Oh, deer! Plants Bambi won't (usually) eat
These deer-resistant plants can save your garden, your sanity and your wallet!
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Hello, Friends!
As many of you are painfully aware, the white-tailed deer population has been growing across North America for quite some time. But this wasn’t always the case.
At the beginning of the last century, deer were endangered by over-hunting, so regulations were put into place to protect them, and during the decades that followed, their population gradually recovered. But over those same decades, overhunting brought some natural predators, like the eastern cougar, to near-extinction, which, in turn, led to an explosion of the deer population.
Couple that exploding population with the destruction of wooded habitats (to make way for housing developments and strip malls), and you find yourself waking up one morning to a row of lollipops that used to be arborvitaes.
Deer are in your yard because they’re hungry, especially over winter, and they simply have nowhere else to go. It’s a human problem caused by humans, as often is the case. But it’s also a problem for the entire ecosystem (think, for example, about the songbirds that depend upon your arborvitae as a nesting site. )
The problem is growing across most of the eastern U.S., but areas such as New York’s Suffolk and Westchester Counties (and points north), as well as most of New Jersey and Connecticut, are simply overrun by deer, which can defoliate entire trees overnight. So what’s a gardener to do?
Start with proactive plant selections
A starving deer will eat almost any plant, including those considered "deer resistant," so there can never be any absolute guarantees. But the good news is that unless deer are actually starving, they're pretty finicky eaters.
Favored foods include arborvitaes, hollyhocks, impatiens, crocuses, daylilies, hostas, roses, tulips and yews, so avoid planting these unless you’re inclined to install an expensive 8-foot fence around your property (more on fencing options later).
There are also plenty of plants deer find unpalatable (again, unless they’re famished), including most herbs and these annuals, perennials, groundcovers, shrubs and trees:
Ageratum (Ageratum houstonianum)
American holly (Ilex opaca)
Bee Balm (Monarda)
Bittersweet (Celastrus)
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia)
Boston ivy (Parthenocissus)
Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens)
Butterfly bush (Buddleia)
Butterfly weed (Asclepias)
Catmint (Nepeta)
Clumping bamboo (Fargesia)
Daffodil (Narcissus)
Deadnettle (Lamium)
Dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca Conica)
Fern (all species)
Fountain grass (Pennisetum alopecuroides)
Foxglove (Digitalis)
Lady's mantle (Alchemilla)
Lily of the Valley (Convallaria)
Lily Turf (Liriope)
Marigold (Tagetes)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum)
Ornamental onion (Allium)
Pachysandra
Petunia
Purple coneflower (Echinacea)
Salvia
Sedum
Smoke bush (Cotinus)
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum)
Spruce (Picea)
Sunflower (Helianthus)
Witch Hazel (Hamamelis)
Yucca (Yucca filamentosa)
How to protect existing plants
If you already have some of the favored-menu plants in your garden, a deer repellent may protect them. The products can be expensive, however, as they need to be reapplied frequently. And if you live on a large property and the deer population is large, constantly reapplying repellents could be impractical, to say the least, not to mention cost-prohibitive.
Some storied home remedies can be effective, too, but only if there are just a few deer visiting. You might try human hair (collect it from your hairbrushes, or ask your barbershop or salon to save some for you. Add a couple of handfuls to a mesh bag, and hang it 2 to 3 feet off the ground above plants). Some folks have reported success after hanging heavily scented soap (Irish Spring is a favorite) at the same height.
For severe problems, installing a barrier may be the only effective solution. Since very hungry deer will jump a 6-foot fence, you’ll need to install either a single 8-foot fence, a 6-foot fence that’s slanted outward at a 45-degree angle, or two 4-foot fences at least 3 feet tall about 4 feet apart. Deer won't be able to leap over both.
🙋♀️Who’s itching to do some gardening?
It’s too early to put your hands in the dirt, but it’s always a good time for a free virtual gardening program! I’ve got a bunch scheduled over the next few months. Check out the list and sign up. I hope to see you there!
📜Naming rights
Last week, I asked you to suggest names for my Meyer lemon tree, and now I’d like you to vote for your favorite. Please take 20 seconds to help give this nameless Citrus × meyeri an identity he or she can be proud of. Vote now.
📬Question of the week
DEAR JESSICA: I never thought of naming a houseplant, but I do find myself talking to them. Maybe that’s why they don’t answer.
I took your recommendation and named these three because they were given to me in a centerpiece as part of a memorial service. I separated and put them in individual pots. Their names are Brie, Joan and Mindy to honor my daughter and two grandchildren, but I don’t have a clue what they are. Can you please identify them for me? —Tony Neglia (Commack, NY)
DEAR TONY: I’m glad I’ve inspired you to personalize your plants! You don’t say which is which, however, so instead of calling them by name, I’ll simply work clockwise from the left.
The first one appears to be a coffee plant (Coffea arabica). It may flower in spring, with berries to follow. They like bright, indirect light and warm temperatures. They also like humidity. Keep the soil moist but not soggy.
The tall one (top right) is a Dracaena. They're pretty easy: Place pretty much anywhere (even in low-light conditions) and water when the soil is dry.
The third plant looks like an elephant plant (Operculicarya decaryi), a thick-stemmed succulent often grown as a bonsai tree. Keep it on the dry side over winter and increase water during summer.
💡If you do one thing this week…
Check on stored bulbs and corms. Mist them with water if they look dry or are beginning to shrivel. Discard any that have rotted.
Wondering what else your plants need right now? Pick up a copy of my 2021 Day-by-Day Gardening Calendar, and you’ll always know exactly what to do in the garden — every day of the year. Order yours here.
👏 Sunday shoutout
“These three pots of Apple Blossom Amaryllis are all babies from a single bulb I purchased about 8 years ago from White Flower Farm,” writes Carol Tvelia.
“They summer outside from May to October, then hibernate in the basement until after Christmas, when they come into the sunroom. There are currently 12 flower stalks in various stages and at least three more in the wings.”
📧Send me your feedback!
I welcome your comments and suggestions, so please send them along — as well as any topics you’d like to see covered and questions you’d like answered in the Question of the Week section.
If you’re sending photos of your garden, please include your full name and the name of anyone depicted, your hometown, details about your plant or garden, the name of the person who took the photo, and a sentence granting permission for its use in this newsletter and archives.