Deer have ignored my chindo so far. There is a fungus that leaves spots on the leaves and results in leaf drop in the spring. Important to dispose of dropped leaves. Fungal spray is possible. As I posted in the other forum, the leatherleafs in my gardens (z-7b/8a) look simply awful during cold weather. The leaves that remain on the plant are all droopy, and that makes me feel droopy too.

I live in North Carolina and deer will eat Annabell, Tardiva, Oakleaf...never seen a hydrangea that they didn't eat. That said...I once lived on land where the deer had plenty of food in the wild, so they didn't eat my hydrangeas. So, when I built another house, I planted all my favorites...but, that deer herd didn't have enough to eat in the wild, so they ate all of my hydrangeas...and hostas. When we built here, I knew the deer were around, so I had to stop growing hydrangeas. I have one inside a fence and I'd love to have more. It's gambling with your money to plant hydrangeas outside of a fence. A small garden where deer can't see how to escape works better than a large garden where deer think they can jump over the fence and back out again. Deer resistant gardening happens to be my niche since a herd of over 30 sleeps beside my flower garden every night. Cameron

The best laugh I've had in a long time. I just knew it, the limb of the tree. And thank you know who I do not have a double driveway to get plowed in. No snowblower will handle that nonsense, takes a real man and good shovel for that, don't know what women do. There are women who don't have men who live in houses with double driveways. Was it yesterday? Everything's a blur. At least I know what day it is and the date for my WS'ing log. But I confess I have to use my computer, that little number on the right of my task bar you mouse over. Otherwise a regular calendar is simply too much for me any more. Especially the one in my checkbook. But I somehow learned to look at the right year (it has 3). Anyway, I got my small curb section from my sidewalk plowed in, and I wanted that s*** out of there NOW! So I went out with my shovel and got er done. But do you have any idea how much the melted icy stuff underneath weighs? And I threw it FAR! Wonder I didn't keel over. Aw. Moved to Florida. I'd hoped it would have a happy ending. Like someplace in Michigan where you don't get your driveway plowed in like that? I have to play musical chairs with the snowplow, too, and as soon as one long section is cleared, wrote about it before with illustrations, the d*** plow comes whizzing down the street and throws it all back. Hasn't happened this year. I swear, I'm gonna come back when I'm not so tired and copy that and put all the bad words back in lol, tuck it away, and pull it out and read it when I'm mad.

No drought conditions here but the deer eat everything. They even eat my daturas and castor though they haven't gone after the milkweed.....yet. I never thought about the impact they have on the butterfly population and insects in general until I heard that report. At least the deer can't get into the backyard and that's where my butterfly garden is. Sherry I used to feel the same way. I was such a bambi lover. Now we allow friends to hunt on our property with bow & arrow, no guns. We have an electrified fence at the farm but can't use that at home, besides that it would look terrible and the neighbors would have a fit. We do have fun with the deer at the farm. They love peanut butter so we spread it on aluminum pie plates and attach the plates to the live wire. The deer can't help themselves and keep going back for more and getting zapped. It's like watching a Simpson's episode. lol