me while working as a landscaper.  We were 'renovating' an existing perennial garden that had run amuk which required pulling every plant, re-preparing the bed, dividing, sorting and re-planting.  There were tons of plant material left over that the gardens owner encouraged us to take...which we happily obliged.
This is considered a bitone meaning the sepals (the bottom 3 segments of the flower) and the petals (that would be the top 3) differ in shade or intensity of the same basic color.
See, you learn something new everyday!

Hemerocallis 'Holiday Delight'

A local greenhouse grower told me that if she had to have one daylilly, it would be this one... Holiday Delight.
I bought it bloom unseen.

My friends, the deer, ate the buds the following year so it wasn't until season 2 before I ever saw it's 'delight'.

H. 'Leonard Bernstein'

I have this daylily courtesy of my friend, Judy, who has more daylilies than you could shake a stick at... seriously.
I pass by her house up on the hill every day on the way home from work and all I see is color.  It's a sight.

Leonard is a deep red with a green throat and has an extended bloom time.

H. 'Strawberry Candy'

 The AHS conducts a famous “Popularity Poll” each year, to determine which are the big favorites in North America and for several years now this daylily, Strawberry Candy, has been near the top of the list.
I didn't know when I first saw it and had to have it that it was such a popular choice.
I guess that's what makes something popular.... everybody likes you.



Daylilies are incredibly easy to grow and super reliable.  Even if you're a novice gardener... especially if you're a novice gardener, you won't be disappointed.  And even though the bloom times can seem so fleeting, before you know it another season of blooms comes along reminding us of what makes them worth the wait. 
Seize the day...lily!

Independence Blooms

Today we celebrate the independence of this great nation of ours with all its diversity as well as conflicts.   Similar to life in its simplest form... like life in the garden.

Perennials exemplify the very nature of diversity and conflict.   There is such a variation in flower color and bloom times.   The conflict comes with the pairing of them so as to always have something of interest in bloom while creating compatible color combinations.   Not an art that I have mastered in the least but, luckily, I'm not afraid of moving plants around when they don't work where they are.

Each year the Perennial Plant Association chooses the perennial plant of the year.  This years perennial winner for 2012 is the lovely shade loving Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'.

In 1996 the perennial plant of the year was Penstemon 'Husker Red'.

Penstemon 'Husker Red'

This perennial gets its name from the striking maroon colored leaves.

Marry that maroon with the little tubular white blooms atop rigid stems that reach the 3 foot mark and it's simply stunning.

This cultivar is sun loving, easy to grow and is rarely bothered by insects or disease.


Penstemon grows in a clump form and reseeds easily which is fine by me as I LOVE this plant.



Speaking of tall, upright (no need to stake) perennials in the garden brings me to the tall bellflower.

Campanula punctata rubriflora is the tall, spotted bellflower.

I'm not exactly sure which cultivar of punctata this is ( me thinks the rabbits stole the name tag) but the large 2" drooping flower is a dusty rose color and the plant stands at about 30" tall.

I love the tall, dark colored stems with their odd little curvy growth pattern.  So feminine, don't you think?  


Actually, it's a hermaphrodite flower, meaning it has both male and female organs, stamen and pistil.

A look inside shows how the plant got the name of spotted bellflower.

The flowers and leaves are edible.   I've never tried eating them (I kinda like to have them around for ornamental purposes, even for a vegan like me) but they supposedly have a sweet taste.
Either way, they're definitely sweet.



Almost all the astilbe's are currently in bloom.
Astilbe's have long been the mainstays of shade and woodland gardens as it's hard to resist those plumy blooms in various shades of whites, pinks and reds.

 This red astilbe is one of my favorites.
Astilbe 'fanal' is noted for having perhaps the darkest red flowers of any of the astilbes and for its bronze foliage.

 This pink (sorry I only know this one by its color) resides in my newest garden deemed the stump garden.  Behind is the potted enamel pot of petunias and coleus.

And here's a nice representation of a white astilbe which lives in the rock woodland garden.  To the left of the astilbe is a Tiarella (otherwise known as foamflower) which in another favorite shade loving plant.







Veronica's were one of the very first perennials that started my love affair with plants that bloom in tall spikes of sorts.

This recent cultivar, 'Royal Candles', forms a nice compact plant that bears short spikes of bright blue flowers for several weeks.

While I have this one as a single specimen plant, I'm thinking this would make a terrific impact in a mass planting.
That just may be a really good excuse to create another new landscape bed.
Food for thought :)



Well, that's all the red, white and blue for today.... till next time.