Dave Karnstedt wrote: >and the camellias (before many of them were knocked off by very heavy >rains in the last 24 hours) are covered with bloom. Last weekend the Camellia japonica were thick with flower buds. An overnight visit by the local deer have left the plants defoliated; one or two flower buds are left on the tips of otherwise naked branches. I'm convinced that widespread compliance with leash laws for dogs seems to have made the invasion of suburban areas by deer that much easier. We've lived here forty-four years; for the first thirty years we never saw deer. Now it's no more surprising to see a deer than to see a squirrel. The deer are really impressive, handsome creatures. But their abundance in the absence of natural predators is just one more indication of how sloppily we have managed our natural resources. Jim McKenney jimmckenney@starpower.net Montgomery County, Maryland zone 7 deer country