Deer – Come and Gone

  • Post published:08/13/2012
  • Post comments:3 Comments
Deer damage

Deer have come and gone in my garden. Our gardens (and house)  are essentially in the middle of a large field bordered by woodland. The deer population crosses the field and goes down to our Frog Pond. Very beautiful when they are not hungry and there is plenty of forage. But are they satisfied?

Earlier in the spring I did not see any deer in the garden and I thought perhaps I had planted so many deer resistant flowers like astilbe, yarrow, Russian sage and northern sea oats that the deer didn’t think there was anything at all in the garden that appealed. Or, perhaps they they had satisfied themselves in the field this year. Then one morning I went out to admire my Casa Blanca lilies, just budding up, but the buds were gone. At that point I received a sample of Everguard Deer Repellent and set out to spray.

I do not use any poisons in my garden but Everguard Deer Repellent is a scent and taste repeller. Out in the air the scent does not repel me, but obviously the deer don’t like the smell of putrified eggs or cinnamon, thyme, clove and garlic oils. I don’t actually think the deer get too far into actually tasting the plants sprayed with Everguard. I sprayed the phlox, shasta daisies and echinacea thoroughly the first week of July and repeated the dose a month later. There was no rain during that month so the Everguard did not wash away. Just the other day, after heavy rains, I noticed that some of the new growth on one clump of phlox had been nibbled. I was reminded that the directions on the Everguard bottle did recommend watching for new growth which might need a touch up every four or five days. I was very grateful that the Everguard worked so well

Everguard Deer Repellent is recommended as a rabbit repellent as well, however the bunnies that have been such a scourge in my garden this year prefer the vegetables and Everguard warns that spraying vegetable plantings will ruin the taste. To deter the rabbits I had to turn to floating row covers, well pinned down.

Everguard Deer Repellent

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Lisa at Greenbow

    What a disappointment with the deer eating your lili es. BAD DEER. Bunnies have been eating things in my garden this year. Haven’t had any in a long time. The dry weather must have been good for them. Or maybe their habitat has been changed elsewhere.

  2. Jean

    What a shame to lose those gorgeous lilies before they ever had a chance to bloom. (This is one of the reasons I gave up growing lilies.) I hope the repellant works well for you. My brother was faithfully spraying the amazing display of daylilies that runs along the front of their property until he went out one morning at the height of the daylily season to get the newspaper and discovered every single daylily blossom and bud gone!

  3. Jason

    I am so grateful for the fact that deer do not come into my area. They are a real problem in some nearby neighborhoods. I have had trouble with rabbits, but have found odor repellents effective in protecting specific plants. It’s frustrating that effective deer control is often prevented by misguided attitudes.

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