Top 10 Deer Strategies

Having observed so many people get frustrated and ready to throw in the towel because of deer and rabbits, gave me the impetus to write this article. Taking all the pleasure out of gardening, animals can be a ongoing annoying and expensive problem, but that doesn’t mean it is insurmountable. There are ways to combat these critters, but you have to know the strategies that work best for your area. Be aware that the earlier you start in the season, the better your results.

Deer Combat

Deer resistance is a huge buzz world in the gardening world and for good reason. Many of us battle these animals daily and too many just throw up their hands and give up. All it takes is to educate yourself on the many possible plant choices that are available – both native and non-native – plus some deer control methods that really work.

My big problem is a double whammy of bunnies and deer, and I have learned to deal with both of them in a number of ways. As a landscape designer, I see lots of properties, and each one is different in how people combat animal browsing and I have learned the best methods to incorporate into a battle plan – which is always a multi-pronged approach.

There is no such thing as a 100% deer resistant plant, since deer change their dietary habits constantly according to changes in the weather and conditions – and fawns especially, will eat anything they can get their hooves on.  It all depends on what is available at that moment in time, and like any animal, they are unpredictable. So deer browsing will depend on availability, season, and region, and you have to find out what works best in your area. Usually the most damage occurs from Thanksgiving to April when deer will browse on evergreens since their favorite deciduous foliage is scarce. Hollies, arborvitae, laurels, and rhododendrons are the most likely to be eaten.

Set up your garden for success by using these useful tips to allow you to share the same outdoor space with animals.  Think –  protective structures, habitat modification, repellents, hazing, regulated hunting and resistant plants. All these strategies should be included in your arsenal and you should use a combination of these as there is no magic bullet.

At the end of this post, I list my favorite resources for picking deer resistant plants. Your plant choices are really important to the outcome of all your efforts.

Don’t Give Up!

What is Deer Proof?

An axiom is that there are no true deer-proof plants. But big surprise – If deer are hungry, they will eat anything! The only two things I have never seen them eat are boxwood and daffodils, in my many years of work as a landscape designer. But we can’t landscape our properties with just these two plants.

I visit a lot of properties and see the differences in deer preferences.  And it will take some trial and error on your part to discover what ‘your‘ deer like to eat. But there are a plethora of choices that I can plant for my clients and expect that deer will usually leave it alone. Usually is the key word here as it depends on the time of year and also the numbers of deer that dictate what they will browse on. If there is a huge established population and many fawns, expect extensive deer damage because fawns will try things when young, that as a adult, they would pass over. Tender succulent foliage is a magnet for most deer, especially fawns, so protect any new plantings.

Many people think that thorny plants like hollies and roses will be avoided by deer, but I have seen a 6 foot tall prickly holly eaten down to the trunk during a cold winter. There was nothing else for them to eat! And the deer pressure is only increasing as wild lands are eaten up with development, forcing the deer population into an increasingly small area.

Top 10 Strategies

1. Active dogs– the scent of your dogs will drive off deer. If you have a small lap dog that spend most of its time inside, this doesn’t work.
2. Barriers of hated plants-strategic planting is often overlooked; plant hedges of lavender, russian (perovskia) sage, or catmint to deter them. Observe their browsing patterns and after finding out their traffic paths through your garden, plant thorny, offensive plants to stop them in their tracks.  Mahonia, barberry. or Poncirus (Hardy Orange) are excellent choices. Redirecting deer with thoughtful planting design can save you a lot of heartache in the long run.
3. Fencing-expensive and needs maintenance, but can be the most effective; A  fence must be at least 8-10 feet high and electric is best.  If you want to avoid the expense of fencing your entire property, try caging only your special plants with a wire fence. Avoid using flimsy mesh fencing as birds and snakes can get hung up in them. I have seen many dead birds stuck in the mesh. Spun row covers are effective for me with new transplants in my veggie garden. Also, try fishing line wound around posts, if you want something unobtrusive. Surprisingly this is highly effective.
4. Spraying Repellents-time consuming, expensive, and unpleasant to apply, but it works if you are vigilant. Be sure to rotate their use so deer don’t become accustomed to any one repellent. Always spray deer repellent on new transplants or anything newly planted and after a hard rain. A good interval is to spray every 2 weeks. This really works, but only if you are using it consistently. There are even sprays that are rain resistant and can last for 6 weeks or longer. Look at your labels before buying sprays.
5. Scare Devices-hanging shiny objects like aluminum pans and tin foil strips can help. Keeping a radio on also is a deterrent and a motion-activated sprinkler works great! Ultrasonic sounds emitted by some devices (see below Deer Destructor) can work too, but you need to move them around so deer won’t become accustomed to them.
6. Choose Deer Resistant Plants-read up on what deer avoid in your area and talk to your neighbors. Also observe your neighborhood. If you see daylilies and hostas thriving, deer might be absent. If deer are eating your hostas and daylilies (their favorites), get rid of them.
7.  Regulated Hunting– Ask around your area to see who wants to bow hunt or shoot deer. There is usually someone who is eager to do the job. One less deer on your property can make a big difference.
8. Layered Planting-This just means to plant a variety of plants with different heights, sizes, and textures, so if the deer browse, the effects won’t be as noticeable. Mix desirable plants along with things they hate.
9.  Milorganite- Not sold as a deer repellent, this commercially available fertilizer is used by many gardeners who swear by its effectiveness. Spread it around where deer are browsing.
10. Tree Trunk Barrier- During rutting season deer can rub against trees, flaking off bark layers, and sometimes totally destroying young saplings. Buy from your local nursery or online, a rigid plastic mesh tree guard that fits snugly around the stem of the tree, protecting it.

