At first, he thought they were the noblest of creatures. Everyday one or two would visit our meadow, grazing like little brown and white lawn mowers across the four acre expanse. "Beautiful creatures," he would smile. But by the time the whole ordeal reached its volcanic conclusion, the fuzzy four-legged former friends would be forever known as Devil Deer ― The Purveyors of Hell. I had never seen anything like it except, perhaps, in Donald Duck cartoons. My dad had gone off the deep end when 西瓜卡通 it came to what the calmer part of the family tree jokingly dubbed "The Deer War."
Dad is a retired nurseryman, as was his father before him. It is in his blood. Grandfather to eleven adult grandchildren, my youngest came as a surprise, and Dad happily discovered that his new (and probably last) granddaughter, Alex, was the only grandkid who arrived with a green thumb. Dad was so proud, and it didn't matter that Alex was a girl. As only someone born before the days of women's lib and Gloria Steinem could say with a straight face, "Girls are capable nurserymen too, you know."
Over the summer of her seventh year, Dad taught Alex any and everything about plants, and was particularly proud of the way she could pronounce the Latin names. Mom was overjoyed that Dad finally had a plant buddy.
On misty mornings Dad would mutedly call Alex into the front room for an up-close look at the beautiful creatures grazing in the meadow. Alex called it the Bambi Show, as Dad and she would gaze appreciatively at the majestic deer. Dad would snap picture after picture of "his" deer, showing his prized photographs to anyone he could snare. Then, came the day: planting time for the vegetable garden and flower garden.
From years of experience, Dad knew what deer like to eat and so he made an effort to plant marigolds along the garden perimeter in a humane bid to stave off the deer that might happen to view his new garden as more of a kitchen. "The marigold smell keeps the deer in the meadow," he confidently declared. "There's plenty to eat out there," he would tell Alex.
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?
So Dad and Alex planted zucchini, watermelons, carrots, green beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and every day was filled taking care of that pretty little garden. The neighbors marveled at the bounty Dad's garden produced. People would drive past our colorful place with the stunning flower gardens and the orange and yellow dahlias, where sweet smelling roses, bonny sunflowers, 西瓜卡通 tall stately hollyhocks and the morning glories that Alex had planted from seed made their home along the flagstone path.
Dad had laid all the path stones himself and planted the fast spreading Moneywort groundcover sneaking between each stone. Breathtaking. As a botanical piece' résistance, Mom purchased two massive petunia plants in huge baskets and hung them next to the back door.