[AutumnWind]

We're buying several acres of meadow to build a house. It's a sunny spot at the crest of a hill, out in the country. I've always wanted to plant lilac trees, but I don't want to if the deer are going to eat all of the blooms.

Do any of you have experience with this?

 

[zoooteacher]

We have quite a large lilac on our farm, and the deer don't seem to bother it more then anything else. (The invasive honeysuckle tries to voer it every year, but that's antoher story

I'd go for it! I WOULD protect tiny baby shrubs though, esp. if you plant them in fall when the deer are starting to look for extra snacks.

 

[AutumnWind]

Okay -- thanks!

I was also wondering about the baby lilac shrubs: I wanted to plant them way out back by the tree line --- much farther than the hose would reach. I'm wondering if they need to be watered with the hose a lot that first year?

 

[mama_daba]

i once spent a few weeks on a farm in canada, on a small island that had lots of deer, the way everyone that lived there delt with deer was to make fences with netting, it was the sorta netting used on boats for fishing and it was really pretty, the fences where more than 6 feet high i think, and it was really important for everyone on the farm to be very carful about keeping the fence closed at all times so the dear didn't get in cuz then they would be trapped in the farm
it looked really pretty nothing like chain link fence and one house i visited had a tree house and part of the platform was just the netting so it was like a giant hamock you could lie in

 

[AutumnWind]

Moonfroggy --- that sounds really pretty. I wish we could afford to build a fence to keep out the deer, but the property is so big, we won't be able to. By the time we build our house, we'll be hurting for cash. : )

I had a garden here a few years ago in the home we have now ---- right now we live in a development-type neighborhood with lots of houses, but we have lots of deer because we're near the woods. It was a large garden, and the deer DEVOURED my lilies, hosta, tulips --- lots of my flowers. So, I decided not to do a vegetable garden here. And I eventually converted my flower garden back to grass, because the deer treated it like a salad bar every night. ; )

Since we're gonna be in the country, I wanted to TRY to plant flowering bushes that are "no maintenance"-type bushes/trees, that the deer wouldn't eat. I actually like the idea of having deer around, in the yard, once we're out in the country, as long as I don't have anything that they're gonna ruin. Deer are so beautiful, and we're going to have lots of windows in the house, so it'd be pretty to see deer out there in the morning, or by moonlight.

But, I don't want to go thru the trouble of planting lilacs, with my heart set on picking bouquets, and find out that they're one of the deer's favorite foods. : )

 

[nwaddellr]

My parents have lilacs and the deer have just chowed them. They don't just eat the blooms, they eat the whole thing. To keep them off, my parents tie soap (the really smelly kind, like Irish Spring) onto the branches in little net bags andd that keeps them off. The soap thing also works to keep deer out of your garden - put it on stakes or a string every five feet or so and they won't cross the line. Just remember to replenish regularly (rain will dissolve the soap).

 

[Vito's Mommy]

Mares eat oats and Doe's eat oats and little Lambs eat Ivy...
A kid'll eat Ivy too, wouldn't you? Heeheeehee. I couldn't help myself. Now that song is stuck in my head.

 

[AutumnWind]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nwaddellr My parents have lilacs and the deer have just chowed them. They don't just eat the blooms, they eat the whole thing. To keep them off, my parents tie soap (the really smelly kind, like Irish Spring) onto the branches in little net bags andd that keeps them off. The soap thing also works to keep deer out of your garden - put it on stakes or a string every five feet or so and they won't cross the line. Just remember to replenish regularly (rain will dissolve the soap).

Oh, GREAT. I was afraid they might like lilacs. I tried the soap thing here when I had a flower garden, but they didn't care -- they still ate the flowers.

Well, maybe I'll try 2 lilac bushes/trees to start and see how they do.

Thanks so much!