Tulip behind bars

Ok, so it's tulip behind old bed spring. Or under it, rather.

And why is the tulip under a bed spring? Well, see the photo below.

Deer think tulips are snack food.

Personally, I don't think the bed springs are going to be enough protection. My father has a bunch of other weapons at hand (relax, he's not going to hurt the deer. I just mean he has some old barbecues grills and things like that to use as extra cover) if he finds things getting nibbled on, though.

It's a bit of a quandary, really. I'm a huge fan of tulips, and it's taken forever to get tulips to grow in this yard. My mother and grandmother tried numerous times with very little success. I have no idea why our current bulbs are actually coming up multiple years in a row, but they are. I'd hate to lose that.

On the other hand, I'm kind of fond of the mulies as well. Too many places have lost their wildlife, but we still have a fair amount. Seems a shame to want it gone just to protect a few plants.

Incidentally, while it looks like the deer in the photo was in mid-stride, it was actually standing still. It has a buggered-up back leg, you see.

We first noticed it in the fall, hanging around with the winter feeding herds. I kind of figured it'd be gone by now, since the leg is so obviously useless to it. Any number of things could have happened, you know. Starvation, road hit, coyotes... but it seems like this particular deer is planning to hang around for a while longer.

The picture was taken yesterday, by the way. It (and a couple of others) just wandered through the neighbour's yard while I was out taking photos of tulips and bed springs.

Our local mulies aren't at all shy. They'll wander down the middle of the street in broad daylight if it suits them.

Anyway, here's hoping that I see at least one tulip flower before they get eaten. And if you have a tulip versus deer problem of your own, speaking as a professional naturalist (almost managed to type that with a straight face) I have just one suggestion:

Bed springs.





Nah, I'm kidding. The real suggestion would be to plant daffodils instead.

Seriously. The deer hate them.

Now if only they came in a few more colours...







The daffodils, I mean. Not so much the deer.