Tuesday, April 7th, 2009
There are two lessons I have learned about shrubs that I would like to share with you.
1. Only plant Boxwood.
2. Only plant in the spring.
There you have it. Now, let me tell you what the heck I am talking about.
I know I have probably said this before and have trouble following my own advice, but I really mean it this time. I am only going to plant Boxwood from now on. No matter how “deer resistant” you think a shrub is, it probably isn’t. Everybody says that Holly is deer resistant. Guess what? It isn’t. Deer like to nibble on the ends of the branches. It drives me up a wall. I had to go out today to pick up some of that deer netting to put over the Holly bushes. As far as I know, Boxwood is the only shrub that’s deer resistant (well, besides Juniper), and I am going on personal experience here. I have never had a deer nibble on any boxwood shrub I have ever planted. Everything else…yeah.
The next lesson has to do with when to plant your shrubs. I have planted in both spring and fall, but spring planting works out much better, in my opinion. See, if you plant in the spring, the plant has time to grow and mature its sensitive little twigs that were over-fertilized by the nursery. All that new growth has time during the growing season to harden up. If you plant in the autumn, all that new growth dies. Period. It just does. Those nights in mid-January that offer us those wonderfully chilly sub-zero temperatures do a wonder on new shrubs. I have about six Boxwood shrubs sitting outside in the dirt right now with dead top halves. It’s pretty funny to look at. Top half brown, bottom half green. The good thing is that I expect these plants to take off this year and will most likely grown right through the dead areas.
Okay, since Home Depot had Boxwood shrubs in stock and it’s spring, I decided to grab a few today. Actually, I grabbed eight of them. I am going to plant three of them in that new mulch area next to the driveway and five of them in a row almost under the porch in the back yard. They are going to look really cool when they grow larger.
Oh, and just in case you were wondering, the Green Velvet Boxwood is “a hybrid of Korean Boxwood (for hardiness and compactness) and Common Boxwood (for excellent leaf color in both summer and winter).” You can read the rest of the description here.
Here is what I bought today.
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Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
I took a quick little trip to Home Depot the other day to see if they had and small pines. Of course, they didn’t have any. Lowe’s had them, but Home Depot didn’t…like many things.
On the way in, I passed by a bunch of popular Autumn plants, like Mums. Have you noticed that Mums are everywhere right now. As far as I understand, Mums are annuals. I don’t deal with annuals. I think they are a little short term for me. I do like the way they look and there really are some cool ones, but as far as buying them, I don’t.
At the old house, we had some funky plant that I forget the name of. I remember that it had thick, soft leaves…the kind you could squeeze. Well, when I was walking into Home Depot, I noticed a similar plant that had those same kind of thick leaves. I decided to pick up two of them.
The plant is called the “Neon Showy Stonecrop.” I am pretty sure this is not what we used to have. We should have pulled that sucker out of the ground when we moved, but it was too early in the season and we couldn’t find it.
When I was getting into my car, a lady in the parking lot told me that deer don’t like these plants, which is an extra bonus.
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Saturday, November 10th, 2007
I have to say, my days have been pretty full and this blog has been helping. I really enjoy doing things in life and writing about them. Perhaps I should’ve been an author. Nah…the minute someone expects something from me, I don’t want to do it anymore. Half of the fun of writing here is the surprise for my readers.
Now, today’s project was fun. Actually, it was today’s half project. The first half of the day was spent writing the “Funniest” post. Did you know that I put that into Microsoft Word to spell check it and it was five pages? FIVE PAGES!!! Who does that? At least I had a good time writing it. At one point, I had to stop typing because I was laughing. I think it was the “Craig biting into the egg sandwich” part. C’mon, that was funny.
I thought it was a good day to put up that deer fencing I bought at Lowes yesterday. The weather was nice and brisk. I had the plastic fencing and posts all ready to go. I pulled out my not-so-great staple gun and proceeded to staple the fencing to the beams below the porch (behind the arborvitae). My staple gun has a little problem that it developed during my screening of the porch. It only likes to spit a staple out every fifteenth try. It gets rather frustrating. I got most of the back part done when I went into the basement and oiled the gun. I went back out to give it another shot. WOW, it didn’t work any better. Determined, I went back into the basement and took the staple gun apart on top of the dryer. After fiddling with it for about ten minutes, I realized that I could not put it back together. I am not sure if it was because there were too many parts or if it was me. You know when you take something complicated apart…everything is fine until that one little part pops out of where it is supposed to be? Then, while reaching for that part, something else pops out? That’s what happened. I slid the staple gun off the dryer and into the garbage. I wasn’t going to play that game. The damn thing didn’t work anyway. It’s a shame because it was fairly new…I mean it was a few years old, but hardly used. Whelp, there’s another trip to Lowes.
