The Tragic Tale of the Little Peach Tree.

So sad :~((

Oh Gillii, you have me in tears! That is so sad but so brilliantly written that you made me smile too. Some things are just not meant to be and even a very fierce and fanged deer has got to eat! :o(( Bet you couldn't believe it but full marks for perseverance! I never knew
peach trees grew where it snowed.....

what a sad ending to such a brave little tree :(((((((((

A sad but well written blog.It was good that you gave it a chance.Is the fierce and fanged deer a regular visitor?

how sad Gilli... is there not some way you can wrap the trunk?

Agree with Moon grower.... is the tree beyond saving ?

10 out of 10 for effort on both the empty-headed woman's part and that of the poor Peach tree.......

I'm sure as MG & TT say, with your continued love & perseverence, you could do something to save it again.....!

Good luck anyway. Great story and well written too.

awwww Gilli, i have tears here, poor little tree and big bad deer grrr, you tried so hard to save the tree,
enjoyed the sad story well written :o)

such a sad tale!but the lady in the story did a grand job when no one else wanted to bother

x x x

So sad - but nature can be odd lets keep our fingers crossed.

So so sad that poor little tree, stood no chance.

Tears in my eyes such a sad story and sad end for both the Little Peach Tree and the Poor empty headed woman with her heart of gold and determination. A wonderful little story just wish the ending was a happy one!

i loved your blog gill. the same thing happen to two of our young pear trees last year.deer are nice to look at but i wish their would stay in the woods and keep out of my garden.

Sad, Gilli, so sad....but ain't that just Nature?!

Gilli you had me going there, love the way you`ve written this but I`m with Tt and Mg and would give it another go,the little tree might surprise you yet. Mother Nature has some right funny ways at times and they do say its survival of the fittest..........

I suspect ( well, more than suspect ) that we tend to 'humanise' and romanticise 'Mother Nature' at times, and think she's always kindly and warm and woolly and full of love! Nah. 'She's' a real 'bitch' at times....but 100% honest to 'her' principles, if they can be called that ( and I don't think they can ) whether we little humans like it or not.

I think your peach tree has had it, Gilli. I suppose anyone who suggested shooting the offending deer between the eyes would have us all screaming out in defence of a creature who's further up in the food chain!

That's life....and then we all die!

Shame, though. Always sad to see something struggling to live succumb to a greater power. You tried, you did all that you could do. Onward and upward....
;-)
xxx

Poor brave ikkle peach tree. :~((
Nasty fierce and fanged deer. Grrr
I think the kind hearted but rather empty-headed womans new hubby should go out and 'bag' some venison to make some lovely meals to keep the kind hearted but rather empty-headed woman and her family cosy over the coming freezing winter. The deer may be above the little brave peach tree in the food chain but why should we not take advantage of the fierce and fanged deer's lack of brain power?

Great blog Gilli. :~)))

Bscott so sad but so true!

This sad tale happens all the time in the woods outside my back garden - between the deer and the squirrels the saplings get decimated - It's amazing the wood ever manages to regenerate at all!

S'all part of nature's rich but 'immoral' tapestry, I suppose....

Thank you all for your comments and sympathies for the poor little peach tree.
MG, TT, Oddie and Lincs.....I am afraid the little tree's time is up........his bark is much too damaged for any kind of repair to help I think. But, I'm going to leave him until spring just to see what happens. This tree has such a will to live.....who knows?
Lily2 - there are some hardy varieties which will grow here. We are just on the edge of the hardiness limit for them and then only in the valley bottom.
Mavisc52 - The deer is a somewhat regular visitor but usually is more interested in my rosebuds.
Bscott - quite true....nature is as nature is. Sometimes wonderful and sometimes cruel. That's life.
Ian - My new hubby has in the past been known to go out in the fall in an effort to be the "Great White Hunter". He has spent all day sitting in the snow in a tree or behind a bush waiting for an elusive deer, elk or moose to walk by. However, in all the time I've known him he has never actually "bagged" anything. I think the animals are all out there giggling and whispering together...."Hee hee hee. See that guy over there? One of you go and wiggle that bush over there and make him think somethings coming."
Before there is a hue and cry about hunting animals.....please take into account this is Canada where hunting is an accepted practice, especially outside of the Vancouver/Victoria area. Many Canadians have grown up stocking the freezer from a very early age. Animals are mostly hunted for food not for sport. :o)
Hollygate ~ nice to see you back on here....I haven't heard from you in a while. :o)

Since you have deer bait in the garden, just sit snug inside and lo, the kind hearted, empty headed woman can get that deer in her sights and then into the freezer whilst thinking about a nice peach pepper jelly for venison...Delightful blog.

