14 BUCKS COUNTY WOMAN

l o v e l y

a t a di s tance

D e e r . Graceful and gentle-eyed, they are a defining feature of life in Bucks County. If you are a gardener, your appreciation of their beauty may

be jaded by their propensity to devour the most precious of your plantings.

A full-grown deer can consume over five pounds of food a day, and they’re not picky eaters. They’ll munch on leaves, stems and fresh buds of shrubs, trees and perennials, and they are particularly fond of fruits, vegetables, grains and flowers.

There are strategies for creating and maintaining a deer-free yard and garden. Leslie Guli, the master gardener behind Millefiori, recommends practical measures at the planning stage to minimize plant damage in the long term.

“One of the best things that people can do is to use deer-resistant native plants,” suggests Guli. “Natives will grow better because this is their preferred environment.” She reports that the mistake most people make is visiting nurseries and purchasing non-native plants. “It’s more of a search to get natives, and the nurseries can be quite far away. But using the right plants could ultimately avoid needing to control damage later.”

Guli recommends Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve as a local source for Pennsylvania flora. The Preserve showcases over 800 species of native plants and provides lists of deer-tolerant varieties. They do offer the caveat that no plant is truly deer resistant; if they are hungry enough, deer will eat anything. Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68