Deer resistant plant sugg. (for Middle TN)??

17 years ago

Well, I finally became motivated to start my first garden bed here. I found someone to till the bed area next week. Ready to fight with the rocks and the clay, amend the soil, fight the bugs, etc.

My enthusiasm has been dampened by finding out that we have deer that regularly travel through the yards on our street. I knew there were some in the area, but I thought that since we don't have much wooded area near us they weren't going to be a problem.

I know there are many deer-resistant plant lists on the web, but none for this area (from what I can gather, deer-resistant plants in one state are deer dessert in another).

Any suggestions from personal experience would be very much appreciated!

The area I'm planting in is in full sun.

Thanks-Molly

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Comments (2)

Soeur
17 years ago
Well, there are only two genera I've personally never seen a deer touch: Narcissus and Helleborus. Both are highly toxic and American deer evidently have not adapted to eating them. Note that toxic to most animals is not necessarily toxic to deer -- Mountain Laurel (Kalmia latifolia) used to often be called Sheepkill or Lambkill, as it would poison livestock when ingested. Deer browse it with impunity, however. Hellebores are shade plants anyway, so not a wise choice for your situation. But I'd sure put in a bunch of daffodils come fall.

All that said, there are plants that deer avoid unless extremely hungry. In general, a plant that's hairy and/or aromatic and/or has milky sap is not high on their list of favorite foods. That means you could put in Rudbeckias ('Goldsturm', or R. fulgida v. fulgida, which blooms later and much longer than Goldsturm), Echinaceas (purpureas, pallida, paradoxa, the new 'Meadowbrites', etc), Amsonias (tabernaemontana, hubrichtii), Artemisia (look for a variety called 'Powis Castle', it does great around here), Asclepias (Buttlerfly Weed), Salvia greggii (hardy cultivars like 'Furman's Red'), Nepetas (x faassenii types, 'Six Hills Giant' is a nice one, as well as 'Auslese', which is shorter), Monarda fistulosa 'Claire Grace' (mildew resistant, clear lavender pink in summer and doesn't need much moisture), plus iris (I'd get rebloomers -- check out Iris City Garden's website) and daylilies, which deer seem to leave pretty much alone in my yard. They don't seem to mess with my dianthus, either, so you could get one or more of the D. gratianopolis varieties that performs well in our area. The three best that I know of are 'Bath's Pink', 'Itsaul White' and 'Firewitch', which you may find as 'Feuerhexe' (which means "firewitch" in Germany, where the plant originated.)

The above list assumes your bed isn't irrigated, and that you're looking for herbaceous perennials. If you want shrub choices, let me know. I'm sure there are more choices in perennials than I've listed here, but that's a start.

Marty
MollyS
Original Author
17 years ago
Marty:
Thanks for the great suggestions! Those are all plants that I had hoped to put in- but I hadn't come up with actual variety names to look for. Your list will make things a lot easier!
I'm surprised your daylilies aren't getting eaten! Mine were regularly eaten to the ground when I lived in MN!
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Deer resistant plant sugg. (for Middle TN)??

Comments (2)

Soeur

MollyS
Original Author

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Deer resistant plant sugg. (for Middle TN)??

Comments (2)

Soeur

MollySOriginal Author

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MollyS
Original Author