Woke up this morning at 5:30 to get some work done outside before the brutally hot weather took hold and wouldn’t you know it, the deer (or some creature) sampled one of my peony plants:
Are you f’n kidding me? They managed to navigate my elaborate container blocking scheme?
Luckily that is all they managed to get to but still, are they lingering in the shadows of the woods just waiting for those tasy buds to open up? Damn shady characters.
I will try to remain positive and enjoy the other 5/6 of what I have left (yes, I did the math):
And will not allow any more damage to my prized posessions. Out comes the big artillery:
Make my day punks.
A quick happy birthday to my beautiful bride. You WILL have freshly cut peonies by this evening.
I love you.
John
Those clipped stems look familiar. Most of my coneflowers are doing well, but a couple that got “burned” by friendly neighborhood turf herbicide applicator experts seem to be extra tasty to freindly neighborhood rabbits. But I think I’ll see 3/4 bloom eventually.
It has been a painful decision both from an aesthetic and a financial perspective when I’ve decided my plant obsessions are greater than the needs of local fauna. 2 feet of chicken wire all around keep out the short marauders, and to foil the tall ones, 4 foot livestock wire or fencing or whatever they call it. I fear for your peonies with the precariously balanced wheelbarrow as a barrier: A deer might try to reach over it–or bump it with a shoulder, and the peonies will be crushed to the ground. On the other hand, they’re peonies. Their blossoms will soon crush them to the ground–the wheelbarrow may simply provide a headstart! Good luck in any case; I share your apparent love for these incredibly stupid plants with the overweight blossoms. (And happy birthday to your wife.)
Sorry John! Damage like this is always frustrating! Hope your new protective barrier works! Happy birthday to your wife!
Try emulifying some egg whites and spraying the foliage the deer desire. So far it has worked for me on my hydrandras. Suggestion from the Louisiana Forestry dept.
Of course if it rains, you must reapply.
I tried again last night. I caught two beauties in the yard. They didn’t touch the hydrandra where I had sprayed the egg whites but the Clemitis blooms are gone. I forgot to spay those. They are right next to each other.
John simply throw some bird netting on the plants during the critical two week period. They are not visible from far away, and no hardware required. They are still capable of pressing on it and chewing what they can, but I doubt they’ll do that with abundant food around, and even if they did, they can’t cause too much damage. I use that approach in winter, when the eat my prickly hollies.
John,
Yes, deer are probably the culprits! They munch my peony blooms and rose blooms both. There is even some internet crazy advice saying that deer don’t “usually” bother peonies, but we know better, don’t we? I have used a product called “predascent” that I buy on Amazon. It costs about $50 for 100 little capsules, but when I spread them around, no deer munch the area. It is supposed to be concentrated coyote urine (how do they collect this stuff?) and it does work (for 2 years now). Unlike the stuff I have bought at Lowes and sprayed on the plants and in 2 weeks, the deer are back and eating voraciously! Happy birthday to your wife! May she have peonies tonight!
I have 22 deer in my yard almost daily. The ONLY 2 things that work are Liquid Fence & bird netting. Since I was so good about protecting the few things I have that they want they decided to teach me a lesson and eat the blooms off the Siberian Iris instead. For my entire life those were 100% deer proof…sigh!!!
Being that peonies are my favourite flower, I’m feeling your pain!!
I do hope you are able to deter them before they do too much damage.