Hello campers;,,
Just a quick question.. Has anyone ever had a problem with deer eating your clematis?..
I've never had that problem but another DG'er was asking and I said I would come over here and inquire... I have plenty of deer out here where I live and plenty of clematis but I've never seen them eating any of the clematis, nor have I seen any signs where any have been munched on...
Thanks for your input,,,,
...Dave
Anyone ever have a problem with deer eating your clematis??
i think clems are not appealing to deer. clematis was used historically for medicinal purposes as a mood alteration. it is a homeopathic med available at whole foods. (Bach flower remedies)
i have 2 acres on a ravine, which has mostly been cleared over the last 18 years by my husband and i and landscaped. however, it is a deer crossing at night and early morning as a flowing creek is at the bottom of the ravine. i have never had a clem eaten by deer, even when tomatoes were planted in the same area and the tomatoes were eaten nightly.
i do admit that the deer don't bother my other plants much, but i think it is the repellancy of the clematis (i have close to 400 types of clematis in my gardens)
so i would be very surprised to hear or learn that deer so eat clems in any circumstance.
PS i am in central ohio, just noticed you were ohio also
I have had the blossoms eaten off my clematis.
are you sure it is deer not raccoons? were the the blooms up high?
maybe they took a taste and will then follow the rules and not taste again....
Not racooms, too high. I just remember they ate another clem, vines, leaves and all.
It could have been young ones. That happens.
wow. that would have driven me right our of clem obsession. what varieties have they eaten?
if that started in my gardens, i would have some serious problems. we love the deer and seeing them come thru the property....can only imagine if the deer developed a taste for clems.....ouch
Get a dog! A dog will keep deer out of your garden. Honest! The deer go to my neighbors yards and leave mine alone thanks to my furry four legged friend, Ginger. She's always on deer and squirrel alert!
love ginger
Good morning Guru, and Willow;,,
Thanks for the feedback... It sounds like at least clematis are not a main staple on their diet.. Although I guess deer could eat just about anything they want, they seem their not to interested in clematis.... I have had them eat the flowers off the tops of my asiatic lilies but they never touched the clematis growing right next to them....
Guru,, I'm located a bit closer to the lake... North of you.... Vermilion river in back at the bottom of the ravine here... Mostly all wooded with plenty of wildlife.... Owls, wild turkey, bald eagles... Plenty of hummingbirds in the summer....
Hi Shirley;,, Beautiful dog...
...Dave
sounds pretty up there. just give the deer something else to eat!! hahah
years ago when new to gardeing i had about 200 asiastic lillies eaten. frst night the whites, second the yellow, third the darker colors.
will never forget that. but they were right on the deer path. now i keep them up away from the path!
the birds must be cool to listen to. we had owls years ago but with the area transistioning from rural to suburban, they have all disappeared.
We also have a deer crossing running right through our property and I've never had them bother my clems, at least not yet. I do know that there isn't much deer won't eat if they are hungry enough. When I first started landscaping out here, I planted some trees out on the west side of the house where the deer trail is and surrounded them with day lilies. When the lilies started blooming, I looked out the window one morning and couldn't see them. I walked out to look and every one of them had been eaten down to a nub! I ended up having to move all of them (I had dozens) because the deer wouldn't leave them alone. I figured out the hard way that day lilies equal deer candy.
Thanks for the kudos on Ginger!
Yuph, deer loves all those tender green shots and flowers. Hostas are another favorite deer treat. My neighbor has her Hostas nibbled down to the nub and mine all have leaves! The only difference is....you guessed it.....Ginger (not the spice)!
UncleGreenthumb: it sounds like you have a lovely property. It must be so nice to have a river nearby and woods full of wildlife.
niobe & NatureLover: So sorry to hear about your Lilies! Yes, they definitely must be "deer candy".
they do taste the hostas now and then i must admit but they have never taken more than a taste and mowed down any landscaping with their feasting. i will have to keep my fingers crossed they do not start feeding on anything.
i am on a business trip, returning home tomorrow. but my husband saw a fox this morning running along the creek. hate to have missed that.
Roses are the favorite then hostas. I had a clump of tulips that had bloomed and one morning there was one blossom left. I was sitting on the edge of the bed telling my DH the story, turned around and my poodle was eating the last one.
spring brings strange cravings to all living things, including deer, humans and poodles!
I thought I'd mention that the deer that have found me recently don't seem to know how to read! They are eating my Iris's and my Camillia bush looks as though it is no more than a bunch of sticks I stuck in the ground.... no telling what else they will eat! Ihave dogs, but they are in the back yard - not the front. Once my Clems get going and if the deer are still around Ill let you know if they find them too. (Im very sad about this development in my yard - I had hidden from them for a few years)
ROFL - the poodle - humm, maybe I better not consider tying out one of my dogs in the front yard to scare away the deer - they may eat more than the deer do, hehehehe.
how about a reflective sign with a deer munching flowers and a big X through it so the deer know the rules?
my hubbie and i always laugh when we see the deer crossing signs, imagining that the deer can read and appreciate the signs to help them navigate.
hahaha
Yes, the ones coming through my yard will eat the clematis terniflora as they drift through.
Quick fix. Sprinkle around some bone meal. Lightly over the plants.
bonemeal can attract fox tho.and with a chihuahua who is allowed to go outside with me when i am gardening and have some freedom, scary.
I don't let my little dogs roam in the woods where I live. It is to dangerous. They are either in the courtyard with me or on the leash.
i let daisy (my chihuahua) hang around me when i am gardening. when she starts wandering off it is back to the screen room.
we are fearful of an attack from hawk too.
she likes her little taste of freedom i am sure but for a 5 pound dog, just too many demons out there.
I have two gateways the deer pass through nightly. I have never noticed deer damage to the clematis. They do munch on the other closely associated plants.
Sometimes the deer eat us and sometimes we eat the deer. If we could eat more we might have less damage. Our family and friends ate fourteen or fifteen last fall to the present. That helps by taking out about half of our yearly crop of doe in our little community. We can not harvest enough to keep the herd down. Our hunters have more or less stopped hunting like they used to hunt. To much built up woodlots and to little open ground to safely hunt.