As well as Marilyn’s private garden, three of our public gardens have a particularly hard time with deer and we have to plant thoughtfully and sometimes with frustration as the taste buds of the deer seem to vary from season to season and even between neighbourhoods.
Andersen’s RV Park
The one place at Andersen‘s where deer did not bother tulips (yet) was in the box out by the road. One could imagine them craning their necks in to munch, but so far they have not.
On the 29th of April in the planters by the Payson Hall clubhouse, I was thrilled to see surely the largest head of Allium schubertii that I’ve ever grown. Since the deer had become more interested in Andersen’s gardens, I could no longer grow tulips by the clubhouse.
On June 29th, Cosmos bloomed in the picket fence garden.
Believe me, the picket fence is not enough to keep the deer out, especially with the south end of the garden open to the woods. This sweet little garden is right in front of the home of Lorna, the RV park’s owner and, being on the east side of the building, is protected from the beach wind. In 2009 the deer still let us have some roses but by 2011 the roses didn’t stand much of a chance except for the climbing Cecile Brunner over the arbour.
The plants: Salvia viridis (painted sage), Lavatera (in the corner), godetia, cosmos, white phlox, Alchemilla (Lady’s mantle), and more…
RV Park guests walk by this corner to check in at the office, and the flowers that get the most comments in summer are the sweet peas we grow all along the white fence.
In the planters by the clubhouse, Payson Hall, we grew on assortment of annuals and the old standbys Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’ and Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’. This might have been the first year we added Tigridia (Mexican Shellflower) and Lorna adored them.
We’re a long way from Mexico but so far these have come through the winter and rebloomed for us just fine.
Below, the new garden in the sand (created in 2007) on the west side; California poppies predominate although earlier we had some red Papaver rhoeas:
And…here’s why gardening can be a challenge at Andersen’s. It’s not as sheltered as Marilyn’s garden so plants don’t get as lush, and it has the same problem with deer, as evidenced by these ambling through at 1:30 PM on a busy mid July afternoon.
We are fortunate that they don’t eat the plants that we grow in the whiskey barrels along the short drive to the RV parking: Lorna’s choice of white and yellow petunias and our additon of yellow million bells and a bright yellow Agyranthemum ‘Butterfly’ in the middle of each barrel. And while the deer nip a bit at Lorna’s beloved godetias, they leave alone our painted sage, Cosmos, and the glorious sweet peas…and the California poppies.
On the 15th of October I took the last Andersen’s photo of 2009 one fall clean day when the misty light enhanced all the colours of the west side garden just outside the back door of the park office.
Silver, feathery Artemisia ‘Powis Castle’, Euonymous (Burning Bush) and late blooming pink Schizostylus (River Lily) are also not pestered by the deer.
Discovery Heights
Another garden rife with deer (and where once a bear was spotted sleeping in the lower garden) is up at Discovery Heights in Ilwaco on the hill overlooking the ocean. The lower garden is more woodsy and wind-protected. The T Junction (refers to where the road goes either way) and the very top gardens are the most challenging because of the wind. The middle garden is full sun and windswept with some protection from trees to the south. All the gardens are heavily browsed by deer.
On April 9th, we planted in the new and topmost garden of our four Discovery Heights gardens. It had been installed the autumn before at the entry to the Coastal Ridge Townhomes just in time to plant narcissi.
Deer will not eat Narcissi. Above is a white mix from Van Engelen.
A partial plant list: Along the front, a trailing Ceanothus (California lilac) blooms blue and is not eaten by the deer, as is also true of tall, shrubby Ceanothus at the back of the border (the latter not shown in these photos). We also planted Dianthus, Lavender, assorted ornamental grasses, Santolina, Artemisia, Alliums, Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’, Echinops and Solidago ‘Fireworks’ (a well behaved golden rod)…and bronze fennel, which I fear has now been declared invasive. The foxgloves planted themselves.
The Wiegardt Gallery
The Wiegardt Gallery is on a main street in Ocean Park but that does not stop the deer from sampling the garden. (They boldly enter gardens in all the towns on the Peninsula.) For the first few years that we cared for this garden, deer did not figure out that tulips and a rose were on offer…Then word got around and now we can grow neither tulips nor roses. Still, we have enough knowledge of what deer might leave alone that we’ve made a cottage garden look around the old house where Eric Wiegardt has his art studio and gallery.
plants: Salvia viridis (painted sage), Knautia macedonica, ornamental grasses, Rosemary, Santolina, Lavenders…and more…
I been rethinking the colours of the garden, though. The house had been repainted a sort of pale pea green with olive green trim, yet the garden had been planted for…a pink house!
That garden theme still worked with the colours in 2007, a sort of dark creamy-pinky wall with dark green trim and a purple door….
But in 2012 I still, three years after the green colour went on the walls, have not quite figured out the right plant additions to make the old plant colours work with it. Even though I’ve somewhat gone off Alchemilla (lady’s mantle), I think I should introduce some into this garden. (There are plenty available to dig out of other gardens!) because the chartreuse flowers might make a bridge between house colour and the existing plants’ colours. And the deer don’t like lady’s mantle.
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