Posted on 05/01/2026 6:24:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
The MONTHLY Victory Garden Thread is a gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you.
If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located.
This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked.
It is impossible to hijack the Victory Garden Thread. Planting, Harvest to Table Recipes, Preserving, Good Living - there is no telling where it will go - and that is part of the fun and interest. Jump in and join us! Send a Private Message to Diana in Wisconsin if you'd like to be added to/removed from our New & Improved Ping List.
NOTE: This is a once a MONTH Ping List, but we DO post to the thread all throughout the month. Links to related articles and discussions which might be of interest to Gardeners are welcomed any time.
These Easy-to-Grow Plants Are The KEY To a Deer-Resistant Garden - These picks are as close to Bambi-proof as you can get.
Being outside and enjoying nature is one of the best parts of having a garden. But when your beloved greenery is being nibbled at and eaten by adorable, Bambi-like deer, you’ll be searching for any viable solution to keep critters at bay. While there’s no such thing as a deer-proof plant, especially if Bambi is feeling particularly hungry (they’re even known to eat plants sprayed with deer-repellant), utilizing a variety of deer-resistant plants can serve as a protective measure that can help your garden survive mealtimes.
Deer definitely have favorite foods, but the truth is they’ll eat almost anything—just like humans, they’ll try anything once, according to Dimitri Gatanas, owner of Urban Garden Center in New York. In general, they don’t like plants that are highly fragrant, fuzzy, or have an otherwise unpleasant texture. “The best way to keep deer from eating your plants is to create a sort of barrier around your favorable plants with a variety they may not like as much,” Gatanas explains. “For example, I have my hydrangeas planted behind a border of low boxwoods.” He also recommends blocking deer out as much as you can, either with spiky varieties like barberry or holly bushes or with a thick row of arborvitae. Deer fencing is okay, Gatanas says, and it definitely works, but it’s not his personal preference because it distracts from the beautiful garden you’ve spent so much time on.
Many home gardeners try deer-repellent sprays or fencing, but these are often flimsy and only temporary defenses—you’ll have to respray every time it rains, and deer are known to navigate around barriers. If deer are common neighborhood friends (or pests), they’ve likely established routes and pathways through your gardens. It’s just nature! So do your best to plant deer-resistant types of plants and protect your favorites with a natural barrier.
List of plants with nice photos at link:
https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/gardening/g3470/deer-resistant-plants/
Excerpted from GOOD NATURE:
Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants is Good for Our Health by Kathy Willis
“Recently I found myself walking around the Botanic Garden in Oxford. This beautiful and historic location, right in the heart of the city, attracts over 200,000 visitors a year to its tranquil walkways and restful vistas.But it wasn’t just the elegant variety of plants, or even the impressive range of the scientific research being undertaken here, that caught my attention. It was a small child reaching out to touch the leaf of a rose, and her grandmother, instead of telling her not to touch, stroking the silky petal against her cheek.The child was intrigued and delighted.”
“We are often told, ‘Don’t Touch’ and ‘Keep Off The Grass’. Maybe it’s time to ditch those outdated attitudes. Maybe experiencing nature through the medium of tactile interaction with leaves, bark and petals is good for us. Maybe Grandma was right.”
More at link: https://www.popsci.com/environment/good-nature-book-excerpt/
Despite the heat wave we had at the end of March in So Cal (temps of 101), gardens are recovering.
Cactus loved the heat and are blooming:
Amaryllis managed to recover and are putting on a nice show:
Roses as well, although not as gloriously as they usually bloom in April and May:
Both helpers were stuck in dog and cat jail while I was visiting with family in South Carolina and Florida
Home now.
Happy Gardening to All!!
Happy May, everyone! I took a peek at that list, and I have most of those somewhere in my garden beds. Some are not perennial here so would need to be planted each year, if you can find them. (Heliotropes are lovely, but are just annuals here.)
