Lily garden in full bloom
I love lilies – especially the fragrant ones. Unfortunately, they attract deer who love to eat the buds just as they are about to open. When we first moved to this house, I dug up all of the lilies scattered around the yard and planted them in 3 areas to make it easier to protect them from our deer marauders.
To that end, I have been using a product called Liquid Fence. It’s a mixture that you spray onto the lilies and other “deer candy” to ward off deer and rabbits. When it first goes on, it smells terrible, but as it dries, the smell disappears. Deer and rabbits however can still detect the smell and it keeps them away. It works great and lasts quite well, but if you get a lot of rain, it needs to be reapplied. I use it in the spring on all of my tulips and then a bit later on the lilies. The only problem is that it costs about $18.00 for a spray bottle at the garden center and if you have a lot of plants to protect, it can get expensive.
My friend Joanne found a great solution. She attended a plant lecture and told the speaker that she never plants lilies because she lives in Mequon and has to contend with a large deer population. The speaker told her to place pennies in the hole when planting her lily bulbs and the plant would absorb a bad taste from the pennies making the flowers unattractive to deer.
Based on that information, last year she planted tulip bulbs and some lilies using as the pennies as directed. This spring the deer herd did not touch her tulips, but later in the summer they did eat a few of the lily buds.
Because of her experience, I am going to put a few pennies in the hole when planting any new bulbs this fall. Then next year when I spray Liquid Fence on my tulips and lilies, I will leave the new plantings bare and keep track of the results. My thought is that if it works at least most of the time, it’s a more permanent solution to hungry deer and certainly is a lot cheaper.
I am hoping that the home remedy of “Pennies for Deer” works and that I can slowly discontinue my Liquid Fence applications.
Dear Genie,
I make my own liquid fence concoction in Spring. I start with water in a gallon wine bottle then cut up Irish spring or some other smelly soap, Add a lot of garlic powder. Some bleach and anything else smelly that you have around including some hot pepper sauce and then add cooking oil which makes it adhere to the plants better. Then spray away. I use this on plants like day lillies which are outside of my electric fence. It works great.
I will try your version as a third option next year!