Deer and Flower Disasters

09/09/2022 | Eco Garden Network |

Deer are a joy to watch, and when the spotted fawns appear in June and July, few can resist a tender feeling for these graceful animals. Yet, where they are abundant, deer can be one of the most destructive pests of home gardens, landscape plantings and orchards. Buds and twigs are nibbled in winter, new growth is eaten in the spring, and leaves are browsed in the summer. In the fall, bucks rub bark and break down small trees and shrubs when removing the velvet from their antlers.

Deer primarily eat twigs, buds and leaves. However, they also will eat grass, young shoots of vegetables, flowers and bulbs. Among preferred foods are soft-needled and broad-leaved evergreens. Yew, juniper, fir, spruce, false-cypress and white pine are especially favored. Yews and spreading junipers can be eaten to the ground in one winter. Conifers with stiff needles, such as Austrian pine, are more likely to be left alone. Deer also like laurel and some viburnums. Other favorites are the various kinds of evergreen euonymus. Many evergreen ground covers, including pachysandra and periwinkle, are extremely vulnerable and generally cannot be grown in deer country.

Thorny plants generally are safe. However, roses do not stand much of a chance, because the young shoots are browsed before they develop thorns.

There are no deer resistant plants. But there are plants that most deer will not eat if there is an abundance of food. Most of the plants listed in this document will not be eaten by deer if there is another choice; however, this is not a guarantee they won’t at least take a sample now and then. When selecting plants from this list for your landscape be sure that all of the planting criteria are met, temperature, light, moisture and not just the deer tolerant need. Some of these plants may be more suitable in a meadow or pasture for example, than next to your patio or home. For this information consult your professional nurseryperson or appropriate garden books or call the Master Gardeners.

This is an excellent article from El Dorado County CA Amster Gardeners listing all plants recommended for areas with Deer and an article coping with Deer.

323397.pdf (ucanr.edu) Coping with Deer in Suburban Gardens | New Mexico State University – BE BOLD. Shape the Future. (nmsu.edu)

I want to share a few categories of plants or specific areas of your yard as something to consider.

Deer Resistant Flowers for Sun

Botanical Name: Gaillardia X grandi

Common Name: Blanket Flower

Sun: Full

Water: Medium

Plant height: 1-3′

Flower color: Orange Multi Color

Flower season: Summer-Fall

Botanical Name: Hemerocallis hybrids

Common Name Daylily hybrids

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Low, Extra in Summer

Plant height: Under 1′, 1-3′, 3-6′

Flower color: Red

Flower season: Spring, Summer

Botanical Name: Iris bearded ‘Beverly Sills’

Common Name: Beverly Sills Bearded Iris

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Low, Medium

Plant height: 1-3′

Flower color: Orange, pink

Flower season: summer

Botanical Name: Kniphofia uvaria

Common Name: Red Hot Poker

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Low

Plant height: 1-3′

Flower color: Orange

Flower season: Summer-Fall

Deer Resistant Flowers for Shade

Botanical Name: Helleborus hybrids

Common Name: Hybrid Helleborus or Hellebore

Sun: Shade

Water: Medium, extra in Summer

Plant height: 1-3′

Flower color: Green, Pink, white

Flower season: Spring

Botanical Name: Mimulus X hybridus

Common Name: Sticky Monkey Flower

Sun: Half, Shade

Water: Very low, extra in summer

Plant height: 1-3 ‘

Flower Season: spring, summer Flower color: Yellow

Botanical Name: Nepeta X faassenii

Common Name: Catmint

Sun: Half, Shade

Water: Medium

Plant height: 1-3′

Flower color: Blue, lavender

Flower season: Summer

Botanical Name: Tellima grandi

Common Name: Fringe Cups

Sun: Half, Shade

Water: Medium

Plant height: under 1′

Flower color: Green, Pink

Flower season: spring

Deer Resistant Ground Cover

Botanical Name: Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Common Name: Dwarf Plumbago

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Medium, extra in summer

Plant height: 1-3″

Flower color: Blue

Flower season: Summer

Botanical Name: Erigeron glaucus ‘Wayne Roderick’

Common Name: Seaside Daisy, Beach Fleabane

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Low, extra in summer

Plant height: 1-3′

Flower color: Gold, Lavender, Multi color

Flower season: Spring- Fall

Botanical Name: Felicia amelloides

Common Name Blue Marguerite, Blue Felicia Daisy

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Medium, extra in Summer

Plant height:1-3′

Flower color: Blue, yellow, Multi

Flower season: Spring-Fall

Botanical Name: Gazania ‘Yellow’ trailing

Common Name: Trailing Yellow Gazania

Sun: Full, half

Water: very low, extra in summer

Plant height: under 1 ‘ Flower color: Yellow

Flower season: Fall Flower color: yellow

Deer Resistant Shrubs

Botanical Name: Ceanothus ‘Dark Star’

Common Name: Dark Star Ceanothus

Sun: Full

Water: Low

Plant height: 6′

Flower color: Blue

Flower season: Spring

Botanical Name: Chaenomeles speciosa

Common Name: Japanese Flowering Quince

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Medium

Plant height: 6-12′

Flower color: red Flower season: spring

Botanical Name: Choisya ternata

Common Name: Mexican Orange

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Medium

Plant height: 3-6′

Flower color: White

Flower season: Spring, Summer

Botanical Name: Daphne odora ‘Aureo-marginata’

