Deer Damage

We have some deer taking up residence.

My neighbor sent us this picture while we were on vacation over New Year's. Another neighbor dropped by one evening before Christmas and said they thought we had some of those deer yard decorations that light up, but then they moved and blinked. We have had to make noise and chase them out of the yard multiple times.

I'm still baffled that deer found us here in the middle of a valley, miles away from the mountains where they typically live. I asked my brother-in-law (an avid deer hunter) about it and he said they love it down here in the valley because the have easy access to food and little competition. I guess it's time to get a yappy dog!

I took some pictures around Thanksgiving of what the deer were eating.  They have broken and stripped some branches of this limber pine.

I left some pumpkins in the garden late into the season, hoping they would turn all the way from green to orange. Learned my lesson there!

I knew deer liked pansies, but now I know deer like pansies.

The most aggravating part is the footprints in the grass. Our turf is still so new and thin that the deer hooves just puncture through it and leave deep holes. That will be fun to fix in the spring!

I've been researching deer repellents and there are some crazy ideas out there! My friend Doris told me to put a bar of soap in some nettting (like my nylon?) and hang it on the deer-desirable tree. We'll see if it's worth anything.

My same neighbor told me she saw a movie where they covered their yard with hair. Gross.

When in doubt, I always trust state Cooperative Extension services more than anyone. I found this helpful fact sheet from Colorado State. It can be saved and printed as a .pdf. Their ideas are weird too (hot sauce, a solution of raw eggs and water!?) but at least they are tried and tested.

Apparently the most effective repellents are a fence (novel idea) and deer resistant plants. Although I wouldn't mind distributing some lavender and Hawthorns around my landscape, I just don't think I can give up my dreams of roses, tulips, apple trees, and grapes! Guess we'll have to go with the fence.

White Wedding

I was so excited when my mom's friend asked me to do the flowers for her daughter's wedding! It has been a long time since I did a bridal bouquet and they are my very favorite.

This bride's vision was white and sea blue... lace and ruffles...elegant and a little vintage. She wanted her bouquet to be all white and include polo garden roses and ranunculus. She had also pinned some pictures with hydrangea, so I picked up a few stems to fill things out. I know it's unlikely any one reading this will go and make a bridal bouquet, but just in case you're interested, here's how I did it.

I don't have a wholesale account anymore and I wasn't quite sure how to get quality flowers without paying retail price. My favorite way to shop for anything these days is online, so I asked good ol' Google where to get wholesale garden roses. I ended up using this website for them and was very happy with them (especially since the price was only $89 for 50 stems, versus $110 for 10 stems at my local florist). They came really tight, but I had ordered them enough in advance that once I got them in warm water and let them sit for 4 days they opened up nicely. I know they were extremely fresh too because I kept a few that I broke and they lasted 2 weeks! I did get the ranunculus from my local florist because I only needed a small bunch, and wholesale bunches are huge.

The first thing to do when working with flowers is strip the stems and pull off any brown petals. This makes them all uniform and ready to go into your arrangement, and saves you from stopping and starting in the creative process!

Hand tied bouquets are so fun to make. I was a little nervous about it because it had been a long time since I had done it, but once I got going it was fun! I didn't cut anything off the hydrangea stems, but just started putting roses and ranunculus inside the hydrangea ball. I keep one hand tight around them stems and insert and arrange with the other, turning as I go to make it uniform.

Once I have a basic shape, I wrap the whole thing tight with floral tape. Then I can go back in and add things around the outside and tape them in again. This bride didn't want any greenery, but this is also when you would collar the bouquet with greenery. Last step is to wrap over the tape with ribbon, and voila!

I wasn't able to deliver the flowers myself, but my mom told me when she handed them to the bride, she exclaimed, "They look just like the picture!" I can't ask for a better reaction than that.

Note: I leave the stems long so I can keep the arrangement in water. Then when I deliver the bouquet I cut them down to size, usually 2-3 inches below the tape/ribbon.
  

 This is a smaller version of the bouquet for the bridesmaid.

The corsages and boutonnieres always take the bulk of your time. They are actually harder than the bridal bouquet because they require so much wiring and taping! Maybe I'll show how I make those another time...