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Daughter, I HAD a snapdragon but I accidentally pulled it up thinking it was a weed. Arrrgh. There is a big learning curve in this new climate. Plus, this yard is humongous and the snapdragon was teeny.
As you can see, I’m making excuses for my ignorance.

Do you have these plants you speak of in containers? And do your deer come right up to your house to snack on them?
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I have plants both in the ground and in pots. The deer are happy to come most anywhere. Maybe they appreciate the pots so they don’t have to bend down as low, just like we get with some age 😉
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Daughter, so kind of you to accommodate your deer population by providing raised feeders!
Golden, I lost my very favorite cedar to the antlers of a buck.

Do any of you spray deterrent? How about anything for the moles, voles, gophers, rabbits, etc? When we moved here the previous owners left 9 (9!) sprayers in the garage - all were partially filled and unlabeled. I had to pay to have them disposed of at a hazardous waste site. I do NOT want to use anything that might find its way into the water or harm the predators but I would consider safe deterrent’s if there are any that work.
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Pea, I have 2 cats, that go in and out. One is quite the hunter. they keep the little critters away. But in a lot of areas that's not possible, we are at the end of a village, no dear or coyotes, if we were at husbands farm they would never be able to go outside, with all that and eagles and owls, among other things.

Ive taught them to stay in a yard really well.

So the cats smell, keeps the critters away.

There is an apple orchard, near buy, they use cashmere bouquet soap, hanging off the trees. It's cheap and smelly.

I know many don't agree with outdoor cats,,but it's just up to who you talk to
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Psue - the deer especially liked my globe cedar in front, so we had to trim it off to being a 1/2 globe which looked ok as the whole tree was about 10 ft tall. When the snow was piled high they could just reach the lower branches.My backyard was fenced 6" high so the cedars there were safe, They did come up on to the deck and nibble on the shrub roses. I never found anything to deter them. The wildlife officers said to put a coat on the tree and the human smell would keep them away. Never tried it. Didn't especially like the look of clothing on the tree which is right at the front of the property.
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Golden, I'm picturing a hat too on your tree. Neighbors will think you lost it. 😂
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Maybe at Halloween. lol🎩
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Hahah! You girls are a hoot! (As my dear grandma would say)
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I use a fertilizer named Milorganite to deter deer. It does seem to help. Comes in a bag, maybe 10 or 20 pounds. Just sprinkle it around the area they aren’t wanted. Downsides are it smells like #*@% and it has to be reapplied after rain.
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Oh! I did not know Milorganite would deter deer! I have some and was saving it to use on my rhodies (as fertilizer, not repellant, since deer don’t touch them.) Maybe I’ll break it out and try it on my deer candy. Thank you for the tip!
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I tried to tackle the bamboo this afternoon - it definitely was NOT therapeutic! I have 2 large patches that the original owners planted when they built the house in 1977 and I think they’ve been left to their own devices since then. Lots of dead and dying canes in the middle with healthy ones growing around the outsides. It was like trying to cut and pull giant sticks through the bars of a cage. Someone please tell me something pleasant about your garden today!
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A nearby park has a community garden.
We park there to eat our lunch.

We decided to leave the gardening to the real gardeners.
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Send help, you are wise. Unfortunately, gardening chose me!
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I pulled my cannis bulbs yesterday, to put them away for next year. , started to pull some of my seeded flowers, but to many bees.

Summer is winding down, time to think about fall, and get the lawn chairs picked up, won't be long and it will be time to get the snow shovels out.
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Nacy, I had 3 Cannas when we moved in but this year only one came up and it never got tall or bloomed. I didn’t dig them but I don’t think you have to here. I’m thinking gophers got them. We have a horrible problem with gophers, voles, moles, etc.

I finished the bamboo clean up yesterday and by the time I got done I was so sore I couldn’t sleep. Better today.

How much snow do you get on average over there?
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Peasup, wish I could give you sum bulbs . I got tons. My leaves got big but now flowers this year.

It depends, some years alot! Last winter was an easy winter. Probably an average of 50 inches. It's really beautiful, as long as you don't have to drive, or shovel. I have an electric fire place in my 3 season room , love to get up early watch the snow fall and drink coffee, before the rest of the world is up, So peaceful. 2 years ago I got up and slowly watch are garbage can just disappear. I do, also do a lot of complaining about it too, just a heads up this winter. 😂

It can get lonely, and the days get so dark and short.
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Aw, that’s so nice, Nacy, although they would probably become gopher food too! Canna foliage is pretty enough - they don’t even need the lily but you’ve got to feel a little cheated after a whole season waiting.

50” is a lot of snow but I understand what you mean about the peacefulness. I used to be able to tell, even before getting out of bed in the morning or looking out the window, whether it had snowed during the night, just because of the muffled quiet. I miss it a little, but only a little.
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I know cold, wet and dark is only weeks (days?) away but I can't bring myself to put my yard and garden to bed while the nice weather lasts.
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Enjoy the nice weather while it lasts! I just got back from two garden centers, and as usual, spent more than I set out to. I’ve got tulip and hyacinth bulbs now, tucked away in the fridge where they’ll get their first winter before they go in the ground around Christmas time for their next winter, and already looking forward to beautiful blooms in the spring. I bought more dusty miller, snapdragons, pansies, and dianthus, all of which bloom happily all winter, unless it’s a very unusual winter and freakishly cold. My mom took a picture once in her yard of her pansies peeking up blooming through the snow. Of course the snow was an inch or two and last only a day or two, but she was proud of her favorite flower. Our awful humidity is finally gone so I have weeks of good gardening before first freeze. Hubby is helping me trim and clear out what’s done for the year. Happy fall all…
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Cwillie, I pulled all my annuals, and put them all in a pile in my old little red wagon, last weekend.

