A tale of deer and tulips

Ever time I look at the tulips in our garden I can hardly believe my eyes. For years deer scoffed the lot.

Suddenly we have these colourful spring flowers - and no deer.

Nobody knows how or why. Well, we are afraid to ask too many questions fearing the answer might border on something illegal.


For the presence of deer divided the community.

Non-gardeners loved seeing the roe deer strolling around. They looked so pretty. People liked waking up in the morning to find half a dozen dozing on their lawn.

But we gardeners were less enthusiastic.
The deer would come out of the local woods and hills and over the years they became like the urban fox, thoroughly domesticated, feasting on our gardens all year round, not bothering to go back into the woods even in summertime.

They loved vegetables, roses and tulip.

In the end we gave up trying to grow anything to eat and specialised in plants of a prickly architectural nature.

We tried everything to deter them including lion dung collected form the local safari park. This worked for a few days - until it rained.

So I can hardly believe it we have tulips in the garden after more than twenty years and each morning I wake up expecting to find them decimated.

So, will the deer return as mysteriously as they disappeared?