When I was walking around the property that we are in the process of buying with the RE agent, she exclaimed “there are the deer!”. It was a herd of deer, I would say 6-10. I knew there were deer because the little fruit trees have bars of Irish Spring dangling on string off the branches!
We have a terrible deer problem here because the whole place is a gourmet salad bar: hostas, rose bushes, daylilies, tulips, sedum, chrysanthemums. When we replaced the 30-40 yo azaleas, we got boxwoods ‘cause deer don’t like them & they are not fast growing. They were planted in February, early March & are obviously very happy. They are 12-14 inches tall & their growth has mostly been to bush out more than up. They should be fairly easy to dig up.
Mom has declared she is not planting anything the deer like at the new place - she’s tired of the constant battle & covering plants every night. The house has a long front porch with zero landscaping. In the last day or so, I have decided it will be worth the effort to transplant the boxwoods & put them along the porch. Between the boxwoods, coral bells (heuchera) would be beautiful & deer don’t like them either (bitter due to tannin content). Coral bells come in beautiful colors & I am sure we can find one we like & would go with the house colors. Coral bells are often cited as a nice substitute for hostas - similar shapes & flower in a similar manner to hostas. They would also do well in a partially shaded spot. The front porch faces east so morning sun & they would be spared the full sun western exposure.
I love Coral Bells! Even the everyday cultivar is gorgeous.
This winter I plan on doing a ‘Perennial of the Week’ and will make sure we explore Heuchera in all her varieties with you. :)