Someone recently asked me why my tulips weren’t eaten by the deer, and there’s a lot of these near my tulips, so maybe that’s partly why.
Review
“Deer-Resistant Garden”
Has anyone tried and had luck with an animal sensor sprinkler?
I want a linden tree for the back yard but could not find one locally that was not obscenely priced.
Earlier today I got a small branch (1/8 inch diameter, 15in long) broken off from a linden tree. It was an odd offshoot from the trunk and broke off at the trunk in a small bulb. I dipped it in root growth hormone and stuck it in a container with potting soil. I hope that is all there is to it.
Does anyone have experience with such efforts?
Still cold here in Appalachia Ohio. Getting ready to start some seeds. I’m going to try to grow some Luffa gourd, Mullein, and White sage. I picked up some white sage at a store once and what an incredible smell it had while burning.
It says it has a low germination rate, but it hasn’t met me yet. Haha. Why people still use peat pots are beyond me.
“Amaryllis”
I have quite a number of them.
They are blooming a few at a time over about a month.
The flowers don’t last long for me here in Florida.
The midday heat is now brutal here.
My parsley and mint are doing well.
I’ve eaten most of my cherry tomatoes.
Oleander branches will readily root in water.
According to this, a Linden needs to be grafted to root stock:
Grafting a Linden Tree
An alternative to growing the difficult seeds is to perform a ‘grafting’ of a cutting. Linden tree cuttings have to be grafted onto a root in order for the plant to remain alive long enough for the cutting to develop its own roots. This practice is known as nurse root grafting. A root is cut horizontally, and a split cut across, around 3 inches in depth. The cutting is them eased into this split, so that the deepest parts of the two plants are together. The two portions of the graft are tied together, and the cut covered in grafting wax so that the plant is actually attached to the root and able to draw water from it. This is then planted under the soil, until the nursling self-roots. At this point, the original root can be removed by the gardener, or left to die off.
An alternative to this nurse root grafting is known as ‘bud grafting.’ A small piece of cutting, containing only a solitary bud, is used. Peeling back some bark on the root being grafted, the cutting is then squeezed into this gap and the entire thing tied tightly together. The bud and cutting should then grow and develop roots of their own. Care should be taken when using this technique in order to ensure that neither bud nor cutting is damaged during handling.
Once the cutting has grown to a significant height, it can be removed from the soil where it was originally placed and moved to its intended home.
https://www.doityourself.com/stry/linden-tree-propagation-methods
BUT this link says you can root a cutting in soil, as you are doing, but with a few more steps:
Considerations for Rooting Linden Trees
Rooting a linden tree involves careful planning. You’ll want to consider its potential height and spread when choosing a location. Select a site with well-draining soil and adequate sunlight. Be aware that linden trees prefer a slightly acidic to neutral pH.
Choose a Healthy Cutting: Select a 6- to 12-inch cutting from a healthy linden tree during the growing season.
Prepare the Cutting: Remove lower leaves, leaving a few at the top. This encourages energy to focus on root development.
Use Rooting Hormone: Dip the cut end in rooting hormone to enhance root growth.
Plant the Cutting: Insert the cutting into well-draining potting soil, ensuring it’s deep enough to stay upright.
Water and Cover: Water the cutting and cover it with a plastic bag or a clear container to maintain humidity.
Monitor Growth: Place the cutting in indirect sunlight and keep the soil moist. It typically takes several weeks for roots to establish.
https://treefluent.com/can-i-root-a-linden-tree/
I've been steadily putzing at the garden. Bedding plants are ready to stick in the dirt, but there are still some cool nights in the forecast so I'm going to hold off at least another week on that. I planted a short row of radishes and another short row of beets in the ground yesterday. The snap peas are rocking, except for the ones the bunny rabbit mowed down. Spuds are looking great - they need to be hilled up just as soon as my dirt pile is dry enough to work with.
