Need PRIVACY screen now! Deer Resistent
Nannajoe
11 years ago
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Comments (15)
ricksample
11 years agoRelated Discussions
Deer & Bunny resistant plants needed
Comments (1)okay, shoot. i was hoping the 'diagram' would work but it did not. it got rid of all the spaces I used, so please ignore it. I forgot to add (and i do not know how to edit these posts) What else could I add for some real structure? Something with branches would be nice. NO ROSES, though! We have tons of rose bushes all over, and I don't want to deal with any more beetles....See MoreNeed a really deer resistant perennial!
Comments (15)I'm only in my second full year of "gardening" at my father's house and it's been a roller coaster ride. With all the development around my father's house over the years the deer have reproduced uncontrolled and now have much smaller grazing area. There's simply too many for the available food. They always ate what people consider "deer candy" but it's gone way beyond that now. I must say, though, that I pass fields and fields of Alfalfa and other forage material grown year round which deer could eat but prefer garden plants. When I spray with Liquid Fence and other repellants they bite off buds and drop them on the ground. A plant without the first flush of buds left as bare stalks isn't much help in the garden for some time even though deer didn't technically "eat" them. Nothing with 4 legs has eaten: Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) Asclepias tuberosa (Orange native) Asclepias curassavica (Tropical Milkweed) Eupatorium maculatum (large Joe Pye Weed) Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' Lychnis Coronaria (Rose Campion) Stachys byzantina Nepeta 'Walkers Low' & 'Blue Carpet' Lavender 'Hidcote' & 'Vera' (Lady) Agastache aurantiaca 'Apricot Sprite' Agastache rugosa 'Honey Bee Blue' Agastache rupestris Agastache cana 'Purple Pygmy' Delphinium x elatum 'Magic Fountain' Penstemon digitalis 'Huskers Red' & 'Mystica' Lobelia cardinalis 'Queen Victoria' & 'Ruby Slippers' Lobelia siphilitica (Great Blue) Lobelia speciosa 'Fan Blue' Monarda didyma (species) Monarda didyma 'Petite Delight' Verbena bonariensis Lantana Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red', 'Coral Nymph'& 'Hummingbird White' Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna' (ate half of a 'May Night') Bearded Iris (a few blooms nipped off) Nicotiana sanderae (Limelight, Rose & White) They eat our Holly and Boxwood...Holly to the point of large bare spaces but only exterior browsing of Boxwood. Rhododendron get browsed because they're intermingled with Azalea which are defoliated even when sprayed. Resorting to burlap covering this winter since I'm tired of having them decimated each year. I tried to grow a Hydrangea, which I love, for a few years but they ate every leaf repeatedly until it just died. Again, sprayed repeatedly. If it's not deer then it's groundhogs, rabbits and slugs. I don't know which critter eats them but Zinnia & Marigolds have to be fenced or put on the deck to survive anytime from seedling stage until frost kills them off. The plants...not the deer! It's upsetting when you research and give care to planting things that are supposedly "deer resistant" and they get decimated. I consider half the plant being eaten "decimated" but others consider it browsing. If it won't bloom at all or a few measly blooms it's a bust for the year. If it dies from repeated heavy browsing I struggle to find something that's shown to survive. I think if you've got enough sunny areas your options are greater than if you want things that bloom in much more shade. It's trial and error which can vary from year to year. Cameron has a great running account of her experience with her "Deer Resistant Garden" and I find it encouraging to check it regularly. Different geographic locations and years vary but it's nice to look at her gardens to see what's working...and drool more than just a little! I can't remember if you linked your blog, Cameron. If I go back to thread to check I'll have to type this all over again so sorry if my link is redundant. :) When I make my early morning rounds to check for critter damage and plant conditions I can come upon damage that makes me utterly exasperated and crestfallen. I don't have that much space converted to amended beds or places where I've dug out cement clay down 2' and replaced with organic top soil. Lots of container grown plants with green rabbit fencing around "pot ghetto" along south side of house and stakes planted facing outward like sharpened javelins...LOL. Looks like hell with all the layers of protection this year but I refuse to lose more plants than I already have this year. The deer won't jump into this area since it's too close to house for that. Farther out and it's every plant for itself. Good luck with selecting plants and finding a mix that works reasonably well for you in your area. Just remember that the deer are variable in their behavior so you're ready if/when they browse things they haven't before. One can only grow so much Nepeta, Salvia, Agastache and few other things they very rarely even nibble. Here is a link that might be useful: Defining Your Home -Cameron's Blogspot...See MoreNeed Privacy screen on busy road
Comments (6)Another idea is Thuja occ. Green Giant. We use them as a screen, they grow fast and single trunked (or prune out a secondary if necessary) to keep them strong against splaying out with wet snow/ice load. The multi-trunked types will fail eventually in that regard. Green Giants will get tall in a few years, but if they have to be topped in 10 years, I'd take the quick screen now. They have them at Walmart. Hubby picked some up today to add to our existing neighbor screen where other plants need to be removed. They do get wider and it is coarser than the other arbs, but deer resistant to foraging (not raking). Even if you go with the other varieties, try to prune the secondary trunks out by taking 1/3 of the length each year for 3 years. I always prune to keep my arbs single trunked, strong and straight so they will look great for the next decades and hold up in ice storms. Nothing is harder than trying to remove/replace a damaged tree in a hedgerow of mature trees, even if you could afford to replace a very large tree in 15 years....See MoreDeer-Resistant privacy shrubs/trees needed
Comments (11)With regard to the boxwood - I have somewhat clayish soil, but it's still rich at least 18" deep. Boxwood do not grow slow in my opinion, and require very little care other than watering until they are established and pruning mid June for my zone. I have one on the northeast corner of my house and it's monstrous and beautiful after just a few years - Green Velvet I believe. The boxwoods in the direct sun tend to grow a little slower, and more compact. I have all three varieties - green mountain (great for hedging), green velvet (these mound nicely) and green gem for a nice tight compact ball OR you can also hedge these. A house up the block facing east with full morning to mid day sun planted an entire row of the wee small ones you'd find at a box store about three years ago. This year, they've all grown together into a nice solid low hedge. So, I think it depends on where you live and the growing conditions. Boxwood can suffer from winterburn, so we do cover them with pine sprigs or burlap in the winter for those who get sun exposure. So in my own experience, and I have them in all areas of my yard except full shade, and they thrive and grow at a moderate rate....See MoreNannajoe
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