More about gardening with deer – and we have a winner of the deer-resistance book!

The winner of our give-away of this terrific new book 50 Beautiful Deer Resistant Plants, is Beltsville customer Kathy Kircher – congratulations!  But we can’t withhold such great information about gardening with deer from the rest of our readers.  So here are Ruth Clausen’s top picks for deer-resistant plants:

Perennials: Monkshood, Bigroot Geranium, Black Snakeroot, Baptisia australis, Euphorbia polychroma, Hybrid Astilbe, Dicentra eximia, Hybrid Sage, Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis), Hellebore orientalis, Epimedium grandiflora, Brunnera macrophylla and Yarrow.
Shrubs: Caryopteris, Boxwood, Bush Cinquefoil, Lavender, Spirea, Beautyberry, Russian cypress, Lespedez and Weigela.
Grasses:  Fountain grass, Hakone grass, Acorus, Carex morrowii, and Switchgrass.

Bulbs:  Daffodils, Leucojum, Colchicum Waterlily, Snowdrop, and Allium moly.

Ferns:  Autumn, Christmas, Cinnamon, Ostrich and Japanese painted.

Herbs: Basil, Greek oregano, Rosemary, Sage and, Thyme.

And here are more tips from an interview with the author on Ken Druse Real Dirt

• Wind chimes often spook deer.
• Clean up fruit that’s dropped onto the ground.
• Wrap the base of young trees during rutting season.  It’s easy to do and generally works.
• Raise hanging baskets and bird feeders high enough so the deer can’t reach them.  Ruth said she once caught a deer standing on its hind legs casually eating everything in the hanging basket on her front porch. (Oh, yeah, she’s got ’em bad!)
• This may sound too obvious, but she insists that it needs to be said:  Keep your deer fence closed!

You might ask, what about sprays?  She says that “Spraying things isn’t my gig.”  Me, either, but I do spray my 8 shrub roses that are growing where the deer sometimes roam – because I don’t want to lose them.  I spray monthly when there are leaves on them, and it just takes 5 minutes so I don’t really mind.

Posted by Susan Harris