Many of you have asked how our community can grow plants with the number of deer we have wandering around. I answered that most residents know not to plant anything that the deer like to eat where they can get to them. There are always exceptions to every rule, so today, we will visit those folks who still plant luscious treats for the deer to eat. Oh, they try to keep the plants protected, but it seems like such a futile endeavor when plenty of things look good but are not deer favorites. We are catered by Perrfy’s Steakhouse of Austin. Our entertainment is The Grass Roots.
Menu
Get on the bus.
Here’s a whole bed of groundcover plantings screened in.
To the left are roses, which are a gourmet item for deer.
More screening around various plants
Use of a downspout pipe to protect the tree.
Hard to see, but there is a little stick of a tree being guarded by iron and wire (and a little rope)
Screen wire and metal posts.
This one looks like it is a squirrel deflector.
A little hard to see, but virtually every plant is surrounded by screening.
Here is an anomaly. A juniper planting surrounded by fencing. (Deer don’t eat Junipers)
Here are plants surrounded by wire and then strung with electric lights. Notice the deer resting by them.
Here is a fig tree with a substantial wire surround.
That is the conclusion of our tour. Sit back and enjoy the music and food. I hope you have a terrific week.
Fiction Favorites 
My daughter has the same issues on her island. It is a constant battle to keep the deer away from her garden. Love The Grass Roots, a great tune. Enjoy your Sunday.
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Thank you, Darlene.
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I got a kick out of the deer resting against the fence.
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DWA!! (Deer with Attitude)
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Yup
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That broke me up too. It was like, “I’m waiting until the lights come on.”
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😂🦌
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😁
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Love deer but they can reek havoc. My Granddad grew grew grass from a trellis that attracted white tail deer ( beautiful) he would wind a long hose though the the vines that represented a snake and that seem to do the trick for keeping the deer away… but not always. Lovely post today John. 🍇
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Thank you, Holly. Not sure our deer would fall for a hose trick. 🐂
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Lol! It’s too weird. I wrote a poem about it … Muscadine. Mostly it scared people. 🐂🐂
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😁 🐂🐂🐂
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A herd 🐂🐂🐂🐂
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Yes indeed. All welcome too.🐂🐂🐂🐂
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Everyone loves them 😊
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😊
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Not the prettiest solution, but I can see how it can work.
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The real answer is to avoid deer delicious plants.
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Pretty houses with not-so-pretty screening. You think they’d just plant things deer don’t like, instead.
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*slaps forehead* You would think. Thanks, Lois.
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Deer are beautiful, but they can damage trees that you plant, beyond repair. When we lived on some acreage, I planted many trees that deer destroyed, either by eating or some that the bucks used to clean their antlers. The evergreens all survived without any damage.
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So true. When I lived in California I had a Manzanita tree in the front yard. The bucks rubbed it so hard it fell over.
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And I remember coming home to two bucks fighting out in back of the house. It was impressive!
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I’ll bet. 😁
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Hi John, you always get people who try their lucky. Sadly, they usually get upset when their efforts don’t work.
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Thank you, Robbie.
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That juniper looks like my Tiny Tree, many months ago! And I’m still giggling over the deer resting by the fence with the lights! Somehow, it seems counterproductive to jump through such hoops, when there are other plants available that deer won’t touch.
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I think the same way you do, Debbie. That’s why I did this pictorial.
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It seems almost impossible to preserve those trees and bushes the deer like – I think all the netting and enclosures are pretty ugly. I once set out a row of marigolds along our back deck. Each day one or two would disappear! Deer of course. Marigolds are tasty. Today I am drawn by the seared scallop pasta! Yum!
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Deer love marigolds. Our backyard is deer proof so we plant what we wish back there. The front is rock, stone and one agave which the deer won’t touch if they have enough water (Yes, we leave out a bucket of water)
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I couldn’t help but chuckle about what some folks think will protect their ‘salad bar’ from the hooved mammals (aka deer). To think fencing will protect most vegetation is pure folly. Have a 6 ft. fence and a deer will learn to jump 7 ft. But I enjoyed the tour and the menu. With deer being a problem in the foothills west of town, we know cedars & evergreens with gray-blue fruit (like junipers) and silvery bark are best choices for trees and have heard blue bonnets are somewhat deer resistant but like most plantables, nothing is 100% perfect protection against them.
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I just don’t understand why folks wage war protecting stuff that shouldn’t bee there.. There are enough deer resistant things to plant.
