Lucifers and Hyperions All Gone! Attacks! New Waiver required

I've posted recently about the glorious blooming at the sanctuary of the 'Lucifer' crocosmias and the "Hyperion" daylilies, and shown you videos of hummingbirds visiting the former. They were in full and magnificent flower on wednesday evening, when we got a little sun after 3 days of gray wet weather. But by thursday morning they were all gone! Close inspection revealed that every single flower and bud had been cleanly nipped off, leaving the flower stalks, the rest of the plants, and all the other plantings intact. An even closer look revealed deer prints in the beds, especially close to the "wild", bluff side. The loss was particularly total in the upper garden, and slightly less in the lower garden, where I have fewer crocosmia and daylilies, in part because I expect more deer damage there, since I guard it less fiercely. While there are always lots of deer (I saw a pretty faun yesterday morning, in my new "east garden" area, where I treat a few new plantings with repellent), it's very rare that I get them in the upper garden, because of the decks and cottages there, and the steep drop-offs on the bluff side (though they did nibble some nicotiana leaves there a few weeks back).

Here's a video from a few days ago which shows some of the blooms, as well as a hummingbird feeding (in the middle of the image, about 1/8 way down from the top) and then, after zooming out for a broader view, suddenly attacked by another hummer (8X slo mo: in reality it all happens in less than a second).

 Here's a video showing the devastation (to be compared with the "crocs and hypes" video I posted recently, july 12). Only 1 daylily flower left and no crocosmia flowers.

Many of you signed liability waivers for your visit to the sanctuary, others will have received waivers, and still others requested them. However, unfortunately you will need a NEW waiver form for visits this year. The new form will be basically the same as last year, but with a few crucial changes. For example the new form (which has to be approved by more lawyer and is not yet finalized) will be dated by me, to correspond to the appointed time for your visit. As I've explained in recent posts, and in the sections "Visiting Slots" and "Visiting" to the right of this post, visiting this august will be by appointment only. I will post available "slots" for these appointments, and you should choose, and request, a slot that suits you. Please do not request multiple slot times: choose only the available one that best suits you. No slot times have been posted yet, so please be patient.

Here are more videos of hummers visiting the now-vanished "Lucifer" blossoms.