Yesterday, during my checkout, the nice cashier gave me a $10 off coupon, good for my next purchase. I decided to use it today on some very exciting things.
First, I picked up a new Stanley SharpShooter “AntiJam” staple gun. It was only $15 and change. I really looked for a better one, but they don’t exist. It works fine. I also got the recommended staples to go with it. Maybe that was my problem? I don’t know.
Next, I got a nice little drill bit set. I am so sick and tired of messing with the dead bits I have. I keep hoping that somehow they will heal themselves while sitting in the basement and become sharp again. It’s like that old Larry Miller milk joke…when he says, “Hmmm, maybe I’ll just put this back in the fridge and it will be fresh tomorrow.” Anyway, the set I picked up is a 16 piece DeWalt Pilot Point drill bit set. They are nice and shiny and I like DeWalt. DeWalt has yet to let me down and I know the company offers quality items. Thank you DeWalt. Also, they are shiny.
Lastly, I picked up some new accessories for my Dremel. That Dremel kicks ass. I have used it a few times already in some tight situations. I give it high marks. Since the cutting disks wear out kind of fast, I got some more of them. I also picked up some finishing abrasive buffs. I am going to use them for the tile in the bathroom. Some of the tiles need to be cleaned. These two attachments use a fancy Dremel EZ Lock piece for a faster accessory change. It’s pretty cool.
What about the deer fencing? Ok, here goes…
Well, what do you think? Now, I can rest a bit easier knowing that my prized arborvitae will be eaten, but not without a fight.
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Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
Well, Laura did anyway.
She was letting Holly, the dog, back inside this evening, (which is now dark by the way) when she heard something in the leaves. She told me about it and grabbed the flashlight. I told her I was going to go out the front door and we would surround whoever was out there. Somehow, Laura ended up going out the front door with me. I don’t think she heard me. So much for surrounding the enemy. Either way, we walked out onto the front porch and saw their eyes sparkle in the moonlight…two hungry deer.
I ran out on the lawn and watched (and heard) them run away into the neighbor’s yard across the street. That’ll teach ‘em. Yeah, right. I walked downstairs and grabbed my big sprayer full of deer spray and had my way with all the trees on the property. Now, the whole place stinks to high heaven.
Tomorrow, I will wrap the trees with fencing.
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Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
I know, I know, I complain about the same thing every year.
I kept forgetting to spray my three new crabapple trees with the Liquid Fence deer repellent spray. I sprayed them before, but it seems like every time I do, there are heavy rain showers. Even though the spray claims to stay on in the rain, everyone knows that is just a dream. By the way, if you are going to buy this spray, purchase the concentrated bottle. It goes a much longer way than the other pre-mixed stuff.
So, the deer have been nibbling on the end tree. I thought the other two trees were a different breed that the deer weren’t interested in, because they weren’t touched. Well, this morning, I noticed that the trees were bare. When I say bare, I mean the wood was eaten too. The damn deer even broke a few branches to get to the leaves at top.
I love animals, but at this point and want to strangle these deer. Today I am going to the Depot to get some of that see-through black deer fencing. I will take a picture for you.
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Sunday, October 15th, 2006
As I have said a million times, or maybe about eight times, the best time to go to the nursery is in mid to late October. The nurseries are just about ready to throw everything in the dumpster out back, so either go in and purchase what you want for half price or wait until nightfall and take your chances at the dumpster.
I got everything for half price…even the mulch. The first type of plant I picked up today was a Silver and Gold Chrysanthemum. These are really pretty cool looking and grow to about 12″-18″. I planted three of them and I think they will fill in quite nicely. As stated on the site I linked to above, you can divide these after a while. That’s great, because like bulbs, once you make the initial investment, you can play for years to come.
The second type of plant I picked up was an Ilex Glabra Shamrock. This one grows about 3′-4′ tall, so I planted it towards the middle, so it will surround the new pear tree. This is a really good looking shrub because it has glossy leaves and some berries. I will have to keep my eye on these because of the deer.
Lastly, like I mentioned above, I purchased 2 bags of great looking “Black Forest” mulch. This will keep all the bulbs and iris covered and protected during the winter. It also just looks so damn good. Take a look…
I am really looking forward to Spring so I can take some pictures of all the freshly sprung bulbs…almost as much as you’re looking forward to it, I’m sure.
