Plants always greener on the other side of the (deer-proof)
fence
The plants are locked up. Literally.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE
Star-Ledger Staff
The Star-Ledger Archive
COPYRIGHT © The Star-Ledger 2007
Like zoos for young trees, shrubs, yews and flowers. Owners of
many formal gardens and arboretums in New Jersey have put their
valuables behind gates and nets to protect them from the ravages of
white-tailed deer.
Now many are adding big time fencing. Thousands of feet of 8- to
12-foot-high fences costing hundreds of thousands of dollars are
being installed to keep out deer that can turn valued gardens into
wastelands overnight.
In Morris County, the park commission may soon spend a quarter of
a million dollars to encircle the 100-acre Frelinghuysen Arboretum
in Morris Township.
In Chester Township, it's the $2.5 million restoration of gardens
of famed landscape architect Martha Brooks Hutcheson at Bamboo Brook
that will likely get substantial fencing.
Deer-proof fences also have been or will be added
— as
unobtrusively as possible — to the Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit,
Deep Cut Gardens in Middletown, David C. Shaw Arboretum in Holmdel,
Colonial Park rose garden in Franklin Township and a small natural
area at the expansive Duke Farms in Hillsborough, among others.
It's an alternative to hunting and culling deer or to using deer
contraceptives and repellents, none of which have stopped
white-tailed deer from munching their way through public gardens and
arboretums. The result has been a loss of many native plants and
severe damage to many that have survived.
"The damage is constant and it's really disheartening," said
Charles Zafonte, director of horticulture and natural resources for
the Morris County Park Commission. "We know how good things could
look here at Frelinghuysen, how beautiful this place could be. But
the deer have done a job on what we have."
The arboretum's hostas beds, for example, are decimated by deer
every year, said Zafonte. Shortly after they bloom, deer turn the
big leafy plants into something more resembling celery stalks.
"They come, they taste, they like. It's a constant source of
agony," said Zafonte.
An arboretum is supposed to be a living museum of trees, shrubs,
and herbaceous plants that are cultivated for educational and
scientific purposes. It should include a wide range of offerings.
The goal at the David C. Shaw Arboretum at Holmdel Park, for
example, is to show all plants that might grow in the Monmouth
County area. It should teach about the plants and encourage people
to grow them, said Laura Kirkpatrick, public information officer for
the Monmouth County Park Commission.
But deer have voraciously attacked the collection, prompting the
county to plan to fence in a portion of the very popular park.
Monmouth County previously spent $110,000 for fencing at Deep Cut
Gardens in Middletown.
"We were protecting our incredible $2 million plant collection
that was being destroyed there by deer," said Kirkpatrick.
At Reeves-Reed Arboretum in Summit, an 8-foot fence was erected
around the 13-acre property. It was a reluctant move that distressed
some neighbors and changed the look and nature of the arboretum a
bit, said Executive Director Gilles Misrobian.
"We would not have roses and flowers here now without a fence,"
said Misrobian.
The rose garden at Colonial Park Arboretum and Gardens in
Franklin Township were under siege by deer several years ago, said
Pierce Frauenheim, deputy director of the Somerset County Park
Commission. Netting, held in place by bamboo sticks, covered many of
the plants. Deer would try to jump over the nets, sometimes taking
them down. In some cases, deer would get caught in the netting.
"It was a bad situation, looked horrible," said Frauenheim, who
said fences were erected at a cost of $27,000 to prevent destruction
of the roses.
Morris County this year expects to install 9,375 linear feet of
fence at its Frelinghuysen Arboretum. It takes only a quick stroll
of the grounds to see why.
Outside the front door of the Frelinghuysen mansion a large group
of yews are surrounded by plastic netting. Nearby, a long row of the
hedges are wrapped in netting, too. A series of young trees have
protective caging. The rhododendron trail has several dead plants. A
walk down an azalea trail finds no azaleas — all had been eaten by
deer.
There are costs to this damage, financial and aesthetic, said
David Helmer, executive director of the Morris County Park
Commission.
Thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours of work are spent
annually to keep deer from eating the plants, he said. Donors who
gave substantial sums to create specific gardens have found their
investments eaten. Work crews are diverted from garden-improvement
tasks like pruning and weeding to spend time applying deer repellent
and maintaining netting. Also, educational offerings are diminished
and some arboretum visitors may be disappointed by a lack of plant
varieties.
"It's a sad commentary. But at some point, without taking action,
people are going to tell us, 'We came here to see the plants,'" said
Helmer. "And we're going to have to tell them, 'They're gone. The
deer ate them.'"
But deer fencing, if regularly inspected and well maintained, can
make a big difference in the health of gardens. At Duke Farms, a
square-mile parcel called "The Park at Duke Farms" was fenced in to
keep deer out, and a second fence was erected to even better protect
a 33-acre "research woods" used by researchers from Rutgers
University. The result has been a resounding success.
"Many native species have regrown. Butterflies and insects have
returned," said Karen Kessler, a spokeswoman for Duke Farms. "We
have restored some of the natural balance. It's back to the way it
should look."
Lawrence Ragonese may be reached at
lragonese@starledger.com
or (973) 539-7910.
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