POUNDING THE PAVERS

            "Where do you come up with ideas for all the things you write about?" my friend Chuck asked last Tuesday evening over ribs and his wife Maggie's fabulous, secret-recipe potato salad.

The French House, Wilmington, NC

            Ideas for topics come from all over the place. For example, Miss Janice, owner of The French House bed-and-breakfast in Wilmington, phoned on a Sunday morning not too long ago. About to convert her dirt driveway to period paving bricks, she wanted to know what to use to underneath them to prevent the pavers from sinking into our sandy soil.

            Well, huh, I thought as we chatted. There’s a post.

            Tim and I do a bit of paver and wall-block work in our business. Almost all our projects are dry-laid, meaning we use no mortar. The ground in southeastern North Carolina never freezes; ergo, it never heaves.  I enjoy the work, as it requires precision. (Although Nature abhors a straight line, those of us afflicted by anal-retentive tendencies secretly adore them.) We’ve installed circular decorative medallions, angular sidewalks, flat patios, patios incorporating steps, seating walls, low retaining walls and, once, a grand surround for a fountain. We’ve also run about a mile of standing-paver edging.

            Yep, I’d say we know our pavers.

Some paver colors & styles

            Pavers come in various sizes, shapes and colors, and, for the purposes of this discussion, include concrete stepping stones, or “steppers.” There are even paver “systems,” sets of blocks in differing shapes that fit together to form patterns. A visit to the home improvement emporium or—better yet—your local brickyard can leave you reeling with ideas for embellishing and enhancing your garden. Prices range from very affordable do-it-yourself to moderately expensive hire-someone-else-to-do-the-heavy-lifting projects, to over-the-top master mason-created objets d’art.  

            In the interest of getting this post out before the end of April—the farm in our front yard consumes a great deal of my time these days, not to mention our beloved regular clients who have grown weary of looking at their tired violas and bolted mustards—here are some pictures of several Fitzgerald projects from ridiculously easy to quite complex for a couple of gardeners giving themselves on-the-job training.

            Just below on the left is an example of Belgian block plopped on the ground to serve as edging. I love Belgian block, with its rough-hewn surfaces, unique cubed forms and considerable heft. The downside? It’s pricey. I dream of one day having a dry-laid Belgian-block driveway: stately, textured, pervious, and great traction. But for now, 12 feet of single-wide edging represents the extent of my budget. (I blew the bulk of it on what Tim indulgently calls my $700 potato.)

A proper Belgian block sidewalk

at The Stone Garden,

Wilmington's premier stoneyard

Rudimentary Belgian block edging

            

             Here are two toss-it-on-the-ground projects utilizing square steppers. I wanted a level place behind our screened porch to put pots on and to quell a stubborn crop of fleabane; our friend Cornelia needed a hard surface on which to drag her garbage cans to the curb. Lest you be misled by my literary insouciance, “toss it on the ground” doesn’t really describe the installation. Level is the operative word here, and will pop up many, many times in the next few posts.

Steppers make it easier to get

your garbage to the curb

Steppers make a base for pots

           

            

            Next we undertook a sidewalk, also at Cornelia’s, that presented new challenges and educational opportunities. First, part of the space was really narrow; second, the walkway took two 45-degree turns; and lastly, we wanted to maintain the integrity of the pattern, a kind of modified basketweave. All three required sawn-to-shape pavers. To make precision cuts with minimum effort, you need a special chop-saw with special, heavy-duty blades.  Unfortunately, Tim muscled through using a masonry blade on his regular chop-saw. Live and learn, right? Still, the project turned out very acceptably.

Challenge # 1

Challenge # 2

            

Notice how evenly the water's dripping down

             When our friends Charlotte and Tom bought a graceful, three-tiered fountain for their back yard, they asked us to install it. Level is paramount when dealing with water features: nothing reveals the tiniest tilt to port or starboard, fore or aft as glaringly as water. Other aesthetics to consider when constructing a base are shape, color, and dominance. The fountain was grey and circular, so we built the base to match in order to showcase the fountain rather than its surround. (It can also be done the other way ’round, and we’ll get there shortly.) For now, suffice it to say Charlotte’s fountain introduced us to The Circle Kit, one of those paver "systems" mentioned above.

