Deer Resistant Water Plants

This just looks like an iris. It is actually Acorus. If you notice right in the center at the bottom, there is a tall skinny thing with a cream colored top and green bottom. That is the bloom. Obviously this isn't grown for the flower. It grows in water or just damp ground and isn't bothered by much. It multiplies nicely. Full sun to light shade would be its preference. The root is known as orris root and is used as a preservative for dried flowers and things. You use it when you make those pomander balls from oranges and cloves for scenting closets and drawers.

This is another acorus, but a miniature one. It also likes growing in shallow water. It is striped chartreuse and green, though in a lot of sun it might seem more gold. Fairly easy to grow. Expect it to grow a foot tall or so. Ours seems to prefer light shade.

Iris laevigata 'Albovariegata' is another of the water iris. I'll do a whole section of iris tomorrow, but these are just a few that are happy in a pond. This one likes full sun and has a purple flower.

Cattails and ponds seem like a natural thing, but unfortunately, cattails will quickly take over any pond in which they are put, so a bit of yearly maintenance is needed in weeding out the excess. That said, this striped one is great (and a bit smaller) than the all green ones.

For a very small pond, this is a perfect cattail since it only grows 18 inches tall. It's so cute people have trouble resisting it once they see it. Full sun for this one too.

This last one is recommended with reservations since it tends to be a bit invasive. It grows in water, likes sun, gets about 3 feet tall, and blooms in early summer with these lovely yellow buttercup flowers. It's name - Water Buttercup. My recommendation would be to give it a small pond all to itself. I love having it here, but am still pulling it out every year from the 2 places where I first planted it. It just crowds out everything else. That said, I will continue to grow it, just in a supervised situation.

I have not included any of the waterlilies because deer seem to love them. We didn't realize it until a very dry year when the deer were coming into our ponds to drink, and while they were already in the pond, they munched the waterlilies, blooms, leaves, tubers, just about anything. So they are definitely not safe from deer. Speaking of cute deer, on the way to buy groceries this afternoon, we saw a momma deer with a very tiny spotted baby. Soooooo cute. I just wish they would leave my garden alone.

Sorry I wasn't here yesterday, but I weeded in the fairy ring amongst the hostas from 8:30 in the morning until 4:30 in the afternoon, after which I mowed the central grassy places. It looks gorgeous, but by after supper I could barely stay awake, so no writing - at least nothing coherent.

Tomorrow, a little tour of the iris gardens. Deer don't seem to have much liking for iris, thankfully, so if you can grow them, they should be pretty safe.

Jane

Deer Resistant Vines

One of the advantages of vines, as far as keeping deer from eating them, is that, at least for tall vines, most of the plant is way above what the deer can reach. Still, ivy and some others just tempt the deer too much and once they're in your garden, they tend to look at your plants as some sort of massive salad bar. Best not to plant things to attract them in the first place. This first on today is a bloom on Wisteria 'Amethyst Falls'. It is a lovely blue/lavender color and blooms in late spring or early summer. I like this one because it blooms at a very early age - ours did the first year we planted it. Right now it is on a low trellis and I think I'll keep it pruned to that size so it doesn't take over everything. I love wisteria, but it can have bad manners sometimes.

Trumpet Vines (Campsis) just go up and up and up. They bloom mid to late summer, maybe even until frost. Lots of sun is essential for bloom. There are also more orange forms and even a yellow flowered one.

I know this doesn't look like something that grows here in zone 6, but it is. Passiflora incarnata is hardy to zone 6. It comes up late here - isn't up yet as I write this - but then takes off and climbs a trellis or tree. I think I wrote about this in the perennials, but since it is a vine, and in case you missed that installment, here it is again.

Honeysuckle, Lonicera, can get overly enthusiastic, but can be kept to a trellis or pergola or something of that sort. My plant of this variegated one grows on a lath house roof. I don't think this one has quite the lovely scent of the wild one, but the flowers open pink and the variegation is really well defined when grown in sun.

This is a Golden Hop Vine. Beer makers take note - you can garden and grow hops for you beer at the same time. This is a big vine and can easily go up 20 feet. The stems are kind of sticky - not gooey sticky, but with tiny little hairs - to they can grow up just about anything. Ours grow on the front of the back barn. Between that and the Akebia, I think that's all that's holding it up right now. This one likes sun too.

Clematis is one of the prettiest flowering vines. Pick a color and you can probably find a Clematis to match. We have them in burgundy, white, all shades of blue, red, yellow, pink, lavender. I guess green is about the only flower color not represented. There are flowers in this wide shape, some like bells, and some double. The seed pods are good in dried arrangements. The only solution is to have a lot of them since deciding on one is truly going to be a problem.