The baby chicks we bought at the end of March are coming along nicely. They're fully-fledged and look like mini chickens instead of little scruffies. They have figured out how to use the ramp to get back inside the brooder house. About half of them are putting themselves to bed at night. I still have to catch the rest, but after they go to sleep they're no trouble at all to collect.
Mrs. Augie mowed the yard at Pops' house yesterday. I did ours after she finished there. Today I'll mow at #1 Marine Daughter's place. With roughly seven acres (about 16 gallons worth) to mow between the three yards I'm not really digging this $4.25 gasoline. lol
It's been almost a year since Howard showed up here. He has turned out to be a wonderful addition to the family. Having him here has been very good for Daughter's Doberman - she doesn't really understand how to play with our Aussie, but she knows how to play with Howard and they get along quite nicely now. He still has the occasional puppy moment, but for the most part he is a very well-behaved dog. We're about ready to start leaving his crate door open at night when he goes to bed and see how he does with the run of my grouch cave.
Beautiful blossoms, Bon! Thank you for sharing!
If you can believe it, today is the first day of May, and I’m wearing a thick sweatshirt. It rained again overnight, so it’s windy and chilly, besides being damp.
The plants are loving the rain, though.
MAY? Already?? :-)
So far, from the list of 40, we have:
Thyme
Rosemary
Sage
Coneflower
Lavender
Peony
Boxwoods
Hellebore
Snapdragons
Daffodils
Butterfly bush
Holly
Buttercups (growing wild in the yard)
Coming later (I have seeds to plant):
Zinnias
Calendula
Not on list of 40:
Calibrachoa - planted already - deer resistant, not deer proof (no problems last year)
Need to find: Lantana - resistant, not deer proof - no problems last year
On my list for my metal beds (a work in process):
Larkspur
Monkshood
Bleeding Heart
Foxglove
Salvia
Tithonia (Mexican sunflower - not on list of 40)
Hollyhocks (generally deer resistant, not on list of 40)
We have one spot (hostas in front pots) that are a gourmet salad bar for deer - I had to cover them at night late in the season last year after a deer ate half a pot. I used light agricultural cloth that was easy to use.
In our meditation garden we have tulips, daffodils, grape muscari, stonecrop, allium, bleeding hearts, Jack Frost brunnera, peony, meadow rue, Japanese painted fern, Christmas fern, beardstongue penstemon, false sunflower, garden phlox, turtlehead Chelone (added last fall), winterberry holly, coral bells, Joe pye weed, lupine, plumbago, Anna’s Pink Verbena, candy corn Spirea, weigela, coreopsis, variegated hostas, perennial bachelor buttons, obedient plant, a small butterfly bush, incrediball hydrangeas, virburnum, crepe Myrtle little shrubs, blue flag iris, ajuga bugleweed, with arbor vitae to block the view of the neighbor’s driveway, and two redbud trees.
There are a few things more that I can’t think of right now. Some of those are things I just planted last Fall, and are coming in slowly (the crepe Myrtle especially). It’s starting to look a little like a botanical garden. I need to take the furniture to be powder coated, which will be a 3 week backlog on the schedule.
Right now the allium is in bloom (visible from the street) along with one of the penstemons, a recently purchased lupine, and coreopsis, the stonecrop (sedum ternatum?), the verbena, coral bells, meadow rue, as well as the bleeding hearts. Oh, and the peony is just starting to open, too. Very pretty view from our sunroom. Differing shades of purple, lavender, pinks, reds, yellow, white, and blue are out there right now. Makes me happy!
This is just one garden area on our property. Because it’s visible from the street, I’m trying to keep it visually appealing, so I have gone heavy on the blossoming plants. Each will take their turn in season to be a star (I hope anyway!).
Love that lavender colored rose. Nice to see you. Is that a new doggie??
Nice to hear from you. I have arthritis in my back from inflammation too. The only thing that works is conolodine. Got it on amazon. VERY effective One dose at night will last two days. Its a tincture from the bark of some tree.
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