Deer can look so sweet, but can also be maddening if they are eating all of your landscape plants. Here are some tips for protecting your property and your sanity.
Garden-Tested Tips:
NNGI Board members Matt and Eileen Gorman live in an area in which deer are plentiful. Eileen offers the following road-tested tips, with the caveat that nothing is guaranteed:
1. Plant something in the mint family around the outside of the garden. The deer don’t like the taste, and they have left the flowers within the bed alone. Bonus: they have beautiful white flowers that pollinators love. Full disclosure, just like other mints, they will spread.
2. Anise hyssop - the deer aren’t fans of its anise flavor. It has a beautiful purple flower, truly a pollinator magnet.
3. Grasses - any grasses, the deer just aren’t that interested.
4. Monarda (Beebalm) - not minty but in the mint family and has scented leaves. We love the red and purple flowers.
5. Milkweed/ Butterflyweed - a monarch favorite.
Again, there are no guarantees because if they are hungry, they may try it. But these are things we have tried in Northport and on Eaton’s Neck with success.
Tips from UConn:
The University of Connecticut has published an article filled with deer-resistant native plant options. They reiterate what Eileen shared:
First off, no plant is truly deer proof! Fawns will try anything once; and when there is nothing else to eat, all deer will eat plants they have never touched before. Note that in different places, deer will favor different plants, so what is billed as deer resistant may not be so on your site. Conversely, you may successfully grow a species that other people usually lose to deer. Also, deer may ignore a species one year and go after it the next.
Small, young plants are the most vulnerable. You will have better success if you plant larger individuals. If you are buying plants, you might want to re-pot them and let them get larger in a safe place before you plant them out.
Source:
DEER RESISTANT NATIVE PERENNIALS,
Connecticut Invasive Plant Working Group, University of Connecticut
Fences and Repellants
Deer fences need to be at least eight feet tall to keep them from jumping into your yard. Some people report success with hanging mesh bags or pantyhose filled with human hair and/or strong-smelling soap like Irish Spring. However, these bags need to be replaced once the smell subsides.