We live in a rural area with a lot of woodlands, so it's their favorite habitat. There is a lot of food they like nearby, but they tend to move around and browse, so you can't really do much to keep them away unless you build a fence. Because of how our property is laid out, a fence isn't really feasible or affordable for us... so I spray the plants they like in the summer, and put netting over them in the winter, and I accept that I'll get some browsing damage. Seeing the fawns is very nice, though. This morning I saw it with its momma, racing around the field with its new legs. Extremely cute. The harmony of deer in nature has already been disrupted by the fact that we've killed off all their natural predators. So now they are over-populated and are destroying a lot of plant life, hardwood saplings, habitat for other animals, etc. IMHO the best thing to do now is to hunt them humanely and eat them, the way the wolves would do if there were still wolves here.

Marylu, it would be hard to go wrong with such lovely subject material!!!lol You've got an excellent eye, and an excellent garden to boot! Hard pressed to choose a fav photo, as they are all so very lovely---I love the soft pinks and greens with the weathered wood tones and such. If I had to choose, suppose it would be the pink lilies and the "garden room" shot, and the pink roses spilling over the old crock, and....;-) Beautiful!!! Thank you. Becky p.s. I hope my Casablanca lilies grow up to be as plentiful and beautiful as yours! I planted 2 bulbs 6 inches apart last October (autumn is bulb planting time here in So Cal)--I've got two stalks forming buds right now---am so excited lol! B

After reading all these educational posts about starlings, I'll add one true life experience that happened to my room mate in college. For the sake of identy hiding, I'll call him "John". John lived at Rantoul, IL, the next town north of Champaign, IL but since room and board was reasonable at the university, he chose to stay in the Men's residence halls during the week. (Mind you, this was a long time ago when such costs were low.) Several times, he go home for the weekend. It was during one of those home visits when he learned a lot about starlings. The starlings had flocked and were roosting at night in the trees at Rantoul. One tree in particular held thousands. The town fathers on this block were fed up with the starlings and had decided to super harass the birds one evening in trying to get them to move to the country side. As dusk settled, a ring of men with their shot guns stood around the tree. On signal, they were to fire up into the tree full of birds. John was curious to see how the barage would appear so stood under the tree looking up. On cue, the guns roared. Every bird took a crap as they hastened away. It rained feces! John took out his hankie, wiped his face and headed home for the shower. His mom would not let him into the house until he removed his clothes.

Thanks Patricia. This year I pruned harder than I ever have, and that's not to say very hard, but it's taken me 5 years of taking little pruning risks where this year I said, well, they were just too big last year and I don't want the total jungle look, so I said, whatever, go for it and pruned harder than ever, in many cases by 1/2 or more. Except for most of my Teas. I'm lucky some are growing for me, let alone whacking them back. And, boy, those (other) roses loved being pruned. In many cases, more buds than ever. Thanks for validating that. Also, when pruning Mrs. B. R. Cant, who I never pruned before, I had you in mind in April, because I thought I remembered you saying you whacked her, as there are differing opinions about that so I did. She's fine! Thanks for the info! I used Bloomkote so far this year, compost from our pile, and now, bagged manure. I'll put alfalfa on too. Your garden is simply glorious.