Mostly, I’ve noticed, our resident deer show little to no interest in my more aromatic herbs. The thyme is safe; so are the chives and mints and basil and calendula.
The rosemary, as it turns out, is not. Or at least it isn’t safe from the babies.
I put my rosemary, yarrow, and assorted mints (peppermint and lemon mint) into the ground yesterday. The yarrow is still there, as are the mints. The rosemary? Not so much. My garden had an encounter with the deer at dawn this morning; I saw them when I got up to answer nature’s call and looked out the window. I watched as the adults sniffed at the various plants, took tiny tastes of the yarrow and spit them out (there were leaf bits on the ground when I went out later to water), and then wandered on. The fawn followed their example, with one exception: mom sniffed a small plant and passed it by, but baby sniffed and then took one bite. It being a new plant, that’s pretty much all there was. I wasn’t sure what had been eaten, only that something had.
I found out when I looked after J. was on the bus. My rosemary is an ex-plant. Barely a stub remains to show where it was planted. There is a marking stake, put up by anything I plant now because otherwise the landlord is entirely too enthusiastic with his mower, but nothing there for it to mark. I know human babies put anything in their mouths, including things adults wouldn’t dream of. I guess that extends to little deer as well.
I have heard that vineyards tie bars of soap on their fences to keep out deer. Not sure what brand it is that the deer don’t like.
I have read that a lot of orchards use garlic scented clips and/or garlic emulsions to deter deer.