A garden is always a series of losses set against a few triumphs, like life itself.—May Sarton
This has been a tough year in the garden for me.
I realize that, for many of you, the weather this summer has totally zapped your energy — and your gardens. For me, though, I can’t blame the weather for wreaking havoc with my garden. While most of you are suffering from unrelenting heat, here in the Great Lakes region, we are having a much different weather pattern. Oh, it’s been hot and humid here, too. But not like the hot or the humid so many of you are experiencing. By contrast, we have been having So. Much. Rain. It’s been thunderstorm after thunderstorm and buckets of rain! Buckets. (Here in my corner of Michigan, we’ve had over 10 inches of rain in the past month alone.)
So. My garden is lush and green and growing like gangbusters.
My problem? Deer.
I thought I had solved the deer problem several years ago . . . with my car-lot flags and my well-placed garden lights. But let me tell you . . . those deer can leap a 6-ft fence strung wires of lights – and right between thickets of oak leaf hydrangea – so gracefully it takes your breath away. And once they discover tasty, delicious garden treats . . . even MORE flags and MORE lights and new-added-barriers will not keep them out.
Now that they’ve devoured every single hosta plant I have in my garden (and there are – or I should say WERE – 80-100 hostas throughout my garden) AND every single one of my Autumn Joy sedum AND all of the blooms from my oak leaf hydrangeas, they’re coming around less often. But the damage to my garden is pretty extreme.
I also have bunnies. I always have bunnies, and I don’t really mind them so much. They mostly go for the clover in my grass, and that’s okay. They are not nearly as hungry – or destructive – as the deer. This year, they are big on my parsley . . . and they continually munch my zinnia and cosmos.
Sigh. I hate to whine, but it’s been a rather disheartening summer. It’s taken 20 years to get my garden to its current state. A lot of work, a big investment. And to see it so . . . tattered . . . is really heartbreaking. Not only is it frustrating to see all those hosta “stems” out there — but things that should be blooming . . . are not blooming. Because they’ve been eaten. Which means fewer butterflies and bees. And on and on.
Okay. ENOUGH of that. Some years are just tough years in the garden. I’m certainly learning which of my plants do NOT attract the deer. (I’m taking good notes.) I’m planting some new things (mostly ferns, which the deer don’t touch) among the hostas, for example. I’m strategizing new ways (for next year) to protect my zinnias and cosmos from bunnies. (I never thought I’d relate to Farmer MacGregor, y’know???) And Tom is helping me figure out a way to “extend” our existing fence for next season.
But – most important of all – I’m working to change my attitude. I’m trying to take the quote from May Sarton (at the top of this post) to heart. She’s right. Gardening IS like life . . . a series of losses interspersed with a few triumphs.
So where I had planned to fill this post with photos highlighting my losses in the garden this year, I realized that no one wants to see my sad photos of . . . stems. Instead, I decided to focus on the triumphs in my garden this year. Because there are plenty of them. Not so many blooms. But still plenty of lovely stuff going on. By running out and looking for the good stuff, it’s helping me overlook the bad stuff — in this post AND in my own head and heart.
Here’s a little gallery of my garden . . . today. Although you may see some stems in a few of the photos, I tried to focus only on the loveliness and not the destruction. May Sarton is right. Gardening is like life itself!
I wish you all a lovely weekend — and some respite from whatever kind of weather you’ve been suffering through.
I’ll be reporting from up north next week, where I’m looking forward to relaxing on the dock, taking leisurely spins around the lake (in our very ancient pontoon), and walking in the woods with JoJo (flies permitting).
The containers are gorgeous. I aspire to have beautiful container gardens that can take our brutal summers. Maybe next year.
The bunnies we have are burrowing and making a mess of the yard so I get the frustration. The containers by your door are so beautiful. Enjoy your time up North
Your successes are really lovely! John has lamented our weather and its effects on the garden endlessly, and I’ve had to stop listening. I figure that whatever we get is a bonus and thank heaven we’re not farming for a living. So far we have 20 qts. of snow peas frozen and six qts. of dill pickles and I think that’s wonderful.
