These Easy-to-Grow Plants Are The KEY To a Deer-Resistant Garden - These picks are as close to Bambi-proof as you can get.
Being outside and enjoying nature is one of the best parts of having a garden. But when your beloved greenery is being nibbled at and eaten by adorable, Bambi-like deer, you’ll be searching for any viable solution to keep critters at bay. While there’s no such thing as a deer-proof plant, especially if Bambi is feeling particularly hungry (they’re even known to eat plants sprayed with deer-repellant), utilizing a variety of deer-resistant plants can serve as a protective measure that can help your garden survive mealtimes.
Deer definitely have favorite foods, but the truth is they’ll eat almost anything—just like humans, they’ll try anything once, according to Dimitri Gatanas, owner of Urban Garden Center in New York. In general, they don’t like plants that are highly fragrant, fuzzy, or have an otherwise unpleasant texture. “The best way to keep deer from eating your plants is to create a sort of barrier around your favorable plants with a variety they may not like as much,” Gatanas explains. “For example, I have my hydrangeas planted behind a border of low boxwoods.” He also recommends blocking deer out as much as you can, either with spiky varieties like barberry or holly bushes or with a thick row of arborvitae. Deer fencing is okay, Gatanas says, and it definitely works, but it’s not his personal preference because it distracts from the beautiful garden you’ve spent so much time on.
Many home gardeners try deer-repellent sprays or fencing, but these are often flimsy and only temporary defenses—you’ll have to respray every time it rains, and deer are known to navigate around barriers. If deer are common neighborhood friends (or pests), they’ve likely established routes and pathways through your gardens. It’s just nature! So do your best to plant deer-resistant types of plants and protect your favorites with a natural barrier.
List of plants with nice photos at link:
https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/gardening/g3470/deer-resistant-plants/
Excerpted from GOOD NATURE:
Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants is Good for Our Health by Kathy Willis
“Recently I found myself walking around the Botanic Garden in Oxford. This beautiful and historic location, right in the heart of the city, attracts over 200,000 visitors a year to its tranquil walkways and restful vistas.But it wasn’t just the elegant variety of plants, or even the impressive range of the scientific research being undertaken here, that caught my attention. It was a small child reaching out to touch the leaf of a rose, and her grandmother, instead of telling her not to touch, stroking the silky petal against her cheek.The child was intrigued and delighted.”
“We are often told, ‘Don’t Touch’ and ‘Keep Off The Grass’. Maybe it’s time to ditch those outdated attitudes. Maybe experiencing nature through the medium of tactile interaction with leaves, bark and petals is good for us. Maybe Grandma was right.”
More at link: https://www.popsci.com/environment/good-nature-book-excerpt/
Happy May, everyone! I took a peek at that list, and I have most of those somewhere in my garden beds. Some are not perennial here so would need to be planted each year, if you can find them. (Heliotropes are lovely, but are just annuals here.)
Someone recently asked me why my tulips weren’t eaten by the deer, and there’s a lot of these near my tulips, so maybe that’s partly why.
“Deer-Resistant Garden”
Has anyone tried and had luck with an animal sensor sprinkler?
MAY? Already?? :-)
So far, from the list of 40, we have:
Thyme
Rosemary
Sage
Coneflower
Lavender
Peony
Boxwoods
Hellebore
Snapdragons
Daffodils
Butterfly bush
Holly
Buttercups (growing wild in the yard)
Coming later (I have seeds to plant):
Zinnias
Calendula
Not on list of 40:
Calibrachoa - planted already - deer resistant, not deer proof (no problems last year)
Need to find: Lantana - resistant, not deer proof - no problems last year
On my list for my metal beds (a work in process):
Larkspur
Monkshood
Bleeding Heart
Foxglove
Salvia
Tithonia (Mexican sunflower - not on list of 40)
Hollyhocks (generally deer resistant, not on list of 40)
We have one spot (hostas in front pots) that are a gourmet salad bar for deer - I had to cover them at night late in the season last year after a deer ate half a pot. I used light agricultural cloth that was easy to use.
Thank you for posting that list of beautiful plants to discourage deer attacks on our gardens (comment #3).
I just realized that since these are monthly threads, comments and links from other months may be hard to find again. So I am adding the word “deer-proof” to the “Keywords” list so I will always be able to find this article again. I encourage others to add a word on a special or unusual garden item or topic so you and others can find it again. I just wish I had done so for “fig” and other topics with information others provided for my questions.
What??? The developer put an arbor vitae in front of each of the 150 houses in our community. Deer ate every one of them. Such a headache on Year Two!