GARDENS AND DEER: A GUIDE TO DAMAGE LIMITATION. By Charles L. Coles.

1997 1st edition. 8vo (161 x 241mm). Pp142. Colour photographs, distribution maps. Green cloth, spine titled in gilt.

Many effective ruses for foiling deer that want to eat your garden. Includes discussion and lists of deer-resistant plants. Based on many years' research and experience. "Damage to forests and farm crops by deer has been extensively studied already, but not damage to gardens. That was seen as considerably less important. Finding nowhere else to turn to, the author embarked on an investigation to save gardens. Gardens and Deer is the culmination of a three-year study, involving over 300 gardeners. The author's own garden was sacrificed as a trials area to test various methods for deterring deer and also to determine which were their preferred and least preferred plants. This truly unique book offers great advice for the distraught gardener whose domain has been invaded. Deer behaviour and signs of their presence, the damage they can cause and various barriers and deterrents are evaluated (including lion dung). The reference section, listing the most vulnerable and resistant plants to deer, is an invaluable aid in creating a garden which is less likely to be completely destroyed. ...The author even includes tips on how to protect vulnerable blooms such as roses which are a decided favourite of our four-legged friends. ...This is not a staid study of the subject but a delightful book brimming with excellent advice." Chapters include: Some aspects of the problem; The main trials area; The different deer species; Signs of deer visiting gardens; Behaviour in gardens; Deterrents; Fences and other barriers to deer; Protecting individual plants; Maintaining a deer-resistant garden; Roses and deer: an appraisal of the problem; Herbs, vegetables, fruit and fruit trees, trees - including ornamental species; Bites from deer ticks. The four appendices are: Vulnerable or resistant? Summaries of main plants; Plants in the mostly resistant category; Some additional vulnerable plants; Distribution maps of the different deer species.