Tattered Remnants

Just about a month ago, I started in on the one outdoor flower bed we have. It is something I look forward to and it can stretch over several weekends in May. There is just something about going to the various greenhouses for the first time and seeing all the annuals in their little pots ready to be planted where they can provide wonderful color for the entire summer.

Just browsing through the various choices is relaxing. Looking at the colors and trying to get a wide selection of flowers so that every color is represented. Even white which isn’t as attractive but it serves as a nice contrast to the other colors. Then spending some time digging in the dirt to get them planted and watering right after and just watching and hoping to see them take off with the promise of a color show until the fall.

Alas, that is unlikely to be the case this year. For that, we can blame Odocoileus virginianus or the white-tailed deer.

I’ll freely admit that when we first moved in here, it was exciting to see deer roaming through the neighborhood. And they are still magnificent animals except they are also the killers of flowers and souls.

There is a whole woods nearby with all the stuff they are supposed to be eating but I guess they can’t be happy with that. Perhaps our flowers are like some exotic food to them. Something they can’t resist because it only comes once a year. Whatever the reason, they have made short work of all my hard work.

It started a couple of weeks ago when we noticed flowers the looked like they were dug up but were really just pulled out of the ground while being munched on. Some of them could be replanted. Others were too far gone.

We made a late season trip to another garden shop hoping to fill in the holes. There is nothing sadder than seeing annuals way past their prime as they’ve used up all the small space they had but we found enough that still looked alive and managed to fill in the most of the gaps.

I had taken a little pride in these four little snapdragons that were seriously droopy when we got them. After a few days in the ground and with water, they had all bounced back and were ready to flower ….

This morning I went out and all that was left was four stalks. They deer had eaten the top 2/3rds of each one. And they had sampled several other flowers. To add insult to injury, they even walked over a few of the things they didn’t like to get to the ones they did.

I have some left. Not sure if it is because they don’t like them or they are just waiting until later to totally crush my spirit.

Now the dilemma. I’m sure there are still places that have some left. I mean they’ll probably be selling them until the end of June because what else are you going to do with them. But after more time in the small pots, I can’t imagine what shape they are in.

And, even if I did manage to rescue a few, would it just be until the next deer dinner bell? I guess the plants did have a couple of days when they were happy before they got on the menu. I suppose I’m foolish enough to keep trying.