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Exactly. It’s like trying to overcome a cowlick! Talk about an exercise is futility and a waste of time and money.
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😁
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Seems to me a lose-lose situation to plant stuff the deer like and then surround it by ugly netting. What’s the point?
Methinks there is a much better way!
I’ve not had a steak in an awful long time, so I think I’ll have the ribeye. Fun tune!
Happy Sunday, John!
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Good choice on the ribeye. I agree there is a better way.
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An occasional splurge 🙂
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A virtual ribeye is hardly a splurge.
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This is true. Now I have a hankering for a real one!
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Here have a porterhouse🥩
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Ooooohhh… A share-able piece!
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One inch thick, dry aged, wagu beef porterhouse.
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Mmm mmm MMM!
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Haven’t had one since 1991. But who’s counting.
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Oh my! Doctor’s orders or you, being smart?
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Smart.
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Good for you!
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😊
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Oh, I can relate to the deer problem, John. We have elk too, who don’t care a whit about fences – they just knock them over. You have some valiant neighbors, doing their best to help their plants grow.
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I’m in the school of finding stuff the deer don’t like. I’ll bet a gig ole Elk eats whatever it wants.
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🙂 I have friends with an orchard who have an 8ft high chain link fence. That has worked.
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Yeah eight feet is exotic animal ranch size here
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🙂
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Oh, deer… I fully understand but it’s too bad there can’t be a deer park here and there, where they can hang out and eat everything in sight! Of course, at least you don’t have roaming goats… they’d eat everything (perhaps even the repellant items)
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We have goats in Austin. They love poison ivy and it doesn’t bother them. They roam the parks.
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We live near the woods, so deer constantly come onto our open property. This is one battle I don’t fight.
I love the music choice today, John. The Grass Roots had so many great songs.
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I’m so glad you liked the music, Pete. I don’t blame you on not fighting the deer.
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Talk about going above and beyond!
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Futile I tell you.
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Fewtile!
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Love fewtile.
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Out here, they’re trying to get everyone to remove ornamental yew from their landscapes because it kills deer and they love to eat it. More than one way to play landscaping warfare.
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Wow. i did not know that.
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Erm, aren’t those deer hanging around the fencing in the second to last photo? That has to be some kind of oxymoron, LOL!
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That does seem odd doesn’t it? Thanks, Mae.
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Gee, hope the deer don’t go hungry.
Lol, if I lived there, I’d be planting stuff for them to eat!
That could be okay, then they wouldn’t eat others’ roses, I’d hope.
Sometimes my eyes play tricks…or is it my brain?
Anyway, I read “Dear Repellent” at first.
I actually wondered where I could make use of such a product.
Thanks for the fun song, John. I never heard it before.
🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂
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I think if I could invent Dear Repellent I would make a fortune. Just think of how handy it would be to get rid of bad and ugly when you wanted. Not to mention in a bar getting rid of the pesky guy who says, “Did you get hurt?” You answer, “Hurt? What do you mean?”
He says, “When you fell out of heaven.” He gets squirted right there.🐂 🐂 🐂 🐂
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Nice tour, John. We don’t have deer, so I’m confused about wrapping the trunks. Do deer eat the bark? Great song choice. I loved the Grass Roots.
As for the menu, you had me at Steakhouse Pasta.
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I guess some trees could be eaten if other food was not available. There is plenty of grazing land here.
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Okay… from a New Englander who rarely sees deer, even in our rural community, please send a few our way. On another note, why plant something that will attract the animal who destroys the plant? Hmmm…
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A very good question, Jennie. 😁
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🤔
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Deer are not cute. No matter how often they defeat
home owners efforts to protect their plants. Yes they were here first. In fact they were here when the developers built the development. And they are wild life. So why do the developers get to hand off the wild life management plan ( or lack there of ) to the home owners ?
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When you buy in you own a piece of the good and the bad. I would hate to have a developer telling me what I can and can’t do with the deer. It’s bad enough that the city tends to interfere too much. Homeowners should plant things that will not be eaten. Try to tell that to everyone.
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I never knew deer ate roses. My dad has fought them them over his summer garden for years. He even tried planting a ‘decoy garden’ one summer, lol.
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That’s funny. A decoy garden.
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Goodness, all those screens and wires and whatnot kind of take away from the beauty of the plants. People can be stubborn but so can deer 😉
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So true. I think people should be satisfied with stuff deer won’t eat.
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