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Don’t Always Blame the Deer

I Blamed it on the Deer by mtsofan

TheGardenLady wrote a column about deer and specifically said: Any person who is knowledgeable about deer will never tell you there is a plant that deer will not eat.

Deer will taste everything and will eat anything depending on how hungry they are. Deer have favorite plants. The plants that deer love they will eat entirely to the ground UNLESS you have a fence or you spray your plants with a deer deterrent.

Some people will tell you that deer don’t eat their sweet pea flowers Lathyrus odoratus yet other people will tell you they love to eat their sweet pea flowers. Deer will eat sweet pea flowers. Because a plant is poisonous to humans does not mean it is poisonous to deer. Perhaps your deer have enough other plants that they prefer eating in your garden. Deer have their preferences.

But remember, there are other garden pests who enjoy your garden. Rabbits love many of the same plants deer like and they often like many plants that are not deer favorites. So do not blame the deer for all the eaten plants in a garden. For example, rabbits love sweet pea flowers. For a list of the plants rabbits prefer check out this site:

 

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Marzipan – An Almond Delicacy

Photo taken by TheGardenLady’s daughter at the Marzipan Museum. Everything in the photo is made out of marzipan.

My favorite candy is marzipan. I am in love with this candy made out of almonds. I think marzipan is more popular in Europe than it is in the United States. Each country you visit in Europe makes its own marzipan. Even though marzipan is made basically the same way, there is a difference in marzipan from country to country.

Photo taken by TheGardenLady’s daughter at the Marzipan Museum. Everything in the photo is made out of marzipan.

What is the difference between marzipan and almond paste? I thought that what Europeans referred to as marzipan, Americans or English speaking people also called Almond paste. I always thought they were the same. But apparently there is some debate which depends upon how it is made. For a discussion of the difference you can read what this website has to say; plus read their recipe to make marzipan at home.

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Helping Plants when Stressed by Weather Challenges

Bee Balm, Stressed | 199/365 by mfhiatt

Someone said that this summer has been the wettest on record-at least on the East Coast. Meanwhile parts of the US have had one of the longest, hottest droughts.  I believe the heat level is a record. The challenges for farmers and gardeners are huge. I often wonder if my parents could have become farmers if they had to overcome such weather hurdles. And the challenges for plants with this strange weather is enormous.

Plants of any kind, including trees, are under a great deal of stress with these weather extremes. Even when plants survive, stress makes the plants more vulnerable to disease and insect attacks. For those readers of TheGardenLady who want to learn more about plant stress and what is happening in the research on plant stress at a very academic level check out this.

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Photos of Greece

This photo of canned fruits was taken in the town of Levidi in the Peloponnese.

My daughter and my son with his family visited Greece this August. They spent a week with friends on the island of Santorini,  a volcanic island where there are 600 species of plant life. The main edible crops growing on Santorini are grapes and a unique type of tomato called the Santorini tomato.  See here.  My son and his family then traveled through mainland Greece after my daughter left for Eastern Europe.

The photo of the goat was taken in the village of Elaiochori in the Peleponnese. Elaiochori is where my son’s friend’s father is from. This farm was just down the road from where a US trained architect, is building his retirement home.

This bucolic scene was taken outside a small organic winery we visited in the village of Kapsia in the wine region of Mantinia, Peloponnese.

From Santorini Sempervivum

Before they left for Greece, I asked my children to please take photos of any flora and perhaps fauna in Greece for TheGardenLady blog. Here are some of the photos. A few of the plants TheGardenLady can not identify. Perhaps my readers could help.

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Hurricane Irene’s effects on the TheGardenLady’s property

Hurricane Irene Reaches New York City by NASA Goddard Photo and…

My heart goes out to all of you who are suffering from the after effects of Hurricane Irene. (This is a list of the names for storms) I was lucky.

The only problem on my property was the downing of lots of small branches and lots of black walnuts. If the electricity had not gone off for 3 days, from the looks of my property only, I would have thought this had been a relatively minor storm. My stream did not flood. The bottom of my property did not flood. No trees nor limbs of trees came down. And I didn’t get water in my basement.

But I know a lot of people suffered. A lot of people still don’t have electricity. Those who didn’t have electricity and had floods in their basements now have to contend with mold and the smells associated with dampness. Even those who had electricity, so much water poured in that their sump pumps could not pump it out fast enough. The thought of such a mess is depressing.

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Deer-Resistant Plants?

2008 10-04 caught in act Deer 23 by yeimaya

A few people have told me that they only grow plants that deer don’t eat. Sorry. As TheGardenLady understands it, no academic or scientific report will say that there are any plants that deer don’t eat or that are deer proof. There are plants that are highly resistant to deer damage. So it is always smart to plant these plants if you don’t have an 8 ft fence surrounding your plantings. But deer that are hungry or starving will seemingly eat anything if they can get to the plant. And sometimes deer will taste to see if a plant is worth eating.

