Gratuitous Llama Defensive Gardening Bleg

Last weekend we attended a charity auction hosted by the Junior League-like woman's group of which the Missus is the current president. (She's a Junior Leaguer as well, but apparently can't get enough of teh philathropy. Those of you who know her know exactly what I'm talking about.) In an effort to artificially inflate prices get into the spirit of things, the Missus bid on several items herself, explaining confidently in the face of my feeble protests that of course somebody else would come in and outbid her.

Well, for the most part she was right. However, we did get caught holding one basket, namely a "gardener's package" consisting of bulbs, a gift certificate to our local mom & pop hardware store, some minor gardening accessories and doo-dads, some citranella votive candles (for praying to Gaia, I suppose) and a selection of gardening books specific to the mid-Atlantic region.

As you can imagine, I didn't really complain very much about this miscalculation. (Had it been a spa package, for example, or some hideous piece of modern art, I'd have been considerably more crabby.) And we've put it to good use: the bulbs went into the ground last Sunday, the gift certificate has already been spent and the accessories and doo-dads have been packaged as Christmas presents.

Last evening, I was leafing idly through one of the gardening books and came across a chapter on how to deal with local pests. The section on deer contained a list of suggested alternative plants that would stand a better chance of not being razed to the ground by these dratted animals. Among the suggestions, much to my surprise, was the planting of ferns instead of hostas (which deer will hoover in a flash).

I mention this here in the hope that one of our Llama readers might be able to confirm or deny the notion that deer do not favor ferns. (Yes, yes, I know that they'll eat anything if pressed.) I would be perfectly happy planting ferns in some of the shadier areas around Orgle Manor if I thought they had a chance of survival, but don't feel inclined to incur the expense or waste the effort if Bambi and his blasted brethren are just going to swoop in and help themselves as soon as I turn my back.