Last is one of my favorites, Ampelopsis brevipedunculata 'Elegans'. The leaves have this wonderful variegation and in the fall it gets berries that are a bright, even almost dayglo turquoise. It will 'wander' over shrubs or climb a trellis or tree. It dies back in the fall and then shoots back up in late spring or early summer. It will seed a bit and most of the babies will be solid green, but you do get some variegated ones too.

We're having wonderful weather for a couple of days with cool temperatures both day and night and lots of sunshine. I'm pretty exhausted, but we got huge amounts of weeding done along with some transplanting and garden rearranging - in the winter I rearrange furniture, in the summer plants. :-)

Jane

Deer Resistant Ground Covers

Vinca (this one called 'Valley Glow') is pretty much deer safe, though as I have said, starving deer will pretty much eat anything. The plain green vinca has pretty flowers, but if you need a ground cover to choke out weeds and still look pretty, look for one of the variegated leaf ones. This one also has white flowers in the spring.

I told you last time that the Veronicas were a large family. Here's another one, 'Georgia Blue' that is a ground cover. It has its main flush of bloom in the spring, but continues to bloom a bit throughout the season. I just love that blue color. This one wants shade or sun and seems to grow equally well in both places.

Saxifrage stolonifera is a lovely ground cover for shade that sends out runners with little plantlets on the ends kind of like a strawberry will. The variegated leaves and spikes of white flowers make this a nice thing for crawling along the edge of a bed or along a rock wall.

Lyssimachia numularia 'Aurea' will brighten up the darkest places. It grows in sun or shade and it evergreen (evergold?) on mild winters. It flowers in early summer.

Lamium was recommended to me as a plant for dry shade when I first started gardening. I have found that to be not exactly true. Shade is all right and it doesn't ask to be all that moist, but the combination of drought and shade doesn't make it thrive. It might not kill it, but it won't be happy. Just treat it as you would any other shade perennial. Blooms in late spring or early summer. There are lots of different combination of variegation in leaves from this 3 color version to a gold and white one (Beedham's Silver), and green and white ones with either pink of white flowers.

Golden Irish Moss is neither Irish or a Moss, so I don't know where it got the name, but it is great for growing between stepping stones. Not much care is needed and it will take light foot traffic. There is a green version also.

I've written about this one before, Galeobdolon. If you need a ground cover for a problem bank in the shade where you want to prevent erosion and keep anything else from growing, this is your plants. Less than a foot tall with lovely yellow flowers in the spring. BUT, if you think of planting it near anything else, forget it. It will kill off anything near it and is difficult to remove after it gets started. I still think it's pretty, but ...

Tomorrow some vines.

Jane

Deer Resistant Plants - V -

I have occasionall seen violets eaten, but it is rare, so I'm including a couple here. This yellow one grows wild in the woods around here, a small thing. In the garden is it a foot tall and covered with blooms. It must like the shady spot I planted it in.

My other favorite violet is Freckles. I just love the splashes of purple on the petals. It comes true from seed so I have them in lots of places. It also likes shade, but I have seen it growing in a good bit of sun also. Both of the violets are early spring bloomers.

Most Veronicas are safe from deer. I like the miniature one called 'Giles van Hees'. It blooms mid summer until frost with lovely pink flowers. I give it quite a bit of sun.

The Veronicas are a large and varied family. This one is Veronica bonariensis. It is like little tufts of flowers on tall stems - some up to 4 feet. There is something a bit silly about this one, but its late summer blooms are dependable and long lasting.

The Verbascums bloom from spring through summer. Rosettes of sometimes fuzzy leaves and tall spikes of flowers in just about any pastel color you can imagine. There are wild forms and cultivated ones. They like sun.

We have gotten to the end of my perennial photo files. I'll continue with those I've got filed under other things like ground covers and vines. We get to skip the files for daylilies and hostas since those are prime deer food here. I found the first evidence of bloomscapes being eaten on a few daylilies this morning, so I've been spreading Milorganite to try and discourage the deer. Hank saw a large buck, antlers in velvet, walking in the garden this morning. He was scared off, but I know he has friends ...

Jane

Deer Resistant Plants - T

Trilliums are native to this area, but the only one I've ever seen in the woods if Trillium grandiflorum which has white flowers. This one is Trillium cuneatum with red flowers and speckled leaves. It likes shade and a woodsy setting. Bloom time is early spring.

Tradescantia blooms in the spring and then, if dead-headed, will rebloom later in the season. This one is called Osprey. I love the blue in the center. I also have them in all sorts of shades of blue, purple and rose. They are really dependable and will grow in sun or shade, though you will get better flowering in the sun. The common name for this one is Snotweed because of the runny sap in the stems. You get the idea.