Gilli, obviously I have never had a problem with hunting my own food, it's those that do it for 'fun' that get my back up. Yes people can liken deer to Bambi but we all know Bambi is only an animated film that tugs on the heartstrings, I know what I would do if I had a problem like yours! EXACTLY what Orgratis said................ BANG ! ! ! !

Gilli - miracles DO happen, continue to love and are for the wee tree. Wrap up the wounds, see the tree well and strong [In fact come on GoYers let's all see the tree well and strong] Just keep focussing on it Gilli and sending it love

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=‘•..•’=ʅ͜͜͜﴿
♥♥♥♥♥
Purry furry kisses.. for the sad little peach tree...put some salve on its wounds and wrap it warm and cozy Gilli..it will not bleed for the winter...hopefully it is going into it's dormancy and has a time to heal..put a fence around it to guard it for a while..
I was raised in my early years on venison..never ate anything else...so having venison does not put me off..if I can eat beef or lamb and not blink an eye..then venison is not off limits for sure...I do not eat lamb but sure know there are those who love it...just not to my taste..anyway..if you have not come to familiar terms with the deer..might taste good with all the peach bark in its system...but then if it is like here..no hunting in the city...that would not work would it... xx~Cat

I will do as you suggest MG and Cat....I'll wrap it up tight and warm and see what happens.
As for the deer.....You're right Cat....no discharging firearms in the city.....However, I have a nice quiet bow and some arrows.....hee hee hee. Our backyard is so private no one would ever know.

I don't think the kind hearted empty headed lady is really empty headed at all and she will think of a way of saving the little tree :o)

I'm sure she will Hywel

I'm trying Hywel....I'm trying.....!! :o)

:o)

Gilli..just remembered...as I took my dogs for a walk one day..I ran across a lady I know who was out gardening..I asked her how the deer were in her area. She told me that they had been a problem, but she found that stringing fishing line around some posts that were close to the plants they liked eating kept them out..she said they do not like to put their heads into anything that they might get tangled in..so they back off...I am wondering is there a way that you might be able to use this method?

Who is this very trying lady with nothing between the ears? She has upset everyone about the poor little peach tree but I am cross - bow and arrows to kill bambi - how could she? She isn't kind hearted at all! Please bring back Princess Gilli she will know what to do.

Cat, I've heard others talking about the fishing line. It seems the deer don't like things they can't see. It might be worth trying it next year by stringing it about 6 feet high along the fence line.
GF, Have no fear....I would never be able to harm little bambi. Killing chickens on the farm is one thing....killing wild animals is quite another.

Princess Gilli - Are you feeling better now? It seems you may have overcome this split personality disorder and are back with us thank goodness. I am glad to hear your kind thoughts about Bambi but I am still upset that Bambi is apparantly going to be killed off on your site and members have done nothing to defend him. Hunters killed his parents you know and he narrowly escaped your forest fires now it has been suggested Bambi does not exist - really I mean what is the land of GOY coming to? It will soon be Christmas - I suppose members will next be saying Father Christmas doesn't exist either. This shocking turn of events about Bambi on your site is frankly just totally unbelievable - I think we should bring back hanging, drawing and quartering, flagging just doesn't seem to fit the crime.

Bleeding hearts from the isles which exterminated all the harts by hunting! We have killed so many predators that there's a surfeit of deer. To restore the balance, some are trying to reintroduce wolves to cull the herds, to the outrage of ranchers. Barbara Kingsolver wrote an interesting book on the value of and need for predators, "Prodigal Summer," I think.

