Is there really such a thing as deer proofing your yard?  

Not really,  Deer are voracious eaters and can wipe out a garden in a single night’s eating.  They can decimate trees and shrubs, causing a homeowner hundreds, even thousands of dollars.  And that doesn’t include the frustration, aggravation, and despair when the deer clean out a garden you have work on for years.

So what’s a gardener to do?  

Know your enemy!  If possible, before you start your next garden, learn your neighborhood deer‘s habits.  Watch the tracks and paths they walk. Deer are creatures of habit and don’t wander far from their normal path.  So try not to create a garden where your deer walk.

Already have gardens?  

There are lots of tricks to try and gadgets to buy. All will work some of the time, but none will work all of the time.  And if you have a bad season where the native food is thin….there is nothing that will work. Deer are gonna eat!

So how do you garden with deer?

A double fence seems to work well for many people, but I don’t really want a 6’ high double fence in my front yard around my perennial gardens.  Do you?

 And again, this will only work for a period of time, then Dog and deer become best buds!

The best solution?

Use plants that the deer don’t like!  This will create the best way of discouraging deer from browsing in your gardens.  It’s not foolproof – there is nothing foolproof! Bad winter? Deer will be nibbling away.

Using plants that deer don’t like or actually go out of their way to avoid is your best defense.

This includes plants with hairy leaves, fuzzy and prickly leaves, strong aromatic herbs, toxic plants such as Monkshood and Daffodils (just remember that some of the toxic plants are dangerous to pets and humans also – do your homework if planting these!) and most ferns and ornamental grasses.

There are deer-resistant plants in every category – trees, shrubs, perennials, annuals, vines and groundcovers.

They include Callibrahoa (Million bells), Gerbera daisies, lantana, most pungent herbs, artemisias, Coreopsis, Alliums,  Cotoneasters, Smokebush, Spirea and more. The plants that deer avoid will also be dependant on where you live and which species of deer you have visiting your garden. 

Some plants can be invasive if planted in the wrong area. You don’t want to compound your problems by adding an invasive plant to your garden.  Trust me on this one. Don’t know if a plant is invasive in your state? There’s a website for that! https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov

Do your homework! 

Do some reading and try some new plants out. Try mixing some of these plants in existing gardens to see if that helps. Some times you can outwit the deer.  One of the authors I read let his asparagus bolt around his garden….the deer wouldn’t go past it!  

The best story I ever heard about outwitting deer?  A gardener loved hydrangeas – which is like having a cake set out for deer.  Her solution? In early spring before the hydrangeas bloomed, she would stick silk flowers in her shrubs!  The deer would taste those….yuck! And didn’t come back to them for the rest of the year! Not sure how long this would work – but kudos to her for the creativity!

Below are some books that dive deeper into which plants are best for different zones, along with suggestions on fencing and other repellants you can use.

Good luck and happy gardening.