This is what you call an irregular shape

          Charlotte and Tom loved our fountain job so much they asked us to continue the paver motif by building a patio off the back steps. Bordered by an extruded-concrete edging, the challenge here was the area’s irregular shape. Another learning opportunity!

Circular medallion in the center

A semi-circular medallion at the bottom step echoed the full circle at the geographical center of the space. We filled in with a gently curving running bond. Having by now obtained the special chop-saw and special heavy-duty blades, all necessary cutting went smoothly.

 

The step the mason forgot

The original brick mason paid meticulous attention to the job specifications: the plans called for three steps, so three steps are what he built, regardless of the fact that there were 13 inches between the bottom step's tread and the ground instead of the seven-inch height of the rest of the risers. I pointed out this little lawsuit waiting to happen to Charlotte. “So fix it,” she said. We did, and quite elegantly, too, if I say so myself. Tim insisted we mortar the upright bricks for sturdiness. I insisted the same uprights be a different color for visibility. (Scarred by 12 years spent in lawyer-land, I see potential liability suits everywhere.)

Remember me saying fountain surrounds can be subtle or not? Here’s our “or not.” An enormously fun project to design and execute, this paver / seating-wall / entrance column construction took eight weeks on the ground to complete. It ended up costing 35 times as much as the putative centerpiece, a rococo Italianate-style fountain. Apparently, the angels were as pleased with the outcome as the homeowners, because we have photographic evidence.

A heavenly blessing

The grand fountain surround

Next time, a bit about wall-blocks, standing-brick edgings, and a primer on laying pavers.

Thanks for dropping by.

                                                            Kathy

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P.S.—Gracie, this is for you: grow-bags galore!

NOTES FROM THE FIELD

The lawn conversion begins

            Big doin’s at the Fitzgerald homestead as spring careens into the promise (threat?) of an early summer. We’re deep into the conversion of the lawn into vegetable garden. Why? Two reasons: 1) it’s the sunniest part of the yard; and 2) since we can no longer afford to water the grass, it’s pretty scruffy-looking out there.

Tim built two four-by-ten raised beds last week, already planted with potatoes and peanuts and covered with bird netting until they sprout. Two more, slightly smaller beds are on tap for today, because a visit to Christine, grower extraordinaire, netted me 30 sturdy seedlings of tomatoes, sweet peppers, cucumbers, squash and broccoli. They gotta get in the ground soon.

Potato grow-bags, phase 1

            Grow-bags in blue, red, orange and beige—an experimental addition—add to the circusy ambiance out front. The four jumbo ones for potatoes surround the scraggly, agonizingly slow-growing paperbark maple (Acer griseum). With luck, the four tomato and three pepper bags will be lining the sidewalk by the end of the day, completely blocking our diagonal shortcut across the yard. Oh, well.

          

The blackberry patch

             Have two baskets crammed with cucumber and nasturtium seeds hanging from the front porch above the blueberry patch. Planted four plants of three different cultivars of thornless blackberries (‘Ouachita,’ ‘Natchez,’ and ‘Darrow’) on one side of the New Bed’s pergola: four seeds of each of three types of melons are on the other side. 

            I still haven’t figured out where to put the fig.

            Out back, 15 row-feet of potatoes are in, and the strawberries are flowering merrily. As usual at the beginning of the season, I’m full of hope and enthusiasm. We’ll see how it goes as summer settles in.

