Bradley’s daffodils have been in bloom for days now; ours are just budding out. Leave it to Bradley to have chosen cultivars that are early bloomers! In fact, leave it to Bradley to have chosen “cultivars” at all!
We feel smug to have grabbed a bag of bulbs at CostCo last fall and even smuggier to have gotten them in the ground. But I remember Bradley telling me several years ago that he had chosen “old fashioned cultivars” that he felt would be in keeping with the ambiance of Oysterville. That Bradley! He sets the bar pretty high when it comes to gardens!
Whatever their characteristics are, Bradley’s blossoms do lack one thing: a signaling device for deer. Now, I know that our black tailed deer don’t relish daffodils of any kind. They leave the bright yellow blossoms alone. Nevertheless, every year as our daffodils bud out, the deer start nosing around.
I don’t feel it’s a coincidence that we haven’t seen deer scat in our garden all winter long.
Unless there is something I don’t know about (like deer don’t poop in winter), they have been avoiding our place for months. But as soon as those daffodils began announcing their intentions, the deer people started their nightly visitations again.
Each morning as I make my chicken-feeding run, I encounter new evidence of our after-dark deer visitors. The last few mornings it’s been raining but, even though I’ve been clothed in my very attractive bathrobe-and-boots-chicken-feeding outfit, I’ve scurried around the garden (risking an over-the fence early-morning tourist encounter) checking for deer damage.
So far, so good. The fruit trees and camellias, the roses and the hydrangeas all seem to be intact. However, I know that it’s time for a good dose of “deer fence” and if it would just stop raining long enough, I’d be out there spraying away.
Too bad those deer have to eat in the rain! And too bad our daffodils are telling them to “come on over!” But… it’s obviously almost Spring in Oysterville and I’m definitely not complaining.
Oh my goodness, Sydney, get this on FB immediately, it’s too good! I want to share it!