Hands down, the best deer repellant I ever had was a beagle. Don't have a beagle? Darn. Planting a deer resistant garden can be frustrating. Deer proof raises beds are a little easier. You can build a box around the outside. I do a little of this method. But also, I have my trusty 7.
Here are 7 Deer Proof Plants to plant in your garden this season. Unless they're close to "starving", they're really not coming after these garden staples.
We both grew up on a daylily farm, Lily the Beagle & Daisy (that's me!) —>> and we each had our jobs. As a small child, I was the official dead-header-in residence. Lily, the dog, was the deer-chaser. Deer LIKE daylilies. Growing up on a flower farm was a never ending cycle of deadheading, dividing, & deer.
Lily was super good at awoo-ing the deer away. Seriously. Best ever. Aside from my harmless beagle, I've tried everything from Malorganite to Wolf's Pee to the shaker pellets at Home Depot to deter deer.
7 Deer Resistant Plants
Here are 7 deer proof plants. Making a full deer proof garden is tough wihtout a deer proof garden fence towering 8 feet tall (or four feet wide), but we can get started today.
Here are 7 great Deer Resistant plants to start with. —>>
1. Daffodil
We love the daff's! Maybe it's because they're among the first things to sprout. No wonder they're adapted to be toxic to deer. We need our early spring sunshine, venado!
Plant some daffodil bulbs in the fall and have your own personal daffodil bouquet this and every spring! Check out our blog about daffodil festivals and daffodil care after blooming and get to planting bulbs!
2. Lily of the Valley
Cute white bells on dark foliage that grows in the shade in most USDA Garden Zones?!. WHAT!? And it's toxic to deer?! Yup. (And people & pets.) Smell, don't eat. Lily of the valley goes first in your deer resistant shade garden plan.
3. Yarrow
Plant this low growing ground cover, but keep it in check. I take out most of the babies and let the mothers grow big & beautiful. The blooms are tons of small flowers. It's not very herbaceous. Deer will typically eat other stuff. Yarrow is perfect plant to start your medicinal garden!
4. Lamb's Ear
Named for it's adorably soft leaves, Lamb's ear creates a show-stopping border before and after the purple blooms come. It's a spreader, but I like to let it go in large swath. Deer don't like super fuzzy plants. Not if there's something else. and even if the deer DO eat your lamb's ear ... it likes a hair cut & will be back next year.
5. Sage
Purple, abundant, woody, and aromatic ... deer don't like it. Plant it. Smell it. Harvest the leaves and burn it. Or buy it! Mostly, plant it. Deer don't like Sage. They've had many thousands of years to come around and they're not super interested. All salvias are sages and deer still don't really like that. So go forth ... plant sage ... plant salvia ... attract hummingbirds, bore the deer. You got this.
6. Lavender
Plant it by the back border so deer think your garden is boring. Relax a little. Plop a hammock out there. Lavender is a medicine garden staple and a lovely smell to have in the air. Lovely for us. Deer are not into Lavender.
Actually ... I don't have any real scientific data behind this, but I'm gonna walk out on a limb here and say that most deer don't like the taste of purple plants. No science. Just an observation. Take it or leave it. Plant a purple backdrop. —>> catmint, lamb's ear, russian sage, etc.
7. Foxglove
Deer feel weird when they eat Foxglove, so they don't. Comes in a variety of cool colors. Plant it two years in a row for continuous blooms. Foxgloves are a biennial. If you plant it under the idea it's a perennial, you'l be like "where did it go, George" next season. Biennials take a year to develop.
There you have it. Working on the video version, if you're not into reading blogs these days.
See ya.
