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dottyinduncan

Deer don't eat...

dottyinduncan
10 years ago

I know deer will eat almost anything, but I thought maybe we could update the deer resistant plant list through this forum? I find that the list provided by my local nursery is wrong about quite a few plants and I've found a few that seem to be quite resistant. So if I start a list, can you add to it please? I love colour in my garden and would like more.
They have ignored:
Brunnera
Astilbe
Thread leaf coreopsis
Lupin
Hebe, variety Sunstreak, I think
Peony
dwarf dahlias, although they have eaten big ones
Most rhodies, they eat the orange and yellow ones first

Comments (13)

  • stolenidentity
    10 years ago

    day lily
    st johns wort
    dianthus
    myosotis
    digitalis
    viola
    pansy
    daffodil

  • oliveoyl3
    10 years ago

    here near Black Diamond they don't eat smaller blooming things so much as the large bloomers like rose & lilies.

    euphorbia
    tall sedum (eat it at Whidbey though)
    daylily
    calendula
    hardy geraniums if fragrant foliage)
    monarda
    lavendar
    rosemary & other herbs
    nepeta1
    coreposis
    blanket flower
    canna
    echinacea
    soapwort
    bulb plants (except eat tulips)
    sweet pea, perennial
    cape fuchsia (at Whidbey they eat them)
    peony
    penstemon
    lilac
    Centaruea montana, per.cornflower
    dame's rocket
    Filipendula
    lamium
    Seems like the yearlings do the most damage. Haven't seen any fawns yet this year. They do like campanula blooms, heuchera if in their path on their rounds, not going out of way to get them...nibbled all the fringecup blooms this year in one large sweeping of them. Saved me having to cut them back.

    Putting something they don't like around plants they're attracted to helps. Barberry kept them out of knockout rose. Monarda kept them out of raspberries so far this year. Also keeping me out of that section until everbearing are ready to pick. Garlic & onions works on established strawberries, but not last year's new plants. I need to plant more garlic & onions there, too.

    It's a constant battle to deter them, so keep putting out dog & human hair, eggs, herbs after making tea, bloodmeal in pantyhose bags, etc.

    I moved hydrangeas into fenced backyard or next to house & not nibbled. They love hydrangeas.

  • hemnancy
    10 years ago

    Spirea
    Potentilla
    Fig
    Ladies Mantle
    Iris
    Primula
    Persicaria
    Yarrow
    Pulmonaria
    Mint
    Fireweed
    Oxeye daisy
    Barberry
    Lunaria
    Salal
    Cotinus
    Euonymus
    Osmanthus
    Anemone japonica, nemorosa
    Agrimony
    Hoytunnia
    Echinacea
    Oregano
    Marjoram

  • dottyinduncan
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    This is great! A better list than my nursery although darned deer will eat anything in different areas it seems. Perhaps next year I will have more colour in my garden. Any others?

  • plantknitter
    10 years ago

    Lamium orvala

  • ian_wa
    10 years ago

    Agaves, Yuccas, cacti, and Phormiums. Nearly everything in the Myrtaceae and Proteaceae families - that's hundreds of choices. They don't seem too keen on Pittosporums, Corokia or Olearia either.

    They eat Penstemons for me in winter when they get hungry enough, but they always grow back.

  • jwr6404
    10 years ago

    Deer, at least in my 98467 area, will not eat Dahlia's. I always use them as a barrier around plants I want to protect. Works for me.

  • pwin
    10 years ago

    I had a bunch of dahlia in a large pot and they ate it like salad. They have eaten a few of my new fuchsias, but have left some alone. Surrounding old fuchsias haven't been touched. They yank lilac branches here to strip them of their growth. Luckily, mine are now tall enough to stand as trees.
    Irises, sedum, rosemary, and kalmia remain untouched.

  • susyqwolf
    10 years ago

    The deer in my area eat Astilbe and lilacs like it's candy.

  • dottyinduncan
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Are there varieties within the genus that they will eat or not eat? For instance euphorbia. I planted "diamond frost" one year and they ate it constantly. This past summer they left it alone. Also, I have had cistus (rock rose) eaten/not eaten.

  • lavendarfarmer
    10 years ago

    This is really helpful! I moved to the San Juan Islands and there are deer in my yard every day. I hate to fence the whole yard so I will try some of these plants and let you know if they work! Thanks!

  • bear_with_me
    10 years ago

    Deer frequently come through my Battleground WA garden, viewing it as an all-you-can-eat buffet.

    So far they have not eaten -

    Any herbs. They have not touched:
    parsley
    sage
    rosemary
    thyme
    oregano
    chives
    mint
    monarda
    lemon balm
    lavender
    scented leaf geraniums.
    poppies, california and shirley

    For flowers, they did not eat:
    marigolds
    sweet alyssum
    de Caen anemones
    bearded iris
    daffodils
    ornamental alliums
    sedum
    anise hyssop
    cleome
    coreopsis
    careopteris / bluebeard

    Something ate leaves from one Globemaster allium, maybe rabbit or deer. Something ate all of the muscari, also might be rabbit or deer

    For shrubs, deer avoided
    Viburnum
    forsythia
    flowering quince
    buddleia - sterile hybrids Miss Ruby, peach cobbler, blueberry cobbler, Miss Molly, blue chip
    ginkgo biloba - I know these are trees but we grew a bunch from seeds, that we keep pruned at shrub size.
    lilac
    ceanothus
    camelia
    They eat the flower heads off red twig dogwood but leave the stems in place
    The jury is out on weigela. They are listed as deer resistant but deer ate about 1/2 of the tops from 2 varieties. Just the tender shoots.

    For fruit trees, they did not eat;
    Persimmon
    Figs. The small fig trees need protection from bark chewing rodents
    Most sweet and sour cherries, they did sample a few leaves of a Montmorency cherry
    Peaches, except a small sample from a Indian Free peach
    Pawpaw. One small tree was eaten off by a rabbit.
    Feijoa

    Ornamental Trees
    Ginnkgo biloba
    Linden Greenspire and Redmond
    Laburnum
    Maples from seed and a Norway Maple
    pine trees
    fir trees
    spruce trees

    They also avoid dandelions, johnson grass, wild carrot, bllackberries, fescue, clover.....

    I have a 7 foot tall fence around plum trees which so far is working.

  • morz8 - Washington Coast
    10 years ago

    Bear, I'm glad you preceded your list with 'so far'....because you never know when their tastes will change and they'll try something new.

    I planted threadleaf coreopsis in my driveway island bed because they aren't supposed to like it. It's not even established yet and deer nipped the yellow flowers from it every time it bloomed. Bonus was they were turning to very compact bushy plants :)

    Deer haven't eaten blackberry for you? It's a perennial temptation here, they love blackberry (foliage, not berry). Also salmon berry, thimble berry, raspberry and of course roses....anything a little thorny.

    They will browse on fir seedlings.

    I shooed a doe away from a lace leaf maple in the front yard this Fall, to go back in the house only to find it had moved to the back and was munching on one there....:)
    I added maple to my list of plants needing deer repellent every so often.

    Too soon to know, but I think my deer pressure has lightened since removing blackberry, ivy (they were constantly pulling at the ivy), laurel (they loved that too) from this yard.