Deer Resistant Plants

If you have suffered from the foraging habits of deer you are probably not thinking kind thought towards Bambi these days. The key to designing a garden in deer terrain is simply to install a landscape with plants they don’t like. To drive this point home, how many times have you returned to a restaurant with unpalatable food?

The following are some ideas and plants for the deer-resistant garden:

• Before you design your garden, study the traffic pattern of deer. If they use your garden as a pathway, be certain not to block this flow, or install plants prone to stem breakage along this path, especially if deer tend to sleep in your garden.

• Also, bucks can damage trees by rubbing their antlers on bark tissue. They prefer certain tree species – expecially evergreens with resinous bark tissue. These trees can be protected while young by placing 3 or 4 tree stakes around the tree. Planting larger trees will be less tempting as they will need to rear up on their hind legs to forage.
• Eating habits of deer in residential areas will vary depending on availability of native food sources but the following plant choices will be helpful. (Note that recommended plants/species are separated with a hyphen).

For specimen plants (focal points) look for:

• Cedrus atlantica glauca pendula (weeping Atlas cedar) – Picea pungens Glauca Globosa (Dwarf bush Blue Spruce) – Picea abies Pendula (weeping Norway Spruce) – Fargesia borinda bamboo (Chinese Weeping Bamboo. Does not spread) Other worthy clumping bamboos to look for are Alphonse Karr, and Golden Goddess Bamboo.

For a formal entry way accent look for:

• Upright Specimen Spirals or Topiary fashioned out of juniper, spruce or arborvitae. For a low formal hedge plant Boxwood.

For deer resistant shrubs and perennials look for;

• Coleonema pulchrum ‘Sunset Gold’- Dwarf Mugo Pines- Dwarf Alberta spruce- Berberis Red Barberry(great red accent plant) – Heavenly bamboo, (Nandina) -Shore Juniper- Japanese Garden Juniper – Wiltoni Juniper (nice refined low growing juniper varieties),- Podocarpus varieties- Lantana- Fringe flower- Rosemary- Pink abelia- Coreopsis verticillata and Coreopsis rosea.- ferns of all kinds- ornamental grasses ,especially ‘Ogon’ Acorus Grass- ‘Toffee Twist’ Carex grass- Chondropetalum (Cape Rush)- and ‘Morning Light’ Miscanthus grass. Note that Azaleas may be nibbled on but are generally ok out of high traffic areas as are camellias. Also, look for Yarrow-Butterfly Bush- Foxglove- Salvia- Aster- Cone Flower, and Lambs’s Ear.

Ground covers include;

• Dymondia– Vinca minor – Scaveola in low traffic areas, Asian Jasmine (not Star Jasmine) in low traffic areas, -Ajuga– Gazania– and try Lamium (White Nancy) for shady areas.

Note that the aforementioned plant species are only a few of the many that can thrive in a deer environment, and should be a helpful starting point.

Also, www.deerbusters.com offer a product called the Scarecrow which is a motion sensor device that hooks to your water line and sprays deer when they wander into the area. Word is that you can successfully grow roses (the favorite plant of deer) and vegetable gardens with this device(s).