Hi Ginny,

My never eaten by anything baptisia australis was maybe 5 years old when directly next to it, from seed, I planted lovely Charter's Pink double hollyhocks. Waited the 2 years it takes for them to bloom, and one August morning from my kitchen I spied 3 five foot tall stalks all in bloom. Have to get a picture - alas, no good batteries. Next morning with new batteries in camera, I charge out the back door and without looking ahead of me, I arrived at the garden to find 12" high bare stalks of hollyhock. Hollyhocks are deer canapes; baptisia? never one bite. I'd plant the baptisia.

Jane

Baptisia should have no deer problems.

Carol

Deer ate the baptisia once. I think it was Carolina Moonlight, the first year it set flower buds. I was not happy.

I've had Baptisia australis (just the common one, no specific cultivar) for many years in my deer infested area of town and never had any deer damage. Note it doesn't like to be moved as it has a long tap root.

Other plants deer have never bothered: heaths and heathers if you have the conditions for them. Also my heucheras haven't been bothered either (although these I've only had for 4 years).

Sue

Good news so far about baptisia. And I'm sorry about your hollyhocks, Jane. That's a painful experience after waiting so long to see them bloom.

Had to look up Carolina Moonlight, Madgallica. That's a new one for me. It seems to be a hybrid of two baptisia species, neither one of them australis, so maybe that's why the deer liked it.

Hoping for further input from people in deer habitat, like me.

Mine were never touched in my heavily deer infested garden.