Well, the wedding is over, the company have all returned home, and we've had a few days to relax. What a whirlwind of activity, but it all was topped by a wonderful wedding celebration. Wiese Acres got a good work-out with a number of "resident" guests for the weeks before and after the wedding! I wish that the gardens would have had their normal early July colors, but blossoms continue to be a good two weeks behind their usual time of appearance. Oh, well. It was still beautifully green thanks to a few rain showers and moderate temperatures.
Instead of daylilies and echinacea, we had peonies and penstemon, a few delphiniums, Asiatic lilies in bright colors, and lots of yarrow. We had to supplement the garden flowers with some Bells of Ireland and Gerbera daisies from a wholesale floral source, but our decorator managed to put together some beautiful arrangements for the reception hall.
After the wedding, we celebrated the gift opening with a Hawaiian luau at Wiese Acres. It was a hot, very humid day, so it was easy to believe we'd actually made the trip to a tropical island. But, what fun.
We also took some time to wander through Wiese Acres and see just exactly what was happening in the gardens.
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| Wiese Acres Fine Feathered Friends Garden |
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Wiese Acres Fine Feathered Friends Garden
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| Wiese Acres English Tea Garden |
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| Wiese Acres Memorial Garden |
Within a couple weeks, the daylilies will burst into a riot of color. I can hardly wait!
After the wedding, we celebrated the gift opening with a Hawaiian luau at Wiese Acres. It was a hot, very humid day, so it was easy to believe we'd actually made the trip to a tropical island. But, what fun.
What do you do to deter the deer? Squirrels?
ReplyDeleteAh, yes. Deer and squirrels. Beautiful to look at and fun to watch - until they destroy your garden. The only thing to really keep deer out of the garden is an 8 foot tall fence - anything lower than that and they will likely take a run and sail right over the top of it. There are some less drastic measures that might help for the short term. Some of the animal repellant sprays deter them as long as the spray is fresh. This means it needs to be replenished after each rain or watering. Mechanical deterrants, such as scarecrows, barking dogs, motion sensor lights, etc. work until the deer figure out that nothing more happens after the initial commotion.
ReplyDeleteSome deterrants work by scent. I've heard people say they've used moth balls (but please don't spread these on the ground - they can be toxic to beneficial insects, toads, frogs, fish, and even small children). One of my students tells me she makes cloth pouches and fills them with mothballs and hangs them around her garden area. I'm not sure I want to smell moth balls everytime I go out in my garden, so I've had pretty good luck with blood meal. I live in an area where there are no bears, so I can get by with having blood meal out. If you live where there are carnivorous predatory animals, you might not want to attract them to your yard just to keep a few deer away. :) Like all scent based deterrants, the blood meal scent must remain fresh. This means frequently re-spreading the powdered form (always use a mask when spreading this as it aerosolizes easily and your lungs might not thank you for it). I've found blood meal available in small round cannisters that are shielded from rain but have openings to allow the scent to escape. I hang these cannisters every few feet around the garden I want to protect and have been successful in keeping those pesky deer away all season long.
As for squirrels, some of these same deterrants will work with them, but the best way to keep them out of things is with mechanical deterrants - cages, ballisters, etc that keep them from getting into things. I've also had some success with getting them to leave my bulbs and things alone by offering them a pan full of unsalted peanuts in the shell, corn, and other things that squirrels just can't seem to resist. That's helped us learn to co-exist peacefully. Oh, yeah, that and the threat from the rodent patrol at Wiese Acres.