When Justin was working on the deer ranch in TX he helped on a deer fence study with TX A&M. Eight feet was the minimum height for fencing on the ranch, and 10-12′ was better. They often used an 8′ fence with an angled extension at the top, and sometimes they had to use an electric fence to protect the really valuable animals. At times they used two lower fences (an 8′ and a 4-6′ fence 2′ away from the base of the taller fence) to try and prevent them from jumping in and/or out. The best outcome was an electric double-fence system. But fencing on thousands of acres in TX is different than protecting a garden in MI. I wish you all the best against your cervid invaders.
https://agrilifetoday.tamu.edu/2016/05/12/four-wire-electric-fence-system-best-control-of-deer-access-to-food-plots/
Thanks for the reminder of May Sarton. I read her journal books years ago and loved them…need to dig them out again. Our garden is a mess/disaster this year but such is life. As Bonny says, at least we are not farming for a living (I cannot imagine). Enjoy your up North time at the lake…may the flies be minimal and the weather perfect!
You have my sympathy and my commiseration. We’ve recently spotted some deer on the street, and no doubt they’ve munched a few things, but our bunnies are the ones eating everything, mainly my hostas and the flowers on my impatiens. I had one sunflower plant left after trying a bunch of seeds and they got that, too. We’ve also had the heat but not nearly enough rain; if we could take some of yours, we would. Like Bonny, I am thankful we don’t need to farm to feed ourselves, though I seem to have a bumper crop of cherry tomatoes (not that my kid will eat them).
Enjoy your time up north!
Lovely. Absolutely lovely.
I lost my oak leaf hydrangeas, hostas, and sedum to deer several years ago, so I can feel for you. The rest of your garden is gorgeous! I hope you have a wonderful time up North!
Oh sigh. I’m so sorry. First–you’ve had Oregon levels of rain (although we don’t get rain in the summer). It is hard to handle all that, plus wind. And deer! We have at least 20 different ones in the neighborhood. My veggie garden is fenced so they can’t get in there (eight foot fence) but everything else is fair game. When we worked with our landscaper person, I asked for deer-resistant plants and her answer was “we can do that, but if a deer is hungry it will eat anything and everything.” We have found like you that ferns are not very attractive, along with a plant called Salal or “Gaultheria shallon” which I think might be a PNW plant? They have also avoided lithodora this summer. It’s so frustrating! I spent hours planting bulbs and the minute they pop up–chomp chomp chomp!
Your garden successes are lovely. I’m sure it is heart rending to watch the destruction take place. Enjoy your time up north.
I am so sorry about those darned deers. And that amount of rain… yikes! (We are on the opposite end of the rain spectrum this summer) I am hoping your time at the lake gives you respite and that there are few flies so you and JoJo can walk and walk and walk!
The garden is still lovely. Our flowers have been ravaged by too much heat and not enough rain.
Have a good time up north. Safe travels.
Luckily, considering my lack of gardening enthusiasm, we inherited quite a lot of hostas from our house’s previous owners, along with daylilies, azaleas and I can’t remember what else. In 35 years we saw nary a deer despite the fact they were occasionally spotted in some country club underbrush maybe half a mile away. Don’t know those deer’s thinking on that one, but maybe the tide will turn for you one year when the deer find new riches elsewhere and leave yours alone. My personal pest problem was squirrels eating my tomatoes – which I Was enthusiastic about – which caused me to stop growing them. So I feel your pain. (Bunnies, we just enjoyed watching them stand stock still when they knew they were spotted.)
Oh dear, I’m sorry about the deer. They can be SO destructive. I’ve only seen deer in my yard 2 times in 27+ years but we do have some hostas in the back that are constantly eaten down. I thought it was bunnies or woodchucks but perhaps it’s deer. We had 3 woodchucks but they have been . . . dispatched . . . by Dale, thank goodness, because while I’m happy to have the eat all the clover they want, I draw the line at making a salad bar out of my container gardens. And I heard they love dahlias and I just can’t have that! I’m glad you turned this around and are focusing on the positive and I sure hope your ideas for next year will help to deter the deer.
Oh boy, I hope you & Tom can find a solution to the deer problem next year… or they find something tastier somwhere else!!
Friends who live near the mountain here are always discouraged by the deer problem, but it sounds like you’re learning and discovering new ideas. Despite the destruction your ferns and containers look amazing! The coleus looks grand, too. This year I discovered I can grow coleus in containers in the shade and they’ve done very well. Finding something that works on the hot cement has been hard until this year I discovered a few plants I can also see in your containers. I’m hoping I’m on the track for more success, too. We always say there is always next year!
Many beautiful triumphs there! Query: do you winter over any of the plants in your pots, or do you start fresh every year? My bunnies adore my mini hosta. I am amazed that it manages to come back every year. Or it might be deer, hard to say. Also, I am inspired by your wine bottle edging. And wishing that I had been so inspired back when I bought wine in bottles. I have switched to Black Box wines for environmental reasons, but using the bottles as edging taikes them out of the solid waste/recycling stream. Food for thought!