Deer Resistant Plants - I, J, K and L

OK, this first one won't be in everyone's garden. Skunk Cabbage, Lysichiton, is a plant of bogs and damp places. It grows in deciduous woods and blooms in very early spring. This is the Asian version which has a white bloom. The one native to North America has a yellow one.

Lychnis is a sun plant that grows about 3 feet tall and has these wonderfully bright red blooms on the tops of the stems in summer. It is long blooming and doesn't seem to be bothered by much.

The Ligularias form large mounds of foliage and have yellow flowers in late summer of fall. They prefer shade, or at least not hot afternoon sun. This is one of my favorites, Britt Marie Crawford, because of the wonderful deep red on the undersides of the leaves.

I love plants that spread themselves around the garden gently and Lamiastrum 'Hermann's Pride' does just that. It didn't for a long time, but now I have small clumps here and there. It has yellow flowers in the spring and prefers shade. It grows no more than a foot tall and seems to make small clumps, never getting in the way of anything else. Very well behaved for something that self seeds.

Kalimeris yomena 'Fuji' is probably not very well known and I know I've never seen it at a local garden center. It will grow in some sun, but skip the hot afternoon variety. More sun will have the leaves looking more white and green as opposed to gold and green like in this picture. It is low growing, maybe 8 inches tall and has blue aster-like flowers in the fall.

This is a really odd one and one which we had trouble getting started here. Jeffersonia is a wil flower, making a clump about a foot tall and has white flowers about the time that the crocuses bloom. It comes up almost overnight and is in full bloom within days. Although the blooms don't last too many days, it is certainly lovely white they are there.

Finally, this is one I grew for the first time last year. It is a ground cover, literally, being less than an inch tall. It went dormant over the winter, but has returned, which pleased me greatly since I love the miniature blue flowers with which it covers itself - lots in spring, but continuing over the whole season. It would be good between stepping stones or just to cover a bare space.

Well, half of the alphabet is done. More plants tomorrow. I might mention spring bulbs just a bit since all of the catalogs to order them are sitting here. Daffodils are the most deer resistant. They just don't bother them at all. Tulips and Crocus are favorites and will usualy be nibbled if the deer find them. I've not had trouble with deer eating Scilla, Muscari, Chionodoxa, Galanthus, or Pushkinia. Of course, the same old caution applies - if deer are starving, they will eat most anything. I am very pleased that my neighbor has planted a food plot for the deer which they seem to prefer to my garden and after 2 or 3 years, we seem to have re-routed them somewhat to things they like even better than my hostas and daylilies.

Jane