why we only have short bushes (and no flowers) in our yard

~ jama

For years and years, we kept wondering why our shrubs never grew.

Too many rocks in the soil?
Not enough sunlight?
Wrong type of fertilizer?

Well, I think we’ve finally found the answer:

Sneaky-quiet four footed bush trimmers!

Yeah, silly us. No matter what the landscaper tells you, there’s no such thing as deer-resistant plants. When they’re hungry, they’ll eat everything in sight.

So, while other people might have beautifully landscaped yards, with petunias, pansies, tulips, cute little planter boxes full of primroses, and lush, full shrubs come spring, we’ll just go on watching our bush trimmers maintain the scrawny plant status quo around here.

But we don’t mind. The deer were here first. We took away some of their habitat when we built our house. Though some people hate having deer eat their plants, we love watching them, and think it’s kind of a miracle that they’re still around, despite how much development has taken place in our area.

Every day when I look outside, if it’s not deer, or Fuzzy the Fox, or a pileated woodpecker, or Mr. Donnelly the groundhog, I might spot yet another marvelous creature — like this friendly hawk, who likes to shop for dinner and practice his flight maneuvers. 


It’s a good feeling.

Besides. There’s a certain kind of beauty in short bushes.

43 thoughts on “why we only have short bushes (and no flowers) in our yard”

  2. Dear Deer

    Elaine M.

    We’ve had a lot of development in my area over the past few decades. It’s sad to think how many wild animals have been displaced. Good for you for letting the deer be and enjoying their presence.

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  4. Ahhhh nature! They are so cute. I wouldn’t mind short shrubs either. I’ve been really distressed lately (in fact, you’ll probably see a blog about it before too long) because my farmer neighbor seems to have sold his herd of beautiful black and white cows that were up next to my house. I miss them. They’re just gone. 😦 Stupid development.

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  5. Heh. I knew the answer to the question before I saw the pictures. Lucky you for having visiting deer. I don’t feel quite as complacent about tulip-nibbling squirrels, however.

    Here’s a poem I wrote several years ago:

    evil black squirrel
    voracious tulip muncher–
    dinner for my owl

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  10. Totally understandable. The squirrels are very greedy. We’ve had them climbing on our door because the bird feeder was empty. Of course, with so many squirrels around here, we can’t really have bird feeders anymore. Love your poem!!

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  12. Lovely! Thanks for sharing them.
    My caged bird let out an alarm peep! one day. I looked and a Harris Hawk was sitting just outside the glass on my porch looking it. My poor bird, but I really wish the camera had been in my hand.

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  18. My husband used to have a cottage on a lake in the country. The squirrels gobbled up all the birdseed in his bird feeder until he used this idea. He put some corn oil on the pole. Like a fireman, the squirrel kept sliding down!

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  19. Yes, I’ve heard of that! We haven’t tried mounting a feeder on a pole yet — just hung them from tree branches or on wires suspended between trees, and the squirrels were able to perform all kinds of acrobatics and huge leaps, and always got at the seed anyway. We might try the pole idea sometime :).

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  29. We feel honored they feel safe enough to hang around. Once my husband stopped his car in the driveway and began talking to them. They actually took a few steps closer to hear him better!

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  32. Love the pictures, Jama! You have a beautiful yard with so many gorgeous creatures! I like your attitude also that nature is their home, too!
    Kelly Polark

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  35. Deer

    Dear Fellow Deer Lover,
    I love the deer, too despite their damage. (They don’t like daffodils so they are a safe bet in the spring.) Our yard backs to woods and our feeder attract all sorts of birds, squirrels, foxes who eat the birds or squirrels and lately two deer (a doe and a buck.) They visit every morning about 5 a.m. They wake the dog and soon everyone is up for the day.

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  36. Re: Deer

    You’re right about daffodils. We do have a few, and most of our neighbors have them. Sounds like quite a menagerie you’ve got over there — have you actually seen a fox eat a bird or squirrel? We witnessed squirrel murder once — the fox was so quick, just barely catching the squirrel in his teeth as it tried to scamper up a tree. At the time, we had named our squirrels and put out nuts for them regularly, so I blamed myself for the murder. Now, since the squirrels can be such pests, no food for them, and no names!

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  37. SALT HANDS

    Those photos are wonderful. Thanks for posting.
    Do you know the book, SALT HANDS by Jane Chelsea Aragon, illustrated by Ted Rand. It’s a gorgeous picture book about a little girl who wakes up during the night and goes outside to see a deer under her window. She puts salt on her hands for him to lick. I don’t know if the book’s still in print, but I think you’d like it if you can get a copy.
    Barbara B.
    http://barbarabakerbooks.blog-city.com

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  40. They’re beautiful. I tried to figure out the difference from ours–my husband says different color tails and I’m thinking maybe the ears on yours are a BIT bigger. As far as I’m concerned, they can crop the low stuff all they want–they can’t really hit our oaks or bays or redwoods. 🙂

    The guy at our nursery said if we brought in the gardening book, he’d show us WHICH deer-resistant plants our local deer DO eat!

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  42. Short Bushes

    These are the best pics yet! Timothy (who has a soft heart for animals) thought they were great — amazed at the close-up of the hawk. A good friend of his in Ohio has worked with hawks. ~ Lois

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