Deer Ate Our Water Lilies!

Who would have thought that deer would climb into a two to three-foot deep steep-banked pond to feast on water lilies? Well, nature has educated us once again! Although we do not have photo or video proof, the multitude of deer tracks and this video taken in Norway are proof enough that deer in fact do eat water lilies:

http://youtu.be/-ejhekEbkoo.

So, I spent an entire back-breaking Saturday straightening out the banks of the pond with shovel and wheelbarrow, and installing an aluminum wire fence to keep the deer out. I hate fences, but they are the only effective measure we have found for protecting our trees, plants and gardens from the damn deer. Fortunately, some water lilies survived the feeding frenzy, and by the next weekend, they had already re-covered a small area, even producing 11 blossoms! On this second weekend visit, I spent an entire day trimming the reeds and wetland weeds growing on the pond islands that were so tall and burdened with seeds they were drooping into the water. I did slice up my arms a bit from the razor grass in the process, and broke my grass trimmers. This is necessary annual maintenance, but the pond looks like it got a buzz cut!

Sorry for such a long video, but editing takes a lot of time and I wanted to post this video while it was still relevant, and so I could move on to other subjects, like our fishing pond expansion progress and leak repairs.

For all my American viewers, Happy Independence Day!

Randall


Видео Deer Ate Our Water Lilies! канала Randall Wingett