Martha's Garden

Martha L. Deed wrote this from the USA in June 2003:

I live on the Erie Canal near its meeting with the Niagara River in North Tonawanda, New York. We bought this house three years ago from a couple who designed and built the house and designed the wildflower gardens over nearly 50 years. We let everything grow as it wished our first spring and summer here so we could learn the plants and their ways. Gradually, we have begun to weed out intruders.

Deer are nearly a daily occurrence. I asked the previous owner what you do about them, and he said, "We feed them." And so we do -- with rose bushes, raspberry and blackberry bushes, tulips, etc. We have decided not to fight. We enjoy hyacinths, daffodils, and the many other flowering plants which do not appeal to their palate. For the "must haves" that we would otherwise fight over, such as my now-pitiful collection of herbs, we use deer screening which doesn't mar the appearance of our gardens and has, so far, discouraged the deer.

Martha has written a delightful piece about the birth of a fawn in her garden and a poem, Muse Interruptus

Still inspired by her deer she collaborated with Millie Niss to create a .gif presentation Lunch which I suspect has more political overtones for people living in the USA than the rest of us fully appreciate