Where have all the flowers gone?

Although it is rather warm out today, it's not quite the predicted heatwave. I wasn't too uncomfortable.

But there was an interesting discussion today about the recently planted roses. (Some were planted down below in the Memorial Garden after the old outside toolchest was removed by the men last week; others had been planted elsewhere around the upper gardens.) It seems all the rose blossoms disappeared during the week.

Suspicion immediately fell on the likely culprits: deer.

There seem to be a lot of deer around this year. At home all 19 rose bushes have been completely stripped. We have experienced occasional losses over the years, but nothing like this. And the deer are everywhere; just on the way home from church we had to stop to avoid hitting a little fawn, no more than a foot to a foot and a half high, dashing and darting back and forth on the road.

Mary Ellen noted that there are three deer who've taken up residence in the woods on and next to the church property, and we've seen their hoofprints in the gardens.

Somebody remembered that we've had a spray bottle of deer repellent (rather expensive stuff, too) tucked away in a closet and pulled it out. Maybe it would help.

But Dee noted that some of the roses had no deer tracks around them.

Then it came out that the deer weren't solely responsible for the roses' disappearance. The roses hadn't been planted just to look nice in the gardens; they were intended to supply blooms for decoration.

I don't think the repellent will work on the Altar Guild.