*****

           

The front-yard excavations come on top of burgeoning springtime client needs, curtailing computer time. My editor-friend Sally asked me to write a Field Note for May’s issue for American Nurseryman, due early April, which is how I spent most of Sunday. In the interest of sanity (mine), I am also using it here. Allow me to introduce you to…

  RUELLIA CAROLINIENSIS: Wild petunia, Carolina ruellia

Ruellia caroliniensis

            Funny how things work out. Ruellia caroliniensis arrived at my coastal North Carolina home a decade ago in three two-and-a-half-inch pots from Woodlanders Nursery in Aiken, SC. Subsequently, I spent hours every summer trying (unsuccessfully) to keep it contained in the border and out of the lawn. Then last spring, Oak Island’s budget-busting sewer installation went operational, meaning I could no longer afford to water my grass. As a consequence, the stalwart green foliage brandished on sturdy heat-, salt- and drought-defying stems sprinkled with cheerful little lavender-blue blossoms became welcome—nay, encouraged—to spread wherever it wanted.

            The genus Ruellia is named for Jean de la Ruelle (1474-1537), personal botanist and physician to France’s François I. Although “petunia” figures in the common names of most of the 150 or so species and their flowers bear some rudimentary resemblance to one another, ruellias are not petunias: they belong to the acanthus family.

           

R. caroliniensis, close up

Highly adaptable, Carolina ruellia prefers full sun to light shade and well-drained soil, but pretty much tolerates whatever environment it finds itself in, making R. caroliniensis a natural for managed wildflower gardens and meadows, cottage-type borders, and lawn conversion, diversification and naturalization projects. It’s not so good for formal designs because, like all the Acanthaceae, its seed capsules explode, spewing seeds to impressive distances from the mother plant.

            Today’s time-restricted gardeners can’t ask for a more easygoing plant. Emerging from dormancy as early as February here in southeastern North Carolina, the first one-inch-wide blooms open around the end of April. Individual flowers last only one day, but their production continues steadily, although seldom prolifically, into October. In shady locations, growth is leggier and bloom sparser. As for maintenance, all you need do is cut down the dead stalks (or not) once they go grey and crunchy. Fertilize only if you wish to encourage rampant tendencies. 

R. caroliniensis, naturalized

Propagation by seed is a breeze: in fact, some deriders of the species say it self-sows with too much abandon (to which I can testify, from the days when I strove for a perfectly monocultured lawn). Still, Ruellia caroliniensis plays well with its neighbors. In my yard, it has shared about five square feet with a clump of Iris tectorum for ten years without apparent detriment to either.

            Nor did wild petunia harm the centipedegrass it seeded itself into. It stayed at about the same height as the lawn—two to three inches—and tolerated mowing very well, despite curtailed flower production.  

Pubescent stems

            The pleasantly mid-green colored foliage is ovate to lanceolate and slightly hairy on the reverse. Pubescent ("hairy," in hort-speak) stems never require staking, even in the dreadful heat and humidity of southeastern summers.

            Native to the southeastern half of the United States (New Jersey to Florida, southern Pennsylvania to Nebraska), Carolina ruellia is reliably hardy in Zones 7/8 to 10. While similar to R. humilis (short ruellia), R. caroliniensis’ leaves have petioles, and its stalks are longer. Not that it matters—I’ve yet to see either commonly available in the trade. Funny how things work out.

            Heads-up, locals: If you'd like to take on a Carolina ruellia or three, email me at ksftsf@gmail.com. Predictably, I have plenty to spare, with more sprouting daily.

            Thanks for dropping by.

                                                                        Kathy

A SUMMER CONTAINER CRAM COURSE

           The talk Tim and I gave to the local DAR chapter went well, thanks for asking. Ever the wag, Tim prefaced our remarks with “I’ve never spoken to the Daughters of the American Revolution before. I must say you’ve all held up extremely well.”

           The ladies tittered appreciatively, which was very nice of them. Honestly, I can’t take Tim anywhere. You should have heard what he came out with yesterday during a discussion of the capacity for good and evil in all people (in the larger context of spirituality versus religiosity). “Take Hitler,” he said earnestly. “I’ve heard he was very good at barbecuing.”

           Talk about a conversation stopper.

