Deer not invited to this garden party
Dear Helen: I’d like to create a bed of red and white flowers to celebrate Canada’s 150th. I need annuals that are not likely to be eaten by deer
P.C. Keep in mind that, these days, deer will eat almost anything if they are hungry enough. Every time I recommend supposedly deer resistant plants, I can count on receiving a barrage of emails describing how deer have demolished those same plants in the writers’ gardens.
That said, dahlias could be your best choice. Potted bedding dahlias will be in local garden centres in the spring. Kept cleaned of faded blooms, the plants will flower all summer and autumn until frost.
Flowers low on a preferred deer diet include zinnia, snapdragon, zonal geranium and fibrous begonia. All have both red and white flowering varieties. Readers on Salt Spring Island, however, have reported that deer despoiled their snapdragon plants and one of my neighbours has had the gorgeous red flower heads munched off the zonal geraniums in her front-yard planters.
Whatever flowers you choose to grow, consider adopting some preventive measure to protect the plants, in case your neighbourhood deer are not picky eaters. The occasional application of a purchased repellent around the bed, starting right after transplanting, may keep deer from investigating the bed too closely. These are creatures of habit. Once they discover a feeding station, even if it does not contain their preferred delectables, they’ll keep returning for further nibbles. Dear Helen: Like you, I grow many of my own transplants from seed, beginning in February with the most cold hardy flowers and vegetables like leeks and onions, sweet peas, snapdragon, pansies and cabbage. And I had planned to sow broad beans and peas outdoors in February. But this year’s cold weather has held me back. Do you think it’s better to forge ahead with seedings or to wait?
S.D. Broad beans can be seeded now. They are hardier than peas, and can be sown outdoors as soon as the soil can be worked. I’m waiting for the soil to lose some of its chill before seeding peas outdoors this month. On the Island, we enjoy a long growing season that is relatively undemanding of precise planting dates. When in doubt, it’s usually better to delay.
I did seed leeks and onions last month, because they can be thinned and trimmed as they await transplanting. I’d go ahead now with indoor sowings of the plants you mention. I have sweet peas, lettuce, endive, and a dwarf kale for container cultivation all up. If the weather stays freezing much longer they may have to be chalked up as an experiment, but I’m ever optimistic about an improvement in the weather.
I’ve seen predictions for a warmer and drier than usual April and May this year. If that prediction proves correct, it would be good to have nicely sized warmth loving plants like tomatoes and peppers ready for transplanting a little earlier than usual, from seedings made indoors around mid-March.
Remember last April? Like summertime.
GARDEN EVENTS
Lily meeting. The Victoria Lily Society meets this evening at 7 in the Victoria Salvation Army Citadel, 4030 Douglas St. Dr. Richard Hebda will be speaking about snowdrops. Floral art. The Mid Island Floral Art Club will meet on Thursday at 2 p.m. in St. Stephens United Church Hall, 150 Village Way in Qualicum Beach. The featured demonstration will be a Horizontal Linear Workshop. mifaclub2000@gmail.com.
The Seed Library. The Greater Victoria Public Library and LifeCycles have created a seed library for gardeners to share seeds and connect with other seed savers. Membership is free and includes access to seeds, classes and other resources. Becoming a member involves attending an orientation session. The next session is on Saturday, 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the GVPL Central Branch. Register at gvpl.ca or call 250940-4875 for information. Plant identification and information. The Horticulture Centre of the Pacific, 505 Quayle Rd. in Saanich, is offering the next session in Plant Identification and Culture, a monthly course that can be joined at any time, on Saturday, March 18, 1 to 4 p.m. In each session Diane Pierce introduces 25 plants with their descriptions, preferred growing conditions, landscape uses and maintenance. Cost to HCP members per session is $35, others $45. Cost for 12 sessions: members $350, others $450. To register, call 250-479-6162. hcp.ca.