Here is what I've been working on along with my fiancee this year. Each year the garden seems to get a little bigger and more expensive. At least this year, we have been winning the battle against the deer.
Putting in a lot of perennials is expensive in the beginning but will pay off with less work in the long run once they spread and fill all the gaps lovely.
Like the rocks in your garden. My garden has gone from small stumps, weeds and poison ivy to my mini park salvation in one year. Now I want some rocks similar to some of yours for me and an occasional butterfly to rest upon.
Jeff your place certainly reflects lots of really hard work & careful planning although you probably had some trial & error but what ever you did it certainly worked!!
You and your fiancee have made a picture perfect show place!!
I try to put plants that deer don't like around the edge of the garden, then they don't seem to come into it to nibble. They don't like yarrow, Iris, especially.
I have used the deer repellant also. Smells like rotten hot dogs though. I like the idea of hair or dog fur. The deer do like to eat the hostas though.
Thank you all for the wonderful comments on our garden. I showed them all to my fiancee and she's ecstatic with the good comments by other folks. We have been trying to go with more deer resistant plants but each year, some deer resistant plants become delicacies for deer so the list seems to always be changing. Using the deer spray is stinky and expensive but so far, it's working and if that's what we have to do to keep the garden looking good instead of empty stalks, then that's what
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were going to do.
It's not so much of my doing with the layout, plants, etc, it's mostly all my fiancee. I just helped dig and offered suggestions here and there lol. Oh, I also helped to move around rocks. Ughh
At some point, I'd like to look into having nature stone over our patio pad and then building a pergola over the pad with blinds on one side to protect the sun from hitting us during the evening. I'm also looking into patio paver stones for the walkway between the two garden beds and where the black swing is at. We have a small bistro patio set and wondering where to put it.
Beautiful garden, I can appreciate the time and effort you have put into it. As a gardener myself its so rewarding to walk through it and see the beauty in it and how it delights others.....
sheesh, fast forward a month or two later and my garden looks nothing like this now thanks to deer and the horrible drought. Glad I took those pictures when I did.
Sorry to hear that, Jeff. Let's hope the drought does not become an annual occurrence. The deer, on the other hand, are likely to be. May be time to think about a fence.
That's too bad Jeff. We all feel your pain. Our area just had our 7th 100 degree day in the month of July. The record was 6 days set back in the 30's!! The entire country is in a drought stage so it's looking very dismal for crops and boy will our pocket books feel it all too soon! Next year we won't be able to afford gardening plants because of groceries being sky high. We may all be forced to start growing our own vegetables - which really might not be a bad thing.
Jeff, so sorry to hear of your garden's demise. After all the time, money and expectations, it's hard to deal with anything less than success! Mother nature is a wonder, and sometimes deals us all a hard blow.......not easy to accept, but the true gardener bides his time.
I know it is hard to see gardens go down hill, they are so prettyin the spring and early summer when everything is rejoicing at coming up and being out of the ground, then the heat of summer makes them look so tired. Add a drought and bad hot weather...so sorry. But next spring , they will bounce back, right? One of my hostas, a new one, is biting the dust, and I dont know why. Maybe it will come back next spring. Glad you took the pictures!
You and your fiancee have made a picture perfect show place!!
It's not so much of my doing with the layout, plants, etc, it's mostly all my fiancee. I just helped dig and offered suggestions here and there lol. Oh, I also helped to move around rocks. Ughh
At some point, I'd like to look into having nature stone over our patio pad and then building a pergola over the pad with blinds on one side to protect the sun from hitting us during the evening. I'm also looking into patio paver stones for the walkway between the two garden beds and where the black swing is at. We have a small bistro patio set and wondering where to put it.