There are ten coneflowers in my sister’s lower garden. The garden drops off steeply into a field of five foot ferns. Does and fawns hide in these ferns, and all one can see are the doe’s ears.
Now the Internet, quoting universities and suspect sources, says that deer avoid coneflowers, and urges the gardener not to worry. Deer do not care for coneflower leaves. And they are right. When I went down to look at the state of the flower beds, the coneflower foliage was all there.
But the buds have been bitten clean from their stems. No flowers for us. In the fall we will have to move all the plants nearer the house if we ever want them to bloom.
Too much Internet advice comes from non gardeners who write nonsense for money. I once came upon an article listing drought tolerant plants. The blue Mophead Hydrangeas were on that list. No one who has ever seen a blue hydrangea on a hot day when it has not been well watered would write such drivel.
Real gardeners do talk to each other on the Internet in on-line forums such as “Dave’s Garden”, and your neighbor down the street, the old lady on the corner that the neighborhood calls the “Flower Lady”, even the view out the car window will give you more truth than the monetized garbage that is too prevalent on your computer.
What is blooming now- Papaver somniferum. Lauren’s Purple.
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Above – snapdragon and the “Coral Knockout ” rose.
Gardening On Granite 