It's Not Just the Groundhogs!

The last few days, I have been in a constant battle to protect my garden. Carrying water to the outlying parts of the garden is not the only challenge...There is mildew on the monarda (beebalm). Not only that, the monarda is blooming and attracting bees. I have no problem with them. They are huge, and thus less aerodynamic than smaller bees, so I can get out of their way.

But who else should show up than the Japanese beetles. They seem to like rose of Sharon, monarda and butterfly bushes as well as roses. I use the same mixture of dish-detergent and water on the Japanese beetles as I do on the mildew. In addition to that, I use the same stuff to spray the mealy bugs that are on my ranunculus and hostas.

But yesterday morning I realized, as I looked out the door of the office, we have a much bigger (emphasis on bigger) problem. We have deer in the yard.

So this morning I was saddened, but not surprised, to find that my rudbeckia (black-eyes susans) flowers had been eaten -- eaten! -- down to a numbin not by something that pulled it down to groundhog level, but from above.

Was I accusing the groundhogs unfairly? Probably not. We're getting sounds and vibration like something is gnawing on the wood underpinnings of our house.

I think we are under attack!