Saturday, June 20, 2015

When Two Loves Collide


 Folks, you know how much I enjoy seeing the deer in our yard. They are so beautiful and graceful. 


And you know, too, how much I’ve been enjoying my roses. The red rose trees were in bloom and looking lovely and one of the yellow rose bushes had a bud about to burst open. 



Then it happened. I went outside one morning to smile at and talk to my flowers as I always do, and lo and behold, there were no flowers! All I had were bare stems, every bud and blossom, every single bloom, had been chewed off by my formerly beloved deer.  I was not happy. And may I say these roses were in my front yard, not the back yard next to the woods where I normally see the deer.

 


I heard that deer won’t go near rosemary, so I put pots of rosemary near the roses. Then a neighbor said they don’t like cayenne pepper, so I sprinkled an entire bottle of cayenne pepper all around my roses. The deer haven’t come back to them, but that’s probably because there’s nothing left for them to eat.

I started getting new growth on the roses which thrilled me no end, except we then had a beetle invasion.  The beetles are eating my roses to death, leaving nothing but skeleton leaves.   

 


For the beetles, I was told to get Bag-A-Bug
 
 
 

and hang it away from the plants. I did, and it is truly attracting and catching beetles, but there are still enough on my rose trees to do considerable damage. I was told the beetle season only lasts about six weeks so I’m hoping they’re close to going away.  


If nothing else comes along, I just may get to enjoy my roses yet this summer.

And my birds. 

 

And my porch. 

 


One can only hope.

 
Quote of the Day: Live now, believe me, wait not till tomorrow; Gather the roses of life today. Pierre de Ronsard