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Saturday, October 14th, 2006
There won’t be many more days to get my plantings and gardening done this year, so I better finish up fast. Today was the day of the triangle. We have a triangle garden right in front of the house that was just a mess. There were 3 patches of Iris and Mint (well, it smelled minty) that had run wild. Both the Iris and the Mint spread underground, so you really don’t know the extent of their growth until you start pulling. There was also some Hosta. Over the past year, we haphazardly planted a wide variety of about 50 bulbs in this garden. None of them have bloomed yet. As I started pulling out the mint, I started stumbling across these bulbs, that have started rooting quite nicely. I also found many bulbs under the iris. Great bulbs, I’m sure…just strangled, that’s all. I placed all the bulbs in a bucket for use later.
Well, all morning I pulled and pulled and pulled, until the garden was cleaned out.
I moved the Hosta to the front corner and left the pretty little tree where it was. I also planted our new Bartlett Pear tree. This is going to be very cool when we get our new pears. I placed this tree here because it is going to be surrounded by Boxwood, and deer don’t like boxwood. Also, it is right next to our peach tree and is in full sun, like the tree label said to do. I got it for a great deal of only $12. That’s the beauty of buying these types of trees late in the season.
As I mentioned above, I had to wrestle with some iris. There were three areas, and here is one of them…
This should be a real treat for you if you have never seen overgrown iris. This is why iris doesn’t bloom that well after a few years. It strangles itself. I pulled the iris apart and made a trench along the rearmost border. I layed the separated iris in the trench and covered it up.
I then made two trenches on the other two sides and placed all the bulbs I collected in them. I placed the largest bulbs towards the center of the garden and the smaller ones towards the rock walls. This way, I will have good height proportion come Spring.
I am going to pick up a few bags of mulch this week and cover the entire garden with it to protect the bulbs. I am also going to grab about five boxwood shrubs and place them towards the center of the garden, so they surround the pear tree. This should look good…green at the center, tree in the middle with nice color along the edges.
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Saturday, October 7th, 2006
I woke up this morning and looked at my thumb. Strangest thing…it was green. Oh well, I didn’t have much choice but to go outside and do some gardening.
I have had a project on the back burner for a while. The people who owned this house before us decided to plant some Bearded Iris right next to a Peach Tree. This isn’t the best spot for Iris to grow, because it gets mixed in with the grass and gets mowed over a lot (Who me?). So I decided to dig them up for transplant.
I had no idea how deep the bulbs were. Funny thing…I just assumed they were bulbs. I started scratching away the dirt on top of the Iris closest to the Peach Tree. I kept hitting these weird “roots” very close to the surface. I thought they were the Peach Tree roots. Whatever…I went in a grabbed a shovel and started digging all around the Iris patch. Guess what I found?
Up came the weirdest looking root-like beasts. I shook off all the dirt and went inside to do a little research on the internet about what the heck I was looking at. I found this good site that tells all about how to plant Iris. Then I found another good site that focused on how to divide Iris. Apparently, you are supposed to do this every few years so they maintain their beautiful bloom. I pulled all the tangled roots apart and cut where I was supposed to. These “roots” are actually called “rhizomes.” The weirdness of them still makes me feel a little uncomfortable.
After dividing all of the rhizomes, I had about 30 or so individual plants. I really hadn’t thought about where to put them. I decided that a little more green in the front garden would be a nice touch. I have a strange feeling that this front garden is going to be nuts come Spring. These Iris should be kept towards the rear of the garden because they get quite tall.
It’s pretty simple to replant these Iris. Basically, just follow the few rules that can be found here. I dug shallow holes spread evenly throughout the rear of the garden, one at a time. I wrapped the roots around my finger, because some of them are over 18 inches long. Then, I just placed them in the holes, near the surface and covered them up.
Of course, again, I sprayed deer repellant all over them so I wouldn’t witness a family of deer running down the road with my Iris hanging out of their mouths. We’ll see what happens in the Spring!
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Sunday, October 1st, 2006
I can’t wait for Spring! I know that might sound a little weird, since it’s not even cold yet. The reason I can’t wait is that I am so excited to see what all the great plants and bulbs are going to look like when they start growing. I want to see the new growth of the shrubs and trees too.
