Thank you Cheryl and woody is the right word...I can't believe how thick it's gotten....a friend gave me a small bag of starts about 30 years ago...now it's everywhere! :rolleyes: Off to the garden center! Feel better dear lady!

I've tasted every one I've seen - and lived to tell.

:D

So yep, they can be used.

I just sold 5 multi-stem Redbuds yesterday to a client! I love them!!!! They are so beautiful this time of year. And I LOVE their leaves. I'd go with the Redbud only because the flowers last longer!!

Rhoddies can be put anywhere with filtered afternoon sun! Just make sure they get acidic, well drained soil!!! They don't like their feet wet at all!!! I call them my annuals!!! :(

Aha! That is why my Rhoddies aren't doing well. They were existing when we moved in (11 - 12 years ago) and they just don't look good now. They are very leggy and sparse. They are in total full sun directly south facing toward the west side of the house. The big lilac probably filters some of the evening sun from the west, but they may just be getting too much sun. What do you think?

I have a question
 

about deer repellents.

I am about to invest in The Deer Fortress. I've used sonic repellers in the past.
But as the summer progresses, the deer "learn" and don't run away from them.

We are up on an island with mostly rocks. I feed the deer and provide salt, they swim over and bring their fauns. Some give birth on our island too. But there is not much forage for them. When the fauns are bigger they swim back and forth more. I put out feed, but of course it is never enough. And this year the corn situation will be tight. I might have to do sunflower only with rabbit pellets.

I have two big urns near our dock (on both sides) and some flowers
along the dock. I thought a non-smelly intervention might work. We sit there alot and it cannot be offensive. These fortress thingies may work..I could put in the planters?

I also keep things on the porch where they cannot reach. Those are safe.

The first picture is our porch... the deer do not get high enough to eat these, and are too bashful to walk up the narrow steps etc:

Second pic is the old dock, we don't use it anymore as a dock..but as a
deck of sorts. The large planter is right behind these toonies. The deer walk along the shore and eat them.

3rd pic... these are portable planters which we put up on the dock at night,
but a deer came by surprise and got them too last season! (I have 6 of these and usually some seedlings in flats). The deer didn't bother with my seedlings,
but she loved the gazanias!

So the things I want to keep safe are concentrated in one spot, and not a large area by any means.

So do you think the "fortress" things will work?
http://www.deerfortress.com/about.php

The sun is half the problem. But I can almost bet you the soil is alkaline too. Very uncommon for the soil up here to be acid enough for these plants. We're both going to need to ammend it with something and give them special acid type fertilizer. (I have some Rapidgrow for acid lovers - but where? lol)

You can buy a kit or take a sample to a garden center and they'll test it for you, and recommend what to put on the soil to get the acidity up.

Mrs. D. - Does that site have a feedback system for its products? Or is that sold somewhere that does? Maybe other people have used it and can comment. I wish I could help you on this. We have deer right up the street - 1/4 mile away - but they just don't cross the road, so I don't have the problem you have.

The only people I know who live down there keep big dogs out all night and that seems to keep the deer out of their gardens.

That was a good idea....didn't think there would be many reviews..
I went to Amazon and found the lowest price too! LOL

3 x 5 star reviews on Amazon
And one 5 star on The Do It Best Website.

So I guess I will try it. I was devastated last summer when she learned how
to get to my smaller planters on the high dock. I love the deer.. and we have been feeding them for over a decade. But I love my flowers too. I often
do seedlings of perennials and bring them home. Being outside there every day taking the sun, affords me an easy way to grow my seeds.
I did a whole flat of Lychnis coronaria last year...they do very well in my dry
front garden..they take alot of abuse and bloom away...often twice.
Sometimes they are biennial and others not, so I can't depend on self seeding.

We even put up a netting fence along the shore, where the tree line stops.
I thought she was coming down that way. But it appears she also walks on the rocks and in the water, now. So this will be my 3rd attempt to save my small flower patch. Most of the people up there (not on our small island) who are year long residents have elaborate fences.. and I just can't do that. Even having the flowers is tough..we are the only ones of the family that do plants, it is just too hard. (you have to bucket water, and bring everything in by boat.)

Thanks for the idea. I'm gonna try it...and will report back in Sept! (or sooner if I can find a working WiFi up there this season!

I have tried Miracid on it in the past. I should test the soil, too, though.