Common Name: Variegated Winter Daphne

Sun: Half

Water: Medium extra in summer

Plant height: 3-6′

Flower color: Pink

Deer Resistant Trees

Botanical Name: Feijoa sellowiana

Common Name Pineapple Guava

Sun: Full

Water: Low

Plant height: 12-25′

Flower color: Red, White, Multi

Flower season: Spring

Botanical Name: Tibouchina urvilleana

Common Name: Princess Flower

Sun: Full, Half, Shade

Water: Medium

Plant height: 6-12′, 12-25′

Flower season: summer Flower color: Purple

Botanical Name: Prunus ilicifolia ssp. lyonii

Common Name: Catalina Cherry

Sun: Full, Half

Water: Very Low, Low, Medium

Plant height: 6-12′, 12-25′

Flower color: White

Flower season: Spring

Botanical Name: Albizia julibrissin

Common Name: Chocolate Fountain Mimosa Tree

Sun: Full Sun

Water: Moderate

Plant height: 15 – 20 feet

Flower color: Pink

Flower season: Spring, Summer

Helps to discourage deer in an area of your yard

The only certain protection for a large area against deer is an 8-foot-high woven wire fence; deer will jump over anything lower. Small areas near a building often can be protected with a 4-foot fence, because deer usually will not jump into small enclosures.

New shrubs and trees should be protected with cages 4-feet high and 18 to 24 inches in diameter. Young trees are especially vulnerable to antler rubbing, for bucks prefer to rub trunks no more than 1 or 2 inches thick. Trunks 4 inches or thicker can be safely left exposed. Small trees with 3 or 4 feet of clear trunk can be protected with a wire cage 6 inches across. An even simpler device is a pipe sunk into the ground right next to the trunk. With 3 or 4 feet of pipe above ground, rubbing is stopped completely.

An electric fence with two wires, one 18 inches and the other 36 inches above the ground, is effective in most cases. Although deer could easily jump over such a fence, they prefer to go under and, in doing so, will naturally touch the lower wire. Also, they often nuzzle an obstacle and with the upper wire at head height they are quickly stopped. Sometimes it is suggested that a third wire be placed about halfway between the other two.

Few homeowners are willing to fence themselves in. So, repellents may be an alternative. The most common are Hinder, Thiram (Arasan), bone oil, and two recent discoveries—Tabasco sauce and hair balls. None of this work perfectly. They are most effective in summer when the plants are in full leaf. Effectiveness also depends on deer pressure; the more deer there are, the less effective repellents are.

Hair balls are small net bags filled with human hair; you may have to make a deal with your barber. They seem to be effective only when deer pressure is low. This repellent is seldom effective during the winter, for hair balls do not smell when the temperature is low.

Strips of burlap soaked in a solution of half bone oil and half water and hung on stakes next to young plants have been effective in spring and summer. They have to be redipped every six weeks or so. To protect large plants, the stakes have to be placed about every 1 to 2 feet around the plant. This unattractive sight limits their use around the house or garden.

Soap Deer Repellent

Deer avoid strong fragrances, making deodorant bar soap an inexpensive option to keep deer out of your garden. And because this natural deer repellent doesn’t physically touch plants, it’s perfect for vegetable gardens.

To add soap to your plants:

  1. Using a sharp knife, cut a bar of soap into several pieces.
  2. Dump the soap pieces into an empty sock.
  3. Secure the top of the sock with twine to create a pouch.
  4. Attach the soap pouch to a wooden stake with a staple gun.
  5. Drive the wooden stake into the ground where you want to keep deer out.

Essential Oil Deer Repellent

For a DIY spray with a more pleasant aroma, use vinegar and herbal essential oils.

  1. Use a funnel to add 8 ounces of white vinegar to an empty 16-ounce spray bottle.
  2. Add 6 drops of peppermint essential oil and 4 drops of rosemary essential oil to the spray bottle with the vinegar.
  3. Tightly close the spray bottle lid and shake to mix the contents together.
  4. Spray this mixture onto plants, refraining from spraying anything you plan to eat.

Homemade Deer and Rabbit Repellent

You Will Need:

  • 2 cups of water
  • 5 tbsps. cayenne pepper
  • 5 cloves of garlic
  • Sprayer

How To:

Mix all ingredients in a blender then pour into a covered container. Let it stand for 24 hours, strain, and mix with a gallon of water. Apply to plants using a sprayer. This can be effective as a rabbit repellent too.

Sometimes no repellent seems to work. If you live in deer country and want to grow vegetables or fruit trees, the only dependable methods of eliminating deer damage are fences and cages.

A State-by-State Resource for Deer-Resistant Plants

Just about every state has a university cooperative extension service that can provide a list of plants that are generally less popular with visiting deer. Unfortunately, no one can claim a plant is totally deer resistant—it seems the deer themselves do not read these lists. Other sources also have lists of deer-resistant plants for your landscape. 

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

  • “Deer,” University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Mississippi

Missouri

  • “Deer Gardening,” Missouri Department of Conservation

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

  • “Deer Resistant Plants,” North Carolina Cooperative Extension

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

  • “Minimizing Browsing Damage by Deer,” Utah Division of Wildlife Management

Washington

West Virginia

  • “Resistance of Ornamentals to Deer Damage,” West Virginia University Extension Service

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Good Luck!

#deerresistant #deer #flower

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