What can I grow that the deer will not eat?

Unfortunately the answer to that is “Not very much!”.  When deer pressure is high they will browse just about anything. However, there are some effective gardening and design strategies and quite a wide variety of plants that we have proven to be “bulletproof” in a deer country garden. Remember, there are no “deer proof” plants. However, you can enjoy a highly deer resistant landscape using a combination of smart gardening practices and the right plants even in areas of very high deer pressure.

Strategy #1: Don’t grow the plants that you like; Grow the plants that deer don’t like!  This probably sounds like common sense, but you’d be surprised at the number of gardeners who decide that they just have to have a certain plant and go shopping for it without doing their research. There is also the impulse buy: Go to the local big box store for groceries and come home with a carload of beautiful flowers, or browse through the newest gardening magazine and purchase a mass of Proven Winner annuals that will last about one day in the presence of a curious deer. Both the “impulse” and the “must have” plants go into the ground and the next morning they are in the digestive tract of a deer. To sum it up: Stop buying pretty flowers, make a plan, and stick to it!

Strategy #2: Establish your plantings with deer resistant plant varieties: Don’t mix! To establish a newly planted border, plant with Tier 1 plants: Plants with proven deer resistance. Don’t mix in other non-resistant plants in the hopes that the resistant varieties will protect them. As deer browse the plants they like they’ll also browse nearby plants, and may develop a taste for ones that were previously resistant. As your gardens mature and the deer lose interest in the plantings then you can begin mixing in Tier 2 type plants: Those that are only minimally browsed, or ones that can sustain some browsing without affecting their garden performance.

Strategy #3: Protect new plantings, even those of proven resistant varieties. There is a “curiosity factor” with deer, which tend to sample everything new. If you foil them until the plant roots are established, they may have moved on to your neighbor’s petunias. After plants are established, Tier 1 and Tier 2 plants can withstand occasional browsing.

Strategy #4: Use a Low-Nitrogen fertilization regime; Save the Miracle-Gro for hanging baskets. There are several methods of achieving healthy plant growth and extended bloom period without resorting to high-nitrogen synthetic fertilizers (deer candy):

• Use low-nitrogen organic fertilizers and amendments. Example: 4-8-4 NPK
• Deadhead more often. This will promote new blooms without additional fertilizer and the plant will be “harder”: Less succulent and more resistant.
• Improve soil tilth with compost, leaf mulch, and additives like greensand and mychorhyzal fungi.
• Watering deeply and infrequently (after young plants are established) will result in harder plants with less succulent growth.

Using these methods will promote plant health, increase deer resistance and, as a bonus, will naturally prevent outbreaks of insect pests which tend to multiply rapidly on unnaturally lush green new growth initiated by over-watering and over-fertilization.