Your Planting Blueprint 

There are different ways of planting for deer so that they avoid a special plant that they might enjoy, but pass it by. My favorite strategy is to surround some choice plants with a hedge of nepeta or catmint. Deer abhor the smell of the foliage and you never can have enough of nepeta. Lavender is another hated plant, that you could use as a barrier and will funnel deer out of an area. Read about the use of catmint in my post, Nepeta: The Perfectly Behaved Perennial.

Of course, if you have an active dog that roams the property, that is ideal. But even the dog has to go in and sleep sometime and that is when the deer can sneak in and chow down. But even the scent of your animals can be a deterrent.

Spraying

Spraying deer repellent is the time honored way of protecting vulnerable plants against deer, but can be annoying as it smells so bad. Requiring a lot of effort, time, and money, you can always pay a commercial applicator to spray your entire property monthly, and I have had many customers be successful with this method. The spray job is usually very thorough and makes your property smell for days like rotten eggs or worse!

Sometimes if you just change the path of deer through your property, you can avoid the big chow down. Observe where deer are coming from and place a barrier or fence in that area only.  I had a customer put up a length of fence in the woods where the deer were emerging and that stopped the deer browsing. They moved on to another property that was easier to access.

Other Products

If  you visit your local garden center, you will find the following products to add to your deer stopping tactics.

Deer Stopper Ribbon- a tape that is sprayed with deer repellent
Deer Stopper Spray– can be sprayed directly on plants; has a pleasant smell of rosemary and mint
Deer Repeller-can be used for dipping bulbs before planting
Repel All– repels many animals and is a powder that you shake on the ground
Bunny Stopper– contains cinnamon which can burn so do not spray directly on the plants; this deters deer as well

Cayenne Pepper-Buy a large jar of red pepper and shake around your plants

Deer Resistant Native Plants

For an excellent reference on growing and using Deer – Resistant Native Plants, I recommend Deer Resistant Native Plants for the Northeast, by Ruth Rogers Clausen and Gregory Tepper. Chock full of information on growing perennials, annuals/biennials, and shrubs for the Mid-Atlantic region, it will greatly increase your palette of choices for native plants. Ferns, grasses, and sedges, are all covered in detail as well, so that you will be inspired to create a native garden that deer will leave alone. A valuable resource, it is always sitting within easy reach in my office.

Features of Deer Resistant Plants

If you are unsure about the effectiveness of a particular plant against deer, these are features that you should be looking for while browsing plants  at the nursery.

Prickly or Fuzzy-spiky thorns on the trunk, branches or leaves make them unpleasant to eat. Mahonia is the classic shrub that deer avoid as it is thorny, prickly, and tough as nails. Likewise, fuzziness like Lambs Ears are distasteful to deer, though when deer are hungry, they will eat prickly hollies and roses.

Aromatic– any plant that has a resinous aromatic coating, like Sweet Shrub, Lavender, or Catmint, makes it unpalatable to deer.