That is how some of the products or recipes that repel deer work.  See here.  Many leave a residual smell that we humans can not smell but the deer can and find offensive. And they leave a bad taste in the deer’s mouth. But even they aren’t effective 100% of the time. They wash off or new growth isn’t smelly and bad tasting. Or the deer that are hungry learn to tolerate the repellent.

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Butterflies in High Line Park

Butterfly on a yellow flower by tanakawho

Whenever I see a butterfly, I get so excited, I am like a child. What is the wonder of butterflies that make them so magical?  Bear with TheGardenLady as I share a favorite poem or skip to the bottom to read about Manhattan’s newest park.

“To A Butterfly” (1801)
I’VE watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!–not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister’s flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We’ll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now. 
________________________

STAY near me–do not take thy flight!
A little longer stay in sight!
Much converse do I find in thee,
Historian of my infancy!
Float near me; do not yet depart!
Dead times revive in thee:
Thou bring’st, gay creature as thou art!
A solemn image to my heart,
My father’s family! Oh! pleasant, pleasant were the days,
The time, when, in our childish plays,
My sister Emmeline and I
Together chased the butterfly!
A very hunter did I rush
Upon the prey:–with leaps and springs
I followed on from brake to bush;
But she, God love her, feared to brush
The dust from off its wings.

By William Wordsworth (1770-1850).
_______________________________

Today I saw the second Monarch butterfly this summer. I wasn’t certain the first butterfly I saw yesterday was really a Monarch because it flitted away from me so quickly. Then I spoke to a friend who saw a Monarch flying when she was walking on the High Line in Manhattan a few weeks ago. So I knew that the Monarch butterflies are starting to migrate in my area.

090610 High Line Park 017 by joevare

If you don’t know about the High Line and love walking in gardens then you are in for a treat if you visit Manhattan. It is the newest park. Located on Manhattan’s West Side, it runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues. Section 1 of the High Line opened to the public on June 9, 2009 and the rest just opened June 8, 2011.The park is filled with native plants. Check out their website where you can get a list of the native plants they planted and which plants are in bloom each month.  See here.

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Herb Information: Check Out Jekka’s Herb Cookbook

Besides gardening, reading is one of my passions. My reading preference is non-fiction which includes cookbook reading. Reading cookbooks is my relaxation reading; I often do it while watching TV. Even though I rarely cook these days, I still enjoy reading recipes. I have a huge bookcase filled with cookbooks. I also have saved all my Bon Appetit and Gourmet magazines. In spite of all the cookbooks and recipes I own, and in spite of all the recipes that are online, I cannot resist going to the cookbook section in our local library and checking out all the new cookbooks.

Today I found what looks to be a interesting and fun cookbook to read because it not only has recipes using herbs, it also has herb information. It is called “Jekka’s Herb Cookbook” by Jekka McVicar, a Firefly book publication that came out this year, 2011.

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Amazing Mazes

Sunflower maze by Need A Haircut

Do you like mazes? Or do you feel that you will be trapped in one forever?

When I received notification of the world’s largest sunflower maze, I felt that I had to add another post to my weekly blogging because this Thursday, August 25, 2011 is “New Jersey Audubon Day” at the East Coast’s Largest Sunflower Maze at Augusta, NJ Farm. The maze, located at 553 Ross Corner Sussex Road, Augusta, NJ will be open daily through this Sunday, August 28 from 9 a.m.– 6 p.m. Admission to the maze is $8 for adults and $5 for children.”  See here.

I thought it would be fun to check out some other mazes in the US and around the world.

People lost in the corn maze by E. Bartholomew

More and more corn mazes are appearing in corn fields. Apparently these mazes are a popular family fun time because I found some great corn maze sites.

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Plants that Attract Bees

bee on mint flowers-1 by Mr Po

One comment TheGardenLady received was from a beekeeper who was delighted that she has mints growing in her yard because they attract so many bees. I agree, my mint plants attract a lot of bees as do other plants and herbs that are in flower as well as the many flowering plants that are in the mint family, Lamiaceae or Labiatae, such as plants in the Agastache genus, most commonly called Hyssop. (Remember to feel for the square stem to know the plant is in the mint family. And do remember that these plants can become invasive. )

Agastache plants which bloom almost all summer long not only attract lots of bees, they attract butterflies and even attract hummingbirds but deer won’t eat them. At least two of the Agastache plant species are referred to as Hummingbird mint.  See here.

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