          Anyway. I brought up the DAR thing because, as usual, our presentation included a plug for this blog and my email address for any questions listeners may have after we’ve packed up our miles of cables and gone home. A few days later, Miss Nadine wrote to ask what post contained the pictures of the deer-resistant containers we’d shown. I explained that I haven’t used those photos in the blog yet, and sent her copies. And then the light-bulb over my head flashed on—how about a post about drop-dead-gorgeous summer containers?

Delphinium plants from Christine

            Later that week, Tim and I drove out to our grower extraordinaire Miss Christine’s establishment, Another Place in Thyme (APIT). Ostensibly, we went to get delphiniums, an early-spring blue-flowering treat for our clients. This is how typical delphinium negotiations go: “How many do you want?” asks Christine. “How many did you grow?” I counter. “Thirty,” she replies. “I want 30,” I say. “But I wanted a couple for my yard,” she says. “How many?” I ask. “Three.” “Okay, then, I need 27.” “Okay, load ’em up,” she says.

             I love Christine.

Sempervivum assortment from Christine

Tim and I change out about 70 containers and design 12 in-ground plantings for summer color every year. Going out to Christine’s always feels like I’m Alice fallen down the rabbit hole to Wonderland—so many beautiful plants, and always a few new-to-me surprises. The ol’ brain starts churning double-time, juggling colors, fragrances, annual vs. perennial, deer-resistance, moisture needs, sun exposures, what plants I have to have for myself today. (Scored 15 four-inch Sempervivum—hens-and-chicks—representing seven or eight cultivars on the delphinium trip.) After an hour or so wandering the greenhouses and outdoor tables at APIT, I’m incapable of coherent conversation for several hours. Tim reports I ride home with a loopy grin on my face and bright, vacant eyes.

White vinca & raspberry supertunias

    The simple secret to killer containers is to pack in the plants. We jammed this 42” hayrack with 18 3” white vinca and 8 4” ‘Raspberry Blast' petunias in May. I snapped the picture in July.

Where's the pot?

            You can’t even see the 16” pot holding this lush planting of a one-gallon red fountain grass (Pennisetum setaceum var. rubrum), 12 3” mixed-color vincas and a 4” fanflower (Scaevola aemula ‘Blue Wonder’) planted in May and photographed in July.

  Restraining my inclination toward horticultural experimentation, I stick with tried-and-true plant combinations for clients. Hanging in full sun, a set of stacked hayracks—36” long on top, 42” below—are stuffed with as many vinca and petunias as I could cram in, about three full flats to fill the pair. For a same-sized hayrack duo in full shade, I used an equal number of impatiens.

Stacked hayracks for sun

Stacked hayracks for shade

Heat-loving petunias

            Consider the conditions around your containers. These petunias can take all the reflected heat the bricks radiate without wilting or singeing. Many other plants—wishbone flower (Torenia fournieri), for example—can’t.  

            To make life easier on yourself, combine plants with similar watering needs. A full-sun, deer-resistant vignette of one 12” and two 10” pots, photographed at the time of planting, includes red pentas, fanflower, vinca, ‘Diamond Frost’ euphorbia, ‘Black Prince’ ornamental pepper, marigolds and various tender sedums, all of which share moderate-to-low moisture requirements. Succulents offer a veritable cornucopia of shapes, sizes and colors for low-to-no-water containers. Here's a pinky-grey Echeveria anchoring an assortment of sedums. (Be sure to look for my article on designing with succulents in the May issue of Carolina Gardener magazine, sold in fine garden centers, available soon.)

A heat-, drought & sun-tolerant combination

Combine pots to create vignettes

 

Be careful in your choice of

perennials to mix with annuals

       Mixing perennials with annuals can be tricky, as the former have more extensive root systems and will commandeer more below-the-surface space. Ornamental grasses, for example, can easily take over the lion’s share of a container’s water and available nutrients to the detriment of their neighbors. Still, some plants play well with others, as demonstrated by this perennial blue-flowered mealycup sage (Salvia farinacea ‘Evolution’) blending nicely in a 12” terracotta pot with the annuals ‘Alabama Sunset’ coleus and ‘Raspberry Blast’ petunia.

