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California Gardening

Favorites for dry shade, under oaks, hillside, deer-resistant?

15 years ago

This is a tall order, but a common one in CA. I am in the L.A. foothills and need some nice plants, including ground cover, for dry shade, under oaks, on a slope AND has to be deer-resistant (and should also be fire-resistant, if possible)... And attractive, too! Can you tell me what you've had success with in these conditions? Thanks in advance for the help!

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Comments (7)

hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
15 years ago
Did you check the Sunset Western Garden book? They have a whole section, 'Plants for Growing Beneath Oaks"
patdagardenguy
15 years ago
How much shade are you talking? Dense, dappled, morning sun, afternoon sun? How dry, any irrigation at all? Some I have that are proven deer resistant that like little water are lavender and rosemary. Also salvia/sage, there are so many varieties. The plants I mentioned need some sun, like it hot and dry, but should be deer resistant. If you have dense shade, you may consider limbing up the oaks, thinning, to let more light in. To me, they look better this way, show off the trunk, limb structure.
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THE plant for dry shade--Geranium macrorrhizum--big Root Geranium. Semi evergreen, handsome groundcover, highly deer resistant, easy to control, very attractive with late spring bloom and no dead heading, dividing or other attention required. What more could you want? Alternate--Epimedium sulphureum--slower to fill in, must be cut back in late winter, but very attractive and has early bloom. If you garden in deer country, as I do, there is very little point in planting plants that deer love. It's a losing battle. And while it is true that starving deer will eat anything, there is a huge range of plants for both sun and shade that they generally have very little interest in. If your yard has mostly unappealing plants, they won't hang out there much. That said, I ALWAYS spray a new plant with a good repellant so if some young thing tries it, their first experience is YUCK! They spread the word. And having said all that, yes, I do have a few plants that deer will eat, and I do spray those. But they are very few, so keeping up with the spraying is not onerous and doesn't break the bank. However, I have NO hostas, yews, or tulips--the ones that say "Free Lunch".
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Acanthus mollis, Asparagus densiflorus sprengeri compacta, Dianella intermedia, Dianella tasmanica, Choisya ternata 'Sundance', Melianthus major, Euphorbia characias wulfenii, are a few plants that are both good in dry shade and deer resistant. Don't expect any of these to look great year round without some summer irrigation the first couple of years.
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I have a huge oak in my side yard where nothing (including grass) has ever grown - just dirt. I never worried too much about it, but last year, as an experiment, I decided to try to "lasagne" it, in preparation for making a little woodland garden there, and I am most pleased with the results, though it's far from finished. I actually skipped the newspaper part since there wasn't any grass to speak of, but just gradualy started with thin layers of grass clippings and leaves and whatever else I could think of that I had random bags of in the garage (blood meal, manure....). I started the layering in June. I put in hostas and bulbs (narcissus and muscari) in the fall, and have started to add some sweet woodruff as filler. I just ordered some myosotis alpestris from the Bluestone 50% off sale which I think will also do well there, and may move some phlox divaricata there. It's already so easy to plant things in - a pleasure, really. The soil improvement has really been the key. It's not the shade or the roots that are the problem - as usual, it's the SOIL.
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Comments (10)
Having an average of 5-12 deer in my yard every day means I have concentrated on this for several years now. I live right on the edge of a large wildlife preserve where the deer have essentially wiped out ALL of the native wildflowers and groundcover plants. Most of my land is light to medium shade. Epimediums and Hellebores are a great choice (I grow over 50 species and varieties of Epis and hundreds of Hellebores). Lamium, Brunnera and Pulmonaria are also good. If you plant Lamiastrum use "Herman's Pride" its a bushy one that doesnt spread but has nice foliage and flowers. Dracunculus is fabulous as an accent in my garden. Arum italicum if it isn't an invasive in your area. Stylophorum is a must-have for the yellow in early Spring. I've had fair luck with Trilliums, T. luteum is especially good. George
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User
15 years ago
Even better, "California Native Plants for the Garden" has a list of natives that can compete with oaks. Some of their suggestions (I'm assuming your oak is evergreen) that also tolerate shade and drought:

rhamnus californica, berberis (all), iris douglasiana, ribes viburnifolium, symphoricarpos (all), salvia spathacea

All of these are also "deer-tolerant," but protect them for the first year until they're established. As for "fire-resistant," if you don't water it, unfortunately it's probably not fire-resistant.
socks
15 years ago
Check out flannel bush. Not sure about the deer on this one. I think it's good on a slope and needs sun. I've never grown it but have heard about it.
socks
15 years ago
Also, you could check out the Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery in Sun Valley.
CA Kate z9
15 years ago
will there be any extra water?
gobluedjm 9/18 CA
15 years ago
Here's a link below to those Theodore Payne has id'd as fire resistant...although anything will burn when hot enough.
I read somewhere recently that LA county fire approves most sages/salvias.

Here is a link that might be useful: fire resistant native plants

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