Uh-Oh..GF..you have riled an American and not just any American..it is Orgatis from Oregon...now having been born and raised close to the Oregon border..lol..I know you have just stepped in a thicket here that you may want to back paddle out of...Oregonians are not known for being pantywasted.. to some extent Washintonians are...lol...but not all of us of course, only those in the Seattle area...lol..and Port Townsend is on a higher level of pantywaistdom than even those in the Seattle area..lol. We are bleeding hearts and tree huggers here and yes, over run by deer....but to be sure the coyotes, cougars and bear living here are in no danger of being shot anymore than the deer are...We will not tolerate the hunting of the Grey Whale and certainly are working to protect all sea life in our sound waters...as to Bambi...it is a fanciful tale to teach children to follow the rules..no poaching or taking meat out of season, no fires out of season...and let nature live as it should in proper harmony with man, in the proper seasons, and it will provide us with food and everything we need in due time....in case you are wondering.... Yes, even venison.....

In France I was handed a dead rabbit to prepare for dinner: he had fattened on the garden. Recently a lady from Williams, OR butchered 22 cocks over the weekend, skinning rather than plucking them, and shared the bounty with co-workers. She gave me a recipe for Squirrel Fricassee in a crock pot. A cookbook I picked up, Going Wild in the Kitchen, has recipes for woodchuck, raccoon, 'possum, moose, and bear. My hairdresser sweetly mentioned she'd gotten her deer, but it was hard to haul out. I might have to eat crow, but if we eat meat, we might do well to remember in one of the lives of Buddha, he threw himself down into a ravine to feed a starving tiger and her cub.

As Buddha would..as have the animals for us...

Deer are not extinct in the British Isles but I am glad there are none around here to eat my plants. I mean I have enough trouble with Thumper and his bunny rabbit friends and my daughter's puppy Nala from Lion King. Well I don't care what anyone else thinks - I still think the animated charachter Bambi is real so there. Also I liked the film Hunt for red October. Until I start the good life growing my own vegetables I think I will stick to the supermarket, it saves a lot of time and mess.

Deer are anything but extinct in Scotland and they do have to be culled every year. There is such a concentration of them in some areas that there is not enough food for them. The main problem is that man has killed off all their predators. So we in turn need to take responsibility for what we have done.

There are tight restrictions on hunting here. Hunting is allowed only at certain times of the year and only on certain animals of certain age/size. There are some who disregard the rules but most do not. Poaching and hunting out of season are criminal acts and heavy fines are levied. Having said that, bears and cougars which become problems in urban areas are very often shot and killed rather than tranquilized and relocated, especially outside of the Vancouver area. I believe they are finding that relocation of these animals doesn't work. They either find their way back or they end up in the territory of other bears/cougars and end up getting killed anyway.
It seems to me that more deer/moose/bear/etc are killed on the roads and highways than are ever shot by hunters. When I drove up to Fort St. John in northern BC, the number of moose and bear roadkill that I saw was appalling.

The culling in Scotland is done at specific times of the year with properly trained marksmen shooting the deer, old and infirm deer are culled. Of course the landed gentry go hunting for the sport - that is another story!

Thought there was a distinction between deer and hart, but I'm probably mistaken. Roadkill accounts for much of the decline of the hedgehog, too, I read. Never thought of SUVs as predators, Gilli, but perhaps you're on to something! lol

For the bear and Moose I think the heaviest toll is taken by the semi-trailer trucks (articulated lorries for those over the pond). But yes, you're right Orgratis.....perhaps they should go into the official "predator" lists. LOL

(Love the lavender rose of your avatar, Gilli!)

Thanks Orgratis. This is called "Lavender Crystal". It is a miniature rose. Smells lovely.

The one thing we don't in town here is deer Gilli. What terrible damage deer can do. They have all that forest to chomp away at. Perhaps your peach tree tastes of peaches? We saw lots of deer on a remote Wiltshire road last weekend. We were stranded for 2 hours. Strolling across back and front of the car. Our rescuer could'nt find us. Misdirected.