I pulled them out back, left them, they look so pretty today, gonna leave them until frost comes.

Amazing beautiful day! So picked my beautiful zinnias, put them on the table in a vase.
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Something chewed a hunk out of one of my soaker hoses.

I finally had a plumber out yesterday to replace the leaky outdoor faucet. But when I hooked everything back up and turned it on I had a geyser in the back border between the woods and the yard. I’m glad it’s almost monsoon season.

I think the wildlife around here preferred the previous owner and are working together to sabotage me. I must say, I’m offended, but I don’t blame them.
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cw -enjoy it while it lasts

daughter - what a wonderful selection. and Oh My flowers that bloom in the winter. I wish! I remember seeing roses blooming in a garden in Scotland in February in the snow

nacy - zinnias have such vibrant colours.

Psue - geysers - I used to point mine at the parts of the garden that needed water the most. Of course I got wet in the process, but in the summer it was kind of fun. I had a resident red squirrel who was very territorial. Always had one over the 40 years. Couldn't have been the same one I think. Early on he set up his home in the garage, which I couldn't allow. I tried everything tasty to entice him out but he wouldn't budge. So I thought "No more Mr Nice Guy" and pulled down the garage door leaving just enough room for a squirrel to escape. Then I turned on the car and let it run. Mr Squirrel got the message very fast, left and never returned to the garage. He was smart.
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A friend of a friend is moving, and they have to get rid of there house plants.

Anyways I need to find room for 20 new plants or a home for them.
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Hah, Golden, you are clever! Lots of squirrels here - the construction guys closed one in the garage over the weekend and it chewed the weatherstripping all the way around the door. They replaced it.

The critters are really something around here. Both the cushions on my front porch loveseat have had all the piping chewed off. Birds sit on the windowsills and jump at their reflections. Bats roost in the patio umbrella. Chipmunks climb our ‘hobbit’ doors and scratch to get in. Owls wake me up at night. Frogs chirp in the downspouts (sounds like they’re using a megaphone) I love/hate them all!

Nacy, I did the same thing with all my plants when I moved. The light is very different here and I knew they would be goners if I brought them. My poor girlfriends managed to absorb them all.
I curated down to 6 which was difficult but a lot less work.
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Nacy - I had many interested in mine when I posted on a facebook site.

Psue -sounds like you have a zoo there! We had bats when I grew up and lots of excitement trying to catch them when they got in the house. My father would run around swiping at them with a towel while my sister and I ducked and shrieked while we covered our hair.

We have 4 catalpa seedlings remaining. They are not happy since I brought them in doors, so we will see. Rocky tried to eat one so I have to put them somewhere safe and bring her grass inside.

The farmer combined his wheat field outside our place yesterday and today so I dare not go out (allergies). Even R was suffering from the grain dust b/c of going outside We are keeping the windows and patio doors tight shut.
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Golden that's a good idea, I've actually found more places in my home than I thought I would for plants.

She is a young girl in town that mom, and sister died from drugs this year, she has her sisters daughter, which gives her 4 kids, lost her job now, so she is packing up everything in a hurry and moving across the country. Her x husband mom is taking her in , helping her get back on her feet.

She has had to re-home a bearded dragon, a Ginnie pig. I may have found a home for her rabbit. She has about ten more plants I'll probably just take them figure it out what to do with them another day.
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It’s a perfect day to get outside and find some gnarly sticks and vines to use as Halloween decorations. DGD helped me pull all the spooky stuff out of storage over the weekend and I could use some fillers from the woods.

It’s fun to arrange all my ghost and goblins again but I find as I’m up on the ladder for the first time this year, I’m pulling the real spider webs off the ceiling beams so I can hang up the fake ones!
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That's awesome peasup, I took a walk this morning, really enjoyed the Halloween decorations.

I just can't seem to motivate my self to decorate for Halloween. I have a blast hand put candy, we can really get hammered here. But I just can't feel like decorating.
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Well, I tried to get outside but our annual stink bug and box elder beetle plague has officially begun - just another example of the wildlife trying to get the best of me. On warm, sunny Fall days they swarm and you can’t keep them out of your hair!
I did take a good photo of an enormous orb spider outside the kitchen window with several beetles in her web. Very messy, but I will leave her there for Halloween.
Nacy, we get no trick or treaters here. Our house looks a little bit witch-in-the-woods-y and is set down a steep driveway in a neighborhood with no sidewalks or streetlights. Not very inviting to tasty little children (cackle, cackle)!
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Golden, there were breathtakingly beautiful Catalpas in the high dessert where I used to live. I’m talking HUGE trees with incredible bark texture and 18” long pods. They were pretty common over there but I haven’t seen a single one since moving back to the Pacific NW. I don’t know your climate but if you can grow them where you are, you are lucky indeed.
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