deer ate my agapanthus!

Does anyone else have a story like this - I bought a "storm cloud" agapanthus last summer, and just before I got it in the ground - the deer came and ate off all the flower balls. So I planted it out back with the dog to keep it company. Aren't agapanthus supposed to be deer resistant?

Even though I live on 15 acres in a rural area, I have absolutely no problem with deer -- weird, huh? Guess they stay out in the woods or something. I do occasionally see them on the road. (Did I just jinx myself...???)

I have grown mine for a long time. I don't think the deer or anything ever touched them.
Oh, of course not - they were too busy with the roses, Dahlias & apple tree branchlets...

Agapanthus will flower again.

Well they are not suppose to eat dahlias either. Or tulips HAH!
You may have a problem on the island like Hartstine. The deer can't get off the island so they have too many and they eat everything.

I have found that our deer will eat almost anything (or at least nibble to see if they like it) and have tastes as varied as people do. Just because some deer don't like it, doesn't mean they all won't! Like Katye says, after they find their favorites in your yard, then they will leave other things alone (until the favorites are gone, then it's back to everything being fair game). My dogs found parts of a deer that was aparently poached in our area a couple of weeks ago. I had mixed feelings.... poaching is illeagal and just plain wrong and I hope whoever did it gets caught or at least rots in heck.... but it IS one less deer that will be munching roses this spring...

Deer are expert pruners of dahlias. Still can't figure out what the fuss is over the flavour.

Mine leave the dahlias alone because they are more interested in the grapes and roses. Oh yeah... and the strawberries. Not the berries, just the blooms. And raspberry foilage. Like I said, I think that they each have their own "tastes". I found a big doe in my big daylily garden twice this last summer. Never found any damage, but she was standing right in the middle of the hillside, so there is nothing else she could have been investigating. If she goes there, it will so be war..............

There is definitely a rampant overpopulation of deer here on Vashon. partly because the deer can't travel other places, and partly because there are no natural predators. It is comforting to know our small pets are not in danger of cougar, coyotes, or bears, but the deer become more aggressive. I've had deer eat my lavender blossoms which they are likewise not "supposed" to care for much.

This message was edited Feb 8, 2010 11:23 PM

Wait until they pull up a chair & have a cold one.....
Until I fenced the property, they came right up to the back door. So curious, they were. And so delighted with my salad bar. Have I mentioned how much I love fences?

I don't see the deer here much at all anymore. I don't know if it's the coyotes or if they're just on a different schedule. My back yard is fenced, though it isn't a tall fence, but they don't come back here. Probably because they haven't figured out the dogs' schedule yet . .

No fences here, and my darn neighbors feed them. Last summer when I was throwing rocks at the doe I found in my daylilies, she actually came towards me as if to find out what I was feeding her rather than running away.

My neighbor feeds them with her H. quercifolia (oakleaf hydrangeas) - they love them. They totally leave my H. macrophylla alone. My neighbor says the doe stands right around the corner of her driveway watching her spray the deer deterrent on them . . .

I wonder if your deer are attracted because the neighbors feed them or if maybe they wouldn't eat more if the neighbors didn't. It's so hard to say. I do love to see them in the yard, but they leave ticks and Lyme has been discovered in Woodinville, so I don't like that much.

The latest is the deer ate all the new growth on my daylilies. munched right back as if they were roses or tulips. I've never seen them do that! They ate the flowers last year, but never the leaves! GRRRRR

Colchie,

It sounds like you have a large hungry deer population, and I don't envy you that at all. The dogs in the fenced area should be an effective deterrant, but for unfenced areas, I will tell you the only thing that has worked perfectly for me other than my dogs.... the Scarecrow motion activated sprinkler. I have tried all sorts of concoctions and home made recipies, as well as the garlic clips with no luck. The sprinkler works perfectly if you have only a small area that you need to protect. I don't care how nummy the plants are, I haven't found a single deer that will stand there and munch while being hit repeatedly with a spray of water.

An added bonus of this sprinkler is that it can be used as an entertaining game with guests.... back in the day, DH used to get a kick out of sending a new visitor to get something out of my garden shed when I had the sprinkler set up across the path to protect my roses there.... (warped sense of humor, I know, but some of the reactions were quite comical!)