 

Mangers following the recipe

      Conventional gardening magazine, website, and television-show wisdom dictates the “thriller, filler, spiller” recipe for container plantings. Personally, I think it’s overdone. But here’s a subtle version, with pentas and ‘Sedona’ coleus as thrillers, wax begonias as filler, and fanflower as spiller. Moderation in all things works best in horticulture, as in life.

                Pushing the container envelope may be an attractive notion to those whose motto is “Think Big.” Here are some before-and-after photos of a pair of small raised beds cum really big containers Tim and I designed and built for one of our favorite clients to unclutter and unify her backyard.

Building bigger containers...

... and filling them

Plain & simple

 
                Sometimes, simplest is best. Here are three orphan petunias I tossed in a spare pot late last summer. They didn’t do much at the time, but stayed green through our mild winter: they started blooming last week. I’m looking forward to a long season of this single-species flowering powerhouse decorating the corner of our sidewalk. Nothing fancy, but an attention-grabber just the same.

 Big, small, or in-between, containers with punch have packed-in plants. You won’t be sorry you spent the money.

Thanks for dropping by.

                                                            Kathy

OH, DEER SUPPLEMENTAL, PICTURELESS PLANTS LIST

ANNUALS:

Agastache aurantiaca, A. rupestris (hummingbird mint)

Alcea rosea (hollyhock)

Angelonia

Antirrhinum majus (snapdragon)

Caladium

Catharanthus rosea (annual vinca)

Coleus

Cuphea hyssopifolia (Mexican heather)

Dianthus barbatus (Sweet William)

Digitalis purpurea (foxglove)

Euphorbia tirucalli ‘Sticks on Fire’

Evolvulus ‘Blue Daze’

Lobularia species & hybrids (alyssum)

Nicotiana alata (flowering tobacco)

Penstemon hybrids

Pentas lanceolata

Petunia species & hybrids

Plectranthus species & hybrids

Portulaca grandiflora

Rudbeckia hirta (black-eyed Susan)

Salvia coccinea, S. splendens

Scaevola (fan flower)

Senecio cineraria (dusty miller)

Solanum quitoense (bed-of-nails)

Solanum species

Tagetes species & hybrids (marigolds)

BULBS:

Allium species & hybrids (ornamental onion)

Crinum species & hybrids

Crocosmia x crocosmifolia (montbretia)

Gladiolus

Habranthus species (rain lily)

Hippeastrum species & hybrids (amaryllis)

Ipheion uniflorum (star flower)

Iris cristata, I. histriodes, I. hollandia, I. reticulata

Lycoris radiata, L. sprengeri, L. squamigera

Muscari species & hybrids (grape hyacinth)

Narcissus (daffodils)

Zephyranthes species (rain lily)

GRASSES & GRASS-LIKE PLANTS:

Acorus gramineus (sweet flag)

Carex species & hybrids (sedge)

Leymus arenarius (blue dune grass)

Liriope muscari, L. spicata (but rabbits will eat)

Miscanthus species & hybrids

Muhlenbergia capillaris (muhly grass)

Panicum species & hybrids (switchgrass)

Pennisetum species & hybrids (fountain grass)

Stipa tenuissima (Mexican ponytail grass)

Most other ornamental grasses

GROUNDCOVERS:

Ajuga reptans (bugleweed)

Delosperma cooperii, Dorotheanthus bellidiformis, Drosanthemum floribundum (ice plant)

Hedera species & hybrids (ivy)

Juniperus conferta ‘Blue Pacific’

Juniperus horizontalis ‘Wiltonii’ (‘Blue Rug’ juniper)

Lamium maculatum (dead nettle, false nettle)

HERBS:

Allium schoenoprasum (chives)

Allium tuberosum (garlic chives)

Anethum graveolens (dill)

Cymbopogon citratus (lemon grass)

Lavendula stoechas (Spanish lavender)

Mentha species (mint)

Ocimum basilicum (basil)

