I opened my Washington Post this morning to find yet another tired tirade about deer that was long on rants but short on solutions. Titled “I Bought a Gun—and I Intend to Use It,” the column acknowledged humanity's role in disrupting ecosystems. But the writer never once mentioned any positive action he would take toward preventing or mitigating his own contributions to habitat loss and destruction.
Do deer, rabbits, and other mammals eat plants at the Humane Gardener headquarters? Absolutely. Do I shoot them? No. I don’t shoo them away either. And yet the plants still grow, each year inviting an increasing number and variety of birds, butterflies, and other animals. Our oasis even hosts threatened native bee species.
We follow a number of different strategies to coexist with deer, nurturing habitat that sustains them and also safeguards young plants. Logs and stumps create natural barriers around vulnerable wildflowers and saplings; chemically defended species limit herbivory on more tender plants behind them; and thorny shrubs serve as prickly protectors and nurse plants of young trees.