Yesterday, I received a package from Holland. It had the 150 bulbs that I ordered back a few months ago. Apparently, they wait for it to get cold in Holland and then ship them out. It takes a few weeks for them to get from Holland to the U.S. I think from now on I am going to go to the local nursery for my bulbs. I really don’t have the patience to wait three months for these types of things. Anyway, here is what I got:
- Mountain Bells Mixture (deer resistant)
- Blue Grape Hyacinths
- Giant Crocus Mixture
- King Edward Tulip
- Economy Tulip Mixture
- Alpine Rosy Bells
- Beauty Dutch Iris Mixture
- Early Stardrift
- Giant Daffodils
I saved a spot in our front garden that was just screaming for these bulbs. There were 150 bulbs overall, so digging a separate hole for each one would have been crazy. I got a rake and pulled back about six inches of mulch.
I put the bulbs in according to height. The tallest ones went to the back and the shortest to the front. They have varying bloom times throughout the season, so I staggered them in with one another, so I wouldn’t have rows of flowers and rows of nothing.
After I placed all the bulbs in, point facing up, I covered the area with the mulch again. This garden area is only about 20′x10′, so in the Spring, it’s going to be bursting with color. Over time the area will grow, as I continue to edge around the border, pushing a few inches of soil in every time and adding more mulch in the Spring.
Next to the lamp post at the end of the driveway, there was Hosta that has been trying to grow all summer. I kept running it over with the lawnmower for some reason. I don’t know why, since I really like this plant. Yesterday, I got a bright idea (that happens every so often). I dug up the Hosta and separated all the small bulbs.
This photo is just a sample…there were about 20 bulbs. I decided that this plant would look great as a back row of lush green for the garden. I planted each bulb about a foot apart along the entire back row.
Hopefully these will grow nice and big. As I was planting, I had a little nightmare. I dreamt that the evil deer came and ate all my bulbs and Hosta. Right after I was done having my nightmare, I ran down into the basement and grabbed the Deer Scram and Liquid Fence. I spread the Deer Scram and erected the fence immediately. I covered the whole garden. I am also going to buy some of the real deer fencing today. You know, the black thin plastic stuff you see on people’s bushes.
One last note – we got another tree. This time, I went to the local tree farm near the airport I practice at and looked around for a 6′-7′ tree that I could fit in the car. I came across some Flowering Bradford Pear trees. There are some pros and cons to the Bradford Pear, but since this is a close-to-the-house tree, we needed something that would stay relatively small. If it is damaged on our watch, we will just get another one…no big deal.
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Wednesday, September 27th, 2006
I see them almost every morning in the back yard, waiting for me to leave so they can continue to wander to the front yard and nibble around the Liquid Fence deer resistant spray I applied to my plants. Yes…that’s right, around the spray. If I covered half the leaf with the spray, they eat the other half. I guess I can’t complain that the spray doesn’t work. What the heck is going on? It’s not even winter yet. I bought two different deer repellers: Liquid Fence and Deer Scram. The jury is not completely in yet. We haven’t had a lot of continued damage, but there definitely has been interest. I know the cause is a combination of things. My neighbor had the tops of the flowers in his front garden removed by the teeth of the deer pack and he also has a whole slew of freshly fallen nuts on the ground in his backyard. We are definitely on the deer route.
I brought my neighbor’s attention to his damaged flowers yesterday, so maybe he will get some repellant and we will fight these mongrels together – as brothers. Also, I did some research, and the fact that I bought most of the tastiest plants, shrubs and flowers out there doesn’t help. So what to do? I dug a little deeper and here is what I found.
A Great Article on Deer Resistant Plants
It’s No Wonder That Deer Invade our yards and gardens to find nourishment. More than five million mule deer and 20 million white-tailed deer roam a continually shrinking habitat in North America.
Just how much your ornamentals are bothered by deer depends on many factors: the number of deer in your area, prolonged periods of heavy snow cover in winter, a summer drought or the loss of nearby browsing areas. These and other factors combine to limit the availability of wild plants.
However, there are several things you can do to prevent your prized plantings from being eaten by deer. Try deterring the deer either by hanging bars of soap or bags of hair around your yard; the smell is thought to keep deer away. Unfortunately, such deterrents are often limited in their effectiveness. Hunger may drive a deer to endure an unpleasant smell. Also, many gardeners find the soap and bags of hair a bit too unsightly.
There are several commercial repellent sprays available for deterring deer, but they do not afford 100 percent protection. To make the sprays as effective as possible, reapply them after every rainfall. In a rainy spring, or if you have a yard full of plants, that can be a lot of spraying.
