Tulip Perennial Delight Mix

As the deer population has boomed and food has become scarcer, they have become more aggressive. In some areas deer will strip your garden bare, leaving nothing green or flowery behind. While there is no such thing as a completely deer-proof garden, there are some effective things you can do to protect your garden from these hungry animals.

Use physical barriers

A High Fence
Deer can jump pretty high, but a fence higher than eight feet (higher on an up-slope) and flush with the ground will keep any deer out.

Electric Fences
They are a much easier and less expensive solution. Deer generally will not try to jump electric fences, but will rather try to climb through the wires, receiving a deterring shock.

Bird-Netting
An even less extreme physical option is to put bird netting over your larger and more susceptible plants.

Plant Deer-resistant Varieties

Herbs, some conifers, and many flowers are some of the best deer-resistant plants. More fragrant plants will often deter predation. Planting just a few deer-resistant plants will limit grazing of your other plants. Remember, "deer-resistant" does not mean deer-proof. A hungry animal will eat just about anything.

Having a dog In the Family

Owning a dog, especially a big dog will almost always keep deer from approaching your home. Just the scent of the dog will keep most deer away, and if your dog lives outside you will probably never see any deer.

For most gardeners, it is a combination of different solutions that works best. Every gardener has to find the solution that works best in their garden.

Shop All Deer-resistant Plants

Dig:

The first thing you want to do is pick your spot and dig the hole for your bulbs. Avoid places with standing water, as this could cause bulb rot. A good rule of thumb when planting is to dig down 3 times the height of the bulb, but you should follow the specific instructions for your bulb. Make sure to space out your bulbs to give your plants the right amount of room to grow later.

Drop:

Now put your bulbs in the ground, pointy side up. For fall planting, be sure to get the bulbs in before the first frost. For spring planting, the time varies by plant. Afterwards, cover the bulbs with soil and then water them in. This helps wake the bulbs up from dormancy and get them growing again.

Now you're Done!

Just sit back and wait, and in the spring your bulbs will sprout up and reward you with their beautiful blooms throughout the season. Growing flowers from Wayside bulbs really is that easy!


Videos courtesy of the Dig Drop Done Foundation.

Native to Turkey, tulips were in cultivation long before they traveled West with Ambassador Busbecq in the mid-1550's, and many colors and forms must have been present before German artist Konrad Gesner published his famous illustration in 1559 of a long-stemmed, red-flowered tulip. But this painting was the first glimpse Europeans had ever seen of a tulip, and the reaction was electric. The painting was made from a tulip variety growing in the Imperial Garden of Vienna. Carolus Clusius was the head of that Garden, a good friend of Busbecq, and a passionate gardener. When he accepted an appointment at Leiden University in Holland, he brought tulips with him.

It is believed that the first tulips flowered in Holland in 1594, in the garden Clusius had planted the year before. An avid tulip breeder, Clusius cultivated an enormous tulip garden and offered his new varieties for sale at outrageous prices. Many local gardeners responded by slipping into Clusius’s gardens and digging up their favorites. By the early 1600s, tulip growing was changing from a gardening passion into a business.

Tulip Mania began in earnest in 1634, fueled by a virus that caused tulip petals to become wildly streaked with bold colors. (Today’s Rembrandt Mix is the closest contemporary tulip to these Dutch classics.) No two flowers looked exactly alike, and everyone wanted them. Florists even developed a special ceramic vase called a tulipiere to hold each stem separately, so that the blooms could be enjoyed individually rather than massed together.

Fortunes were made and lost overnight in tulip speculation. Single bulbs were auctioned for outrageous prices, and ships that sank or cargo that rotted ruined potential investors. Finally the entire enterprise crashed in 1637. Interestingly, this exact phenomenon was repeated in the Turkish market in the early 1700s.

Tulips remain one of the most popular bulbs in the world, with new varieties developed every year. Treat your garden to the plant that rocked Europe and created a sensation in the economic fortunes of thousands!