Tovara virginiana has lovely variegated leaves and grows in the shade to part sun. There is another version called 'Painter's Palette' which has a rust colored chevron on the leaves.

The Tiarellas as a group don't seem to be bothered by animals. There are many different leaf patterns and shapes. These like shade and woodsy soil and bloom in late spring with spikes of light, airy, tiny flowers.

Tansy likes sun and will grow just about anywhere. This is the cut leaf form which I find much more decorative. The flowers are yellow and come in the fall.

Tannecetum partheneum, Feverfew, self-seeds readily in my garden. With all the rain we've had this year it is really going crazy. Usually it is about 18 inches tall and blooms all summer. This year we have plants 3 feet tall and I think every seed that fell last year has germinated. Even though I am weeding a lot of it out, it pulls out really easily and isn't something I would consider a problem. We have a plant here and there throughout the garden, and although I think it prefers sun, it grows well in the shade also.

Lots of thunder and lightning here last night and over an inch of rain. Great for the garden but it makes for a very muddy gardener after a morning of weeding.

Jane

Deer Resistant Plants - S

An odd one here, Synellensus or Shredded Umbrella Plant. It starts out with what look like closed furry unbrellas and as it grow to its 3 foot height, the umbrellas open. It likes shade and a woodsy setting. You'll find a lot of shade plants in my garden since I much prefer weeding and caring for a garden in the shade. The daylilies and peonies take up a large percentage of the acreage, but the interesting stuff is in the shade.

Saruma henryii is another less known one. it has yellow flowers in the spring, gets about 18 inches tall, and again, likes shade.

In early spring you will find Bloodroot in a number of places in the garden. The flowers are pretty ephemeral, but the leaves persist until the heat of summer. This will self seed gently and I don't know anyone who wouldn't want a few more of these in their garden.

Deer seem to be quite fond of some kinds of Salvia, but this one, Salvia koyamae, doesn't seem to interest them. It is also unusual for a Salvia since it doesn't bloom until September and likes, rather demands, shade. Sun will have it wilting. It also likes to be a little moist. The flowers are a bit brighter yellow than they show here.

Another Salvia, this one argentea or more commonly known as 'Furbee', also doesn't seem to interest the critters. The leaves are really furry, way past fuzzy, and probably don't appeal for that reason. It does sometimes flower, but is primarily grown for the large leaves. It isn't that tall, but can be 3 feet across. As long as it isn't really soggy over the winter it makes it through here just fine.

Hot, hot, hot here today with enough humidity to make it really unpleasant. We managed to get out really early so we could pull thistle out of daylily beds for 4 hours. Not nearly as much got done this afternoon. Maybe rain tomorrow. I hung out laundry to try and get it to rain today, but it didn't work.

Jane

Deer Resistant Plants - P to R

Rabdosia longituba is probably a plant most of you don't know, but it is a lovely perennial for September bloom. It likes light shade and a well drained soil.

This is not your typical Pulmonaria, since most have either almost white/silver leaves or green ones with white spots, but this Pulmonaria 'David Ward' is one that I really like. The pink flowers are a nice bonus. I think what puts the deer off eating these is the fuzzy leaves. I even hate working around them because they make me itch. Hank has no problem, so don't let my itchiness put you off trying these if you don't yet grow them. They like shade to part sun. The flowers appear in very early spring and after they die back, the new foliage for the year appears. On a mild winter these can be evergreen; in bad winters the foliage dies back.

Primula japonica is something I always thought was hard to grow. I couldn't have been more wrong. There are similar looking primulas that are difficult, but this plant of light shade gardens is easy, expands a big each year, and comes in a huge array of shades in the flowers, including eyed and ruffled ones.

Polygonatums - Solomon's Seal - also come in a huge variety of forms. This is Polygonatum biflorus since the flowers come in pairs. We have several variegated ones, some with extremely thin leaves, tall ones, short ones, all sorts of ones. They are easy to grow in a shady, woodsy garden and most make nice clumps after a few years.

This last one for today if Pinellia atropurpureum. It self seeds, but doesn't seem to do so as freely as Pinellia tripartita, the plain green one, that seems intent on totally populating the world. I still grow it, but pull out a lot of seedlings. It is just too cool to not grow. We also grow one, a hybrid, called Polyspout that is sterile so you can enjoy it without worrying about weeding out all of its offspring. We grow 2 miniature ones, less than 6 inches tall, but they need a very special place so they don't get overrun but their neighboring plants.

Hot today and hotter tomorrow, but the weeding goes on ...

Jane