Origanum onites (Greek oregano)

Origanum vulgare (oregano)

Petroselinum crispum (parsley)

Rosmarinus officinalis (rosemary)

Salvia officinalis (sage)

Thymus species (thyme)

PALMS: all

PERENNIALS:

Agastache foeniculum (anise hyssop)

Artemisia species & hybrids

Asclepias species & hybrids (butterfly weed)

Canna x generalis

Chrysanthemum x morifolium (garden mum)

Cynara cardunculus (cardoon)

Dianthus species & hybrids

Echinacea species & hybrids (coneflower)

Eupatorium fistulosum, maculatum, purpureum (Joe Pye weed)

Euryops pectinatus (bush daisy)

Gaillardia species & hybrids (blanket flower)

Gaura lindheimeri

Helichrysum italicum (curry plant)

Helleborus species & hybrids (Lenten rose)

Iris ensata (Japanese iris)

Iris fulva (Louisiana iris)

Iris germanica (bearded iris)

Iris sibirica (Siberian iris)

Lantana species & hybrids

Leucanthemun species & hybrids (Shasta daisy)

Liatris species & hybrids (blazing star)

Manfreda virginica (Eastern false aloe)

Nepeta x faassenii (catmint)

Penstemon digitalis (beardtongue)

Platycodon grandiflora (balloon flower)

Rudbeckia species & hybrids

Ruellia species & hybrids (Mexican petunia)

Salvia species & hybrids

Santolina species (lavender cotton)

Sedum species & hybrids (stonecrop)

Sempervivum species (hens-and-chicks)

Solidago species & hybrids (goldenrod)

Stachys byzantina (lambs-ears)

Stokesia laevis (Stokes aster)

Symphyotrichum species & hybrids (aster)

Tagetes lucida (perennial marigold)

Tulbaghia violacea (society garlic)

Veronica species & hybrids

SHRUBS:

Agave species & hybrids (century plant)

Berberis species & hybrids (barberry)

Buxus species & hybrids (boxwood)

Buddleja davidii (butterfly bush)

Chamaecyparis species (false cypress)

Erica x darleyensis (heather)

Ilex cornuta ‘Carissa,’ ‘Rotunda’

Ilex vomitoria (yaupon holly)

Juniperus species & hybrids (juniper)

Lespedeza thunbergii (bush clover)

Ligustrum species & hybrids

Loropetalum species

Morella cerifera (wax myrtle)

Nandina domestica

Nerium oleander (oleander)

Opuntia humifusa (prickly pear cactus)

Paeonia (peony)

Pyracantha species

Rosa pimpinellifolia

Rosa rugosa

Thuja species (arborvitae)

Viburnum species

Yucca species

VINES:

Bignonia capreolata (crossvine)

Campsis radicans (trumpet vine)

Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina jessamine)

Passiflora incarnata (passionflower, may-pop)

Thunbergia alata (black-eyed Susan vine)

Trachelospermum jasminoides (Confederate jasmine)

Wisteria species

FAVORITE PLANT NOT ON THIS LIST?
Check out http://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance

WILMINGTON SOURCES FOR MANY OF THESE PLANTS:
Transplanted Garden, 16th and Church Streets
Zone 8 Gardens, 3802 South College Road (on the west side just north of the Rt.17/South College intersection, tucked in behind Walgreen)

THE END (OF DEER) IS NEAR

            Well, you’ve surprised me again. The page-view statistics on the deer posts—despite all the pictures—are depressingly low. So I’m going to give you the fast take on the rest of the plants deer eat only if desperate, and move on. If the clamor for more illustrated deer-resistant plants becomes unbearable, I may oblige. I'm not, however, holding my breath.

            But first, some breaking news for St. Paddy's Day.

