Keeping deer out of the garden

On a visit this summer to Earth Bound Gardens in the Bruce Peninsula I discovered their very effective way of keeping deer out of the garden, particularly their hosta and lily glade.

These were being regularly eaten down to nubs until they used this simple trick. Their hosta bed is in a clearing, surrounded on all sides by trees. On one end is a wild wooded area from whence the deer approach, while the other sides are flanked by their planted show gardens.


Earth Bound's solution was to wind thin nylon twine at about chest height around the trees surrounding the hosta glade. The twine is tied to certain trees, then friction holds the rest of the twine in place as it threads through the glade.

The deer don't like to jump over the twine. Because they can't see it, when they bump into it, it scares them away. Since doing this, their hostas and rare lilies have been unscathed. The other benefit is that the twine is elegant and inoffensive looking; hardly noticeable really. They had tried several thicknesses, starting with fishing line and finally using a thicker gauge around most of their trees.

Deer can be a pest (or a pleasure) in the garden, even in Toronto. If your garden has no trees handy to attach the twine to, you could adapt this method by using poles. It's a simple and inexpensive trick to try before resorting to more drastic measures.

Lust List: Paperbark Maple

My ever-unrequited love affair with paperbark maple (Acer griseum) intensifies when seeing it in its fall regalia.

Hates drought, they say. Well with the somewhat hefty price of this tree, that makes it too risky for my garden, sad to say. That doesn't mean I can't fantasize.

Paperbark maple is one of the perfect (*or almost perfect) small trees. Dainty, three-lobed maple leaves which are a nice mid green in summer turn a rich, rusty red in fall. And the bark! It peels like strips of cinnamon-coloured tissue paper. Place it where you can enjoy the trunk silhouetted by the light, and the exfoliating bark becomes a halo of illumination – a lovely feature in all seasons.

Its *almost-perfection is related to the branching, which in some specimens can occasionally become muddled and ungainly. The beauty of this tree tends towards complexion rather than bone structure.

I wish I could be like you, and have one of these in my yard... please plant one and enjoy it for me. I'll thank you for it. Really.

The last foliage on one of a trio of paperbark maples at the Toronto Botanical Garden. The blue glass background sets off the leaf colour nicely.

A little closer look at those leaves. Be still, my heart.

Mulching leaves: Mowers, not just for lawns

This is one reason why I wish I had an electric lawn mower: to chop autumn leaves into bite-sized, easily composted pieces. This is a trick you can use now. My rickety, ancient push mower (all I can justify for my narrow strip of grass, which soon might disappear completely) doesn't have the ooomph required.

Sarah and I saw these at a local high school, left right on the lawn. The ripple patterns left in the mowed bits reminded me of the sand in a Japanese garden.

Now, you wouldn't want to leave this on the grass in any depth, as it would smother the undergrowth. Also, decomposition requires nitrogen, which is exactly the nutrient needed most by leafy greens like grass.

That being said, the tiniest pieces have all winter to break down. Raking up the larger morsels and popping them on your garden is a way to get the best of both worlds.

On the way back home from the dog park, we met the guy on the rider mower doing the same thing at the public school across the way. It's usually left for the sweeper to pick up for the city compost heap. Before it disappears, we're going to get us some o' that.

Not a typo: Mason Hogue is now Mason House Gardens

Yes, Mason Hogue Gardens is now Mason House Gardens. Had they asked me (it's one of the things I do for a living), I'd have suggested a different re-naming strategy. Too many similar letters; people are going to be confused – as anyone who has tried to change their email address has experienced.

However, the name is the name now, so let's pray that Marjorie Mason and her son Jeff will still own their old URL and have made sure there will be an automatic redirect to their new web address and website. The link is now changed in our righthand column. Currently, the new site is clearly in the "sleep" or "creep" mode; we expect it will graduate into "leap" in time for spring planning.

These guys remain one of Toronto's go-to garden sources, especially for interesting varieties of plants. On Tuesday night, I attended Jeff Mason's informative presentation at the Toronto Botanical Garden on new and newer shrubs, perennials and annuals for 2010. Lots of good stuff, a little of which I actually have and more of which I want to have.

Really, my garden is far too small for me to subject myself to this kind of torture temptation. Luckily, with my garden makeover officially in the mulling stage, I now have an excuse a reason to yank out all that old stuff and replace it with oh-so new and improved.

UPDATE:

I was going to try to post on Jeff's highlights. Without pictures, though, it's not as ooooh-aaaaaah. While researching, however, I came across this article about 2010 perennial introductions from the August 2009 issue of Greenhouse Management & Production Magazine.  It's a comprehensive overview and several, though not all, of Jeff's recommended perennials are here.

At the talk, some new and newish plants that caught my eye were: Heuchera 'Miracle' whose leaves mature to a deep red edged in yellow; the Coreopsis 'Big Bang' series, among which Jeff highlighted Coreopsis 'Full Moon', like 'Moonbeam' but with flowers twice as large; and Chasmanthium 'River Mist', a variegated northern sea oats. I'll post on some choice annuals later.