Bewitched

~ Bitchy After 60

When nature dresses in her finest, it’s like the entire neighbourhood is rejoicing.

The bird feeder is happily busy. Chickadees, finches, blue jays, small woodpeckers and nuthatches are constantly dropping by. Plus a couple of rare visitors while in migration­–a northern parula and a red-eyed viero.

 

The deer, on the other hand, are treating the garden like a buffet. Apparently rejoicing on the menu. They dine and dash and sometimes don’t even bother to dash, just look at me with their blinking brown eyes as I get within a few feet of them clapping my hands and asking them politely to leave. They may be lovely creatures, and it is easy to be charmed by their beauty; but they eat just about anything when they are hungry. They have literally chomped the tops off of lower hydrangeas and euonymus shrubs. And the blossoms off the hardy hibiscus last fall before it bloomed, forcing me to put it in a pot on the deck this year. They enjoyed the squash leaves that poked through the fencing of our vegetable garden earlier in the season, and the new growth on our tomatoes, requiring them to be protected with deer mesh. Just yesterday, they were munching on the burning bush. They love the summer phlox and hosta, and I was willing to sacrifice these for the greater good; but I worry about my young Japanese maples and seven sons tree, now protected by deer mesh that I hope will make it past the new growth stage of next spring. These rejoicing deer are creating a lot of work. Since my garden has been over twenty years in the making, guess who is researching deer fencing as a spring project. There are some great YouTube videos that show options using fishing line and posts that have potential. I can’t close in my entire yard, but I can, hopefully, deter them from coming in as much. Fingers crossed.

 

This week, we are enjoying clear sunny days with beautiful blue skies that reflect in the lake. 

 

It is lovely to venture out for a walk or a paddle this time of year. 

 

Every plant wears elegant shades of green, red, orange and gold.

Even with the deer problem, it is so beautiful that it is impossible to be bitchy, but not difficult to be bewitched.

Thank you for reading.

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26 thoughts on “Bewitched”

  3. You have a gorgeous garden in a gorgeous area! I’d find it hard to chase off those cute bambis but I know what you mean – I didn’t realise they had such a range of things they could eat! I would have thought things like hydrangeas were poisonous to wildlife. I’d be like you – not wanting to be nasty or frightening but trying to get them to leave.

    We do get some colours here before the leaves are blasted forcibly off by the gales but we generally don’t get very good light to photograph it.

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    1. I will admit that I live in my happy place. Between the lake and the garden, I rarely want to leave. They are both very calming.
      Our colours aren’t as nice as they sometimes are. We also had some recent winds that shredded many leaves.

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    1. Thank you I am lucky. It was a conscious choice 26 years ago. We moved from north of Toronto to here. I grew up here in Nova Scotia.
      I would really miss the seasons if I couldn’t enjoy them.

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  5. Beautiful photos of your lovely gardens and dock. We have deer here plus a flock of 24 wild turkeys, ground hogs, moles, voles, chipmunks and squirrels. It’s like wild kingdom out there because there is too much building going on. I put up plastic fencing in the winter to deter them from eating my blueberry bushes and other shrubs and perennials. I have two seven sons trees, and I put fencing around the larger one and a tomato cage with fencing around the smaller one. I haven’t been able to win the war, but I win a few battles here and there. Good luck with your deer fencing research.

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    1. Thanks. We have other creatures here as well. No turkeys though. At least not in my yard. The deer have been keeping me busy. Like you, I have used tomato cages and plastic fencing as well as the mesh. Someone recommended Bobbit spray so I may try that on selected plants next year.

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  8. Beauty all around you. A few more nice days until fall really sets in much harder. I have noticed a noticable chill in the air. Have you never had a problem with deer until this year?

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  10. You live in a pretty area, deer be damned. They are magnificent pests, in my estimation. We have them too. I adore the shades of gold in the autumn. Red and rust are pretty but gold holds my heart.

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