Perhaps we should turn to folklore for help in keeping out Peonies and other garden plants safe from deer and other critters? In the first book written in English dedicated to gardening, Thomas Hill related in 1577 that if Peonies were grown at the edges of your garden, that they “are after (as by a secret protection) preserved, that neither the great nor smaller beasts will after spoile the plants there growing.”
The book, The Profitable Arte of Gardening was originally published in 1563, and was followed by The Gardener’s Labyrinth on 1577.
Hill was known for his knowledge and writing on astrology and arithmetic, as well as the interpretation of dreams.
Of course the folklore might be rendered moot by the fact that around here at least, Peonies are listed as a deer resistant plant to begin with, likely because of their sweet scent.
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