By far the most effective way to protect your plantings from deer is with a fence. Deer are high jumpers, however, so to be effective the fence should be at least 8 feet tall. The cost of such a fence is no small consideration. Some municipalities have ordinances restricting the height of fences, and a few areas even ban fencing altogether. As for me, I like to invite wildlife in, not fence it out.
So what do you do? The best alternative is to learn to live with deer by planting your garden with them in mind. Take into consideration the following guidelines:
1) White-tailed deer are known to eat more than 600 kinds of plants; mule deer eat at least 780. Some of their favorite foods are yew, hemlock, willow, arrowwood, bearberry, red cedar, spindle tree, Japanese holly, American arborvitae, evergreen azaleas, phlox, crocus, hosta, tulips and violets. By avoiding these and other susceptible plants, you can minimize the amount of damage deer do to your landscape.
2) Gardeners know that many plants do better when they are well fertilized and grown in rich soil. But this same practice also makes the plants tastier and more nourishing to deer than wild plants. To help discourage deer, put your plants on a diet. Try growing more native plants, many of which will readily grow in poorer soils.
3) Don’t count on the thorns or spines of plants to protect them. Deer often eat thorny plants such as roses, firethorn and Russian olive.
4) No plant can be considered completely deer-proof. A ravenous deer will eat just about anything, including the somewhat toxic foliage of mountain laurel. They may also, for whatever reason, start feeding on plants that in previous years had gone untouched.
5) There are certain types of plants that deer normally won’t touch. They usually turn up their noses at toxic and medicinal plants, as well as those with sticky or hairy leaves and stems. They also dislike plants with fragrant foliage, especially those that smell lemony or minty.
6) Some plant families also seem to be more deer-resistant than others. Many of the plants in the mint (Labiatae), daisy (Compositae), poppy (Papaveraceae), buttercup (Ranunculaceae), snapdragon (Scrophulariaceae) and barberry (Berberidaceae) families often go untouched by deer.
7) Mule deer, for the most part, have tastes similar to those of white-tails, but there are some marked differences. For example, forsythia, mountain pine and Scotch pine are virtually ignored by white-tails, but mule deer find them very palatable.
Deer are creatures of habit, returning to the same area to feed day after day. Since it’s hard for deer to break this habit once it’s been established, it may take them a while to realize that any new deer-resistant plants in your yard are not on their menu. So be patient.
9) You don’t have to eliminate a plant just because deer like it. Quite often, a plant that was browsed during the winter will recover. Just like any pruning you might do, winter browsing promotes vigorous new spring growth, which continues on into summer. Plants that are especially well-adapted to recovering from “deer pruning” include the native serviceberry, chokecherry, hawthorn, currant, sumac, elder and rose. Evergreen conifers, however, are often permanently damaged.
Whether you choose to landscape your yard with plants that withstand being browsed, or opt for those that tend to be shunned, you can learn to live with deer.
Deer-Resistant Plants
The plants in this list can be used as a starting point for choosing your ornamentals. But be aware of the fact that deer in one part of the country may eat what the same kind of deer in another part of the country won’t touch. Don’t be afraid to experment with plants not on the list.
Trees and Shrubs
American holly (Ilex opaca) Barberry (Berberis species) Black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia) Blue spruce (Picea pungens) Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) Bridal wreath (Spiraea species) Butterfly bush (Buddleia species) Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) Japanese andromeda (Pieris japonica) Magnolia (Magnolia species) Pear (Pyrus communis) Rose-of-Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) Smoke tree (Cotinus species) Wax myrtle (Myrica species) Weeping birch (Betula pendula)
Annuals and Perennials
Ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum) Astilbe (Astilbe species) Barrenwort (Epimedium species) Bleeding heart (Dicentra species) Buttercup (Ranunculus species) Columbine (Aquilegia species) Lavender (Lavandula species) Marigold (Targetes species) Mint (Mentha species) Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientale) Rue anemone (Anemonella thalictroides) Sage (Salvia species) Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus) Speedwell (Veronica species) Zinnia (Zinnia species)
Bulb and Climbers
Allium (Allium species) Clemantis (Clemantis species) Daffodil (Narcissus species) Iris (Iris species) Lily-of-the-valley (Convallaria majalis) Tiger lily (Lilium lancifolium) Wisteria (Wisteria species)
I hope this helps. If anyone has any stories or more ideas, please don’t hesitate to share.
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