Leathery or Stringy-shrubs like leatherleaf viburnum or mahonia are too tough to chew and digest. Iris, Yucca, and Grasses are never touched as they can be stringy.

Favorite Plant Choices for Heeavily Browsed Areas

For those who still want a beautiful garden and are discouraged, here are my favorite deer proof plants that I lean on again and again when deer are present.

Creeping Phlox- Phlox subulata

Creeping phlox gets a bad rap for being planted at gas stations and the like. But it really should be more widely planted as an evergreen perennial that is easy to grow and in the spring is covered with a mat of color for weeks.

Nepeta or Catmint

Nepeta definitely can be over-used in the landscape but there are always new varieties to try and deer never, ever touch it. See my article on the many uses of this valuable deer repelling plant.

Salvia

For all season color, toughness, and beauty, salvias are my go-to plant. A perennial that comes in an array of colors, there are no so many varieties and habits, that you could fill a large garden with just salvias. Go to Favorite Salvias of a Garden Designer to read about these amazing plants.

Butterfly Bush

Native purists would never plant these long blooming shrubs as the old varieties can be invasive. Newer varieties are sterile and there are some great dwarf varieties that fit into smaller gardens. Attracting many pollinators when not a whole lot of things are blooming, makes it a valuable landscape plant in my book. The Pugster series is a great dwarf one that sports many bushy flowers all summer long.

Deutzia

The dwarf varieties of Deutzia like Chardonnay Pearls, Yuki Cherry Blossom, and Nikko, are valuable to me as a landscape designer, as they fit into smaller gardens, bloom beautifully in the spring, and deer never touch them.

Dianthus

Another easy to grow grey-green foliaged perennial, this one flowers in the spring and the foliage remains evergreen. Small in stature, it can fit into any sunny spot in the garden at the front of the border.

Shasta Daisy 

Leucanthemum species, which are simply Shasta daisies, brighten up your perennial border in mid to late spring and bloom prolifically for weeks on end. I like the varieties Madonna or Little Princess as they stay small – around 12 inches high. Good for floral arranging, these come back year after year.

Lambs Ears

A great textural plant with fuzzy touchable leaves, Stachys byzantia, finds its way into many of my designed gardens. I prefer the foliage over the flowers and seek out Helene von Stein variety as it remains mostly flower free.

Yarrow

Because of its pungent foliage odor, deer leave this long blooming native perennial, Achillea species, alone. but be aware, that bunnies will decimate it! The flat topped flowers dry very nicely as well. Ferny pungent foliage adds another textural accent to the perennial border.

Anise Hyssop

A power house native that everyone with any sun should grow is Anise Hyssop. Long blooming (3 months at least), the flowers spikes are a constant parade of every imaginable pollinator making a visit. Agastache or Anise Hyssop sometimes doesn’t make it through the winter for me but I am happy to plant it again in the spring. The most reliable varieties are Blue Fortune and Rosie Posie, here in the mid-Atlantic region. Starting to bloom in mid to late summer, Anise Hyssop will bloom until frost lays it low in late fall.

Astilbe

A shade perennial that requires consistent moisture, Astilbe flowers with colorful plumes of flowers in mid to late summer. Planting different varieties, you could have blooms for 3 months running. Visions is my all-time favorite.

Geranium

Always surprised that this isn’t front and center in more gardens, perennial geranium, Geranium species or Geranium Bigroot, is a great weed choking ground cover, that flowers profusely in the spring with pink flowers. Different varieties bring different shades of pink, but this valuable perennial deserves a place in more gardens in shade, partial shade, or even full sun. I have never see deer even nibble on it. When the days turn cooler, the leaves turn a russet color and most times the plant remains evergreen if we don’t have a sub-zero winter.

Plumbago

A workhorse ground cover that deserves more respect, hardy Plumbago, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, is one of the most versatile groundcovers that I use. I never see a weed penetrate the mat of roots and it blooms a terrific shade of blue in late summer and to finish the show, the foliage turns bright burgundy in the fall. Thriving equally well in shade or sun, plant this for a tough deer resistant ground cover.

Hellebores

For the shade garden, consider Lenten Roses or Hellebores. Go to Hellebores: Curing the Winter Blues.

Only by using a combination of these strategies, will you have any success with combating deer.

For more deer resistant choices, I like this Cornell website. Or Rutgers, which are both excellent resources. For Winter damage by deer, this is a fascinating read.