     ·         If you’ve been on an extended trip to Outer Mongolia or the Falkland Islands, you may not have heard that the USDA published its revised cold-hardiness zone map last month. To view it, click on the highlighted text. Take heart, global-warming catastrophists: the US isn’t really all that warmer—this go-round, the boys at Agriculture just crunched twice as many years of temperature data than the mere 15 they used to develop the original map. They included readings from lots more reporting stations as well, resulting in a more accurate picture of average winter temperatures. The map is just a tool anyway, advisory in nature. No one knows better than you what winter is like in your yard.

·      Attention, citizen-astronomers! Globe at Night is running its third observation period of 2012 from March 13^th to the 22^nd. This time, Northern Hemisphere viewers can opt for either Leo or Orion: Sky-Guy recommends looking at Leo for people in dark-sky areas. Bright red star Regulus makes him easy to locate. Making the great lion even easier to spot, Mars is cruising through the constellation this month. So get out there and do your bit to help map global light pollution.

·       The vernal equinox occurs on Tuesday, March 20^th, as the sun passes over the celestial equator from south to north at 1:14 am EDT.

    ·       The World Wildlife Federation is holding its sixth annual Earth Hour, a climate-change awareness vigil, on March 31 beginning at 8:30 pm local time. Originating in Australia in 2006, the idea is shut off your lights and other electricity-sucking devices for at least an hour “…in a collective display of commitment to a better future for the planet,” says the website (linked above). Many places turn the evening into an outdoor, candle-lit social event, to spread awareness of sustainability issues. Personally, I’m dubious about the prospects of people coming together to save the planet; but what harm to savor an almost-April evening outside in the dark?

*****

               Okay, let’s wrap up Bambi.

(Click on these photos to make them larger)

            Deer don’t eat grass. Any grass. This is one characteristic that makes them not-cows. Here’s a picture of an ornamental grasses garden Tim and I designed on the edge of a swamp. It’s full of Leymus, various Miscanthus, Acorus, and Panicum: so full, in fact, that we were able to slip in a few Knock Out roses that the deer, discouraged by all that yucky grass, never ventured in to find. That’s one for our side.


               Following the same path of deception, here’s a planting that surrounds a deer-candy daylily with less-tasty perennials: (clockwise from bottom left) ‘Icicles’ veronica; ‘Blue Midnight’ penstemon, Siberian iris, seashore mallow, butterfly weed, stokes asters, and ‘Pretoria’ canna lily. It’s pretty, and the daylily blooms are shielded from depredations.

       

            Non-starving deer also give palm trees a pass. I have to say I agree with them here: most palms are notoriously difficult to site in non-tropical landscapes so that they don’t jar with everything else. I find most of them rather ugly and/or ungainly, but that’s a topic for another day.

            In fact, most trees hold little attraction as forage for Bambi. Bucks in rut, however, can damage bark or uproot young deciduous specimens as they rub the velvet off their antlers.

Veg garden temptation

      
            The bad news is that, with rare exceptions (rhubarb, for example, or grassy crops like wheat), anything we grow to eat ourselves also pleases deer. Vegetable gardens in areas under pressure from local herds require sturdy fencing and/or continual patrol by large dogs. Another option is to grow edibles in containers in places deer can be excluded from—like hanging baskets or on gated decks.

      

            As my list of deer-resistant plants kept (keeps) growing, I realized that deer-browsed landscapes result from a) a herd that’s out-populated its habitat; and/or b) a serious lack of imagination on the part of the gardener. There’s not much you can do about a), but b) is entirely within your control.

The garden in March

      By way of example, consider the evolution of the property of our friends, Gen and Ed. Gen believes wholeheartedly in co-existing peaceably with nature. Ed believes wholeheartedly in co-existing peaceably with Gen. Their park-like yard includes several deer trails, to which their gnawed original ornamental plantings bore witness. Over the years, however, we’ve worked together to gently encourage Bambi to dine elsewhere. Here is a picture of the garden at one terminus of the trail in March, full of poisonous daffodils, prickly foliaged ‘Baths Pink’ dianthus and other plants safely off deer menus.

Same garden in August

    And here is the same garden in August, home to ornamental grasses, ‘Goldsturm’ black-eyed Susans, Mexican bush sage (Salvia leucantha), coleus, and pentas. The deer just walk on by.

