The Deer Aren't Always Dear

Yesterday I passed Santa on the street in Jasper.  He was driving a Toyota. Tonight our cloudy, rainy days will give way to winter weather and possible snow and it will feel like Christmas if not look like it. Many in our neighborhood still have their lights up and wreaths on the doors. We have barely seen the sun since Christmas.  I have read that no one above Atlanta gets any Vitamin D from November until March because of the lack of direct sunlight.  Now the temperatures will fall and we will have daffodils blooming in the snow again.  The deer in my neighborhood seem to be fairing better since their number has been depleted by over 60 and the snow has fallen but not managed to stick. Yesterday though they jumped my fence and half destroyed my garden.  They ate my camellia down  to the roots, not leaving even one leaf let alone the hand full of buds I was looking forward to seeing open up and create the beautiful red blooms.  They even ate a winter fern that wasn't supposed to be on their extensive buffet. My one lonely azalea was pulled up by the roots and the few blooms on my pansies were nibbled.  Its difficult for a true Southern gardener to live without camellias and azaleas and for me not having those in abundance has been very hard.  Now I won't have them at all.  They are one of the few things I truly loved about February.  In South Alabama I had a yard filled with over 80 different blooming shrubs. Living in the mountains has its good days and bad.  Maybe I have misspoken about Hunters.  Today I can see how a few less deer could be a good thing.