My Shady, Deer-resistant Garden in Bethesda

We moved to Maryland and settled in Bethesda in 1984, living in the same home outside the Beltway until 2021, when we moved back to Wisconsin. We had a quarter acre, and when we bought the home it had a wooded lot that was completely bare in the back yard, and only had weak grass and some azaleas in the front. Taking advantage of my Behnke Nurseries’ employee discount over the years I added a couple of trees, a number of shrubs, and hundreds of perennials.  I was always testing perennials for shade and drought tolerance (although I did irrigate in dry periods.)  When we moved in, deer were not a problem. By the time we left the rampant deer determined all of my planting choices.

 

The back yard was fenced, and although the fence was only five feet high on one side of the yard and six feet on the other, the deer seldom vaulted the fence to get to the back.  (I have read that an eight-foot fence is best for height control of deer access.) Over the years, I moved plants that the deer liked (I’m looking at you, Hosta) to the back and only planted deer-resistant plants in the front. The remaining susceptible plants in front received sprays of deer repellent a half-dozen times during the growing season. The last few years we started to have damage from rabbits in the front yard AND the back, and they often eat plants that deer don’t like, such as the native ornamental grass, River Oats. There always seems to be a “gotcha” moment.  Here in Wisconsin, rabbits have been a real headache, but we don’t as yet have a deer problem.  Below are the shade-tolerant, deer-resistant plants that worked best for me in Bethesda.  They received a couple of hours of morning sun, which in my experience makes for a more vigorous “shade plant”.  Some are poisonous, so if that’s a concern, research before you buy.

 

Helleborus: Hellebores; non-native; my favorite. They are hard to beat. Evergreen in the DC region, although the foliage may winter-burn on the edges, and you may choose to trim the old leaves off at the soil as part of spring clean-up. Depending on the variety and your weather, they begin to bloom early as late December or as late as March. Flowers come in white and pink primarily, but also red, yellow, purple and even black. They may be spotted, and doubles are available. Newer selections have flowers that face outward or up instead of down, making them more visible to the gardener and less visible to the ants. Rabbits also leave them alone; occasionally a squirrel will nip a flower off and drop it. Not as showy as  some, consider Helleborus foetidus, the Stinking Hellebore.  An unfortunate common name; and whatever “stink” there is, it’s subtle. Feel free to say: “We don’t need no stinking Hellebores.” It self-seeds, as do the seed strains of other hellebores. I planted seedling hellebores from Albert Behnke’s garden in 1985. They were still thriving in 22021 when we moved, and they had formed nice clusters from the seedlings they generated.

 

Pulmonaria; Lungwort; non-native. Another low grower, most varieties offer green leaves with silver markings, or entirely silver leaves. Use them like you would use a smallish variety of hosta. Flowers are early, preceding new foliage growth; displaying pink, white or blue flowers (which sometimes fade to pink).  In Bethesda, they old foliage usually became infected with powdery mildew fungus—a white powdery look to the leaves, which become distorted and tired looking. When that occurred, I would clip the foliage off (June) and the new foliage that emerged stayed “clean” for the rest of the season.  DC area summers are stressful to Pulmonaria, but they survive it. Here in Wisconsin with our cooler nights in summer, they really thrive.

Ornamental Grasses, featuring: Hakonechloa macra ‘All Gold’: Golden Japanese Forest Grass (JFG); non-native.  I love Japanese Forest Grass, which is a dense-growing clumping ornamental grass. Deer don’t eat grasses in my experience. Rabbits might be a problem on it, though, as with other grasses, especially earlier in the season when the stems are more tender.  ‘All Gold’ provides a nice color accent; the flowers aren’t showy. It is bright golden in the early part of the season, fading as the foliage matures and it gets hotter.  (See also: H macra ‘Aureola,’ which is elegant.)  I also had several species of sedge (Carex) scattered about. They resemble clumping grasses. There are native and non-native selections; a good garden center will have plenty to choose from. For this dry garden I liked Carex ‘Evergold’, ‘Silver Sceptre’, and ‘Hobb’ which is marketed as “Bunny Blue.”

Ferns: featuring Polystichum acrostichoides; Christmas Fern; native. Another generalization; deer don’t like ferns. Christmas fern is a good choice for dryer locations, and it’s evergreen. That said, in the winter it sort of lies down in a dejected sulk, but it’s green.

Spurge; Euphorbia; non-native. These may be harder to find but are worth looking for. When Behnke’s had a nursery and grew many of the perennials we sold, we grew about a thousand of these each spring, of half a dozen cultivars.  We found that they forced early growth and flowering even in unheated greenhouses, and were ready to sell in March, even though it was still risky to put them outside. Deer resistant, shade tolerant, dry soil tolerant. Avoid the sap, it may cause dermatitis or eye damage. The selection ‘Tiny Tim’ worked well for me and had been in for four years when we sold the house; ‘Ascot Rainbow’ with variegated foliage is very attractive. I had that in a sunnier spot on the other side of the yard.

Virginia Bluebells; Mertensia; native. Spring blooming with blue (sometimes pink) flowers, Virginia Bluebells goes dormant in the summer. Over time, it seeds and forms nice patches.

Sweet Woodruff; Galium; non-native. Low growing, it weaves it’s way between other plants, with nice white flowers in the spring. It can get a little ratty as summer progresses and you’ll probably want to cut it back to keep things tidy.

Barrenwort; Epimedium; non-native. The “go-to” plant for dry shade. Long-lived and reliable. Some species are evergreen, although for me most varieties winter-burned and I cut the foliage back to the ground in early spring before the flowers emerged. Some have dark colored foliage, some have reddish foliage in the fall. I tried a half-dozen varieties over the years, but there are dozens more available now. I planted the selection ‘Sulphureum’ in 1986 and it was still doing great 35 years later, filling out as a ground cover at the base of an oak tree.

Creeping Woodland Phlox; Phlox stolonifera; native. Growing tight to the ground, with flowers held four to six inches above the foliage in spring, this is an evergreen ground cover. Needs more moisture than the other selections I have mentioned. The selection that worked for me is ‘Sherwood Purple.’ Others always faded out after a couple of years.  Then again, I was a “plant it and forget it” sort of guy, so plants had to be tough to make it in our garden.

Bonus selection: Nandina; shrub; non-native; invasive.  Look for newer selections which are sterile. I hate to recommend it but it works and I used it along the walkway. Evergreen in non-harsh winters, and often has red-colored foliage.  Not part of this garden, but also look at Itea (Virginia Sweetspire); native.

Good luck with your gardening.  It’s frustrating to limit your planter’s palette, but if you have a deer problem, I hope this helps you in your selections. All photo’s by Larry Hurley