I garden with deer, where more than a dozen think my gardens are their personal restaurant to browse through. I have gardened with deer for many years, and through research backed by expensive trial and error on my part, I now only buy plants with specific traits.
I walk through garden centers feeling and smelling plants, not just looking at them. I am searching for plants with leathery leaves; those which are tough to chew. For example, white-tailed deer avoid browsing on southern magnolia trees, Magnolia grandiflora, due to the thick leathery leaves. A dwarf cultivar of this favorite Virginia native is M. g. ‘Little Gem,’ which is perfect for smaller spaces. Despite the narrow growth habit, the lightly fragrant flowers bloom sporadically through the summer.
As I feel my way through the garden center, I am also seeking plants with hairy leaves. Not even deer like the feeling of eating something akin to cotton balls. Perfect examples include Lambs Ear, Stachys byzantina, yarrow, Achillea spp., and another is Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia hirta, which is easy to grow from seed. I like to grow Stachys byzantina ‘Helen Von Stein’ because it doesn’t “melt” in the heat and humidity of Central Virginia.
Another texture I seek out in plants is the feel of coarse sandpaper. In my meadow Heliopsis helianthoides, commonly called ox eye or false sunflower, blooms profusely despite the deer bedding down beside it. This is due to the unpalatable coarse texture of its leaves. Two other VA native plants with sandpaper like leaves are, the moisture loving cup plant, Silphium perfoliatum, and the part shade loving wingstem, Vebesina alternifolia.
One would think deer would not eat plants with thorns, but they tolerate the prickles of each rose I have tried to grow. However, they typically avoid the sharp tips of the leaves of American holly, Ilex opaca and the sharp edges of the low growing sedge type grasses, Carex spp. I find deer don’t browse on the intense twiggy growth of spirea, Spiraea spp., nor the truly thorny hawthorns, Crataegus spp., and firethorns, Pyracantha spp., either. Just please remember to check the labels to avoid buying any types of Japanese spirea, Spiraea japonica. This species of spirea is on the Virginia Invasive Species List along with Japanese barberry, Berberis japonica.
As I walk through a garden center, I also seek out fragrant plants, particularly herbs. Did you know deer avoid herbal plants because they detest the smell of the fragrant oils? Other aromatic plants I find deer avoid are the ornamental onions, including chives, Allium spp., goldenrods, Solidago spp., catmints, Nepeta spp., members of the mint family including our native beebalms, Monarda spp. and hummingbird mints, Agastache spp. I grow many different types of Agastache because unlike beebalms and other mints, they don’t spread. As for catmint, a second wave of bloom can be initiated by cutting back each plant to 4 inches around July 4th.
Plants guaranteed to be left alone by deer are those with a milky sap. Milkweeds are not palatable to many animals, so growing our native common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca or butterfly weed, A. tuberosa, makes good sense. The milky sap in these plants contain cardenolides which are toxic to humans and most animals but not to monarch butterflies!
There are many plants toxic to deer. With only an indoor cat in our family, I enjoy, or have grown bleeding heart, Dicentra spp., Lenten and Christmas roses, Helleborus spp., cardinal flower, Lobelia cardinalis, golden ragwort, Packera aurea, winter daphne, Daphne spp., boxwood, Buxus spp. and thousands of different daffodils, Narcissus spp. just to name a few.
When I am unsure about deer browsing on a new plant, I put it through my plant test. I water my newly purchased potted plant well and place it where I know the deer walk through my yard. I leave it there for about two weeks, watering as needed. If in that time, deer nibble it lightly or leave it alone, then I take the time to dig a hole and plant it. If the plant is browsed down to a stub, then I give the plant to a friend who does not have to garden with deer.
I appreciate my plant test because no matter what the outcome, I win. How might you ask? I win knowing I have a new plant or have saved myself the task of digging a hole for naught, plus have sidestepped a lot of frustration. I smile because if I don’t have a new plant, I have given a gardening friend a very “well pruned” new plant!
Happy Gardening!
Peggy