Rock garden

       Here’s the periphery of the same property. The tricky footing caused by the granite rip-rap strewn throughout the garden works with a lovely and low-maintenance planting of ‘Blue Pacific’ juniper, more ‘Baths Pink’ dianthus, coleus, society garlic and yaupon holly to make browsing uncommon.

    We even found a way for Ed to have some of the roses he loves, even though the flowers act like deer magnets: planting standards in pots did the trick.

 

'New Dawn' rose, unchewed

          If you find you can’t live without deer-candy, get around Bambi by growing his favorite noshes out of his reach. I’m training a ‘Zéphrine Drouhin’ rose to swag across our front porch, and jury-rigged a fantastically ugly chicken-wire arch for ‘New Dawn’ to grow over.

'Majestic Beauty' Indian hawthorn

       Plants trained or top-grafted into tree-forms (called “standards” in the trade) are another way to have your deer-cake and Bambi not eat it too. Here is a standardized ‘Majestic Beauty’ Indian hawthorn…

'Tardiva' standard hydrangea

…and a pee-gee ‘Tardiva’ hydrangea growing above the chewing-level of our scrubby little coast deer.

Take that, Bambi!

              Also consider containers hung out of reach, or kept in deer-proof enclosures.

A group of azaleas protected 
by nearly invisible fishing line

         If your yard’s full of hawthorns, pittosporums, euonymus, daylilies, roses, hostas, tulips and Oriental lilies, you can try the standard repellent methods—stinky sprays, grated Irish Spring soap, netting, bags of human hair or garlic-oil "pens" tied to susceptible shrubs, predator-urine stakes and fencing. Tim and I know some folks who mounted motion-activated dog-whistle-like devices in strategic spots around their yard one spring to good initial effect. Alas, the deer took to wearing earplugs or something, because by midsummer the devastation had resumed. You can keep deer out by stringing fishing line from tree to tree—or stake to stake—at chest height (theirs, not yours) around susceptible vignettes. The ultimate deterrent is, of course, a large dog.

"Cool Cola" defending the yard
(thanks to Labrador Retriever Pictures)

All these things work, but each has its trade-offs. Sprays can be expensive and must be reapplied regularly; soap’s cheaper, but you still have to be out there, grating away. Plants grow up through netting, failing to protect the tender new growth deer like best. Bushes festooned with bags of hair are soooo unattractive. Garlic pens and predator-urine stakes need replacing, although you probably won’t notice until the morning after the deer return. Fences work great but are a) expensive, b) ugly, or c) both. The sound devices, powered by four C-cell batteries, need frequent battery checks and replacements, and then the deer become accustomed to the sound anyway. Nearly invisible fishing line can cause tripping, and, in our litigious society, possible lawsuits. For those not inclined toward pet ownership, deer depredations may seem less harrowing than the rigors of life with Fido. 

In the March 2008 issue of The Avant Gardener, editor Thomas Powell wrote of experiments conducted by the USDA National Wildlife Research Center using hydrolyzed milk protein, called casein, to render plants unpalatable to Bambi. Apparently, casein is a common component of baby powder. The down side of this economical deer repellant (there’s always a down side) lies in how it’s applied. You have to mix the powder with some kind of adherent to make it stick to the leaves before spraying it on your plants. The article mentions commercial agricultural latex or—I’m not kidding—Elmer’s Glue-All. The mental picture I get of what baby powder, glue and water look like when applied to foliage is not pretty.

      
          The main goal of all repellents is to induce Bambi to change restaurants. Do keep in mind that hungry deer will eat anything. They also become inured to any one deterrent technique after a while. That’s why Tim and I advocate for planting things deer don’t particularly like in the first place. In the long run, it’s easier. 

 
        Don’t let the bastards get you down. And thanks for dropping by.

                                                            Kathy

P.S.—For the seven readers who found the plants lists mildly interesting, there’s a supplemental post of the entire thing (sans pictures) following this one.