Deer Me, Let My Plants Be!
After a fresh snowfall, a morning glance out my window gives me a quick preview of who has been wandering around my yard during the overnight hours. This usually leads to the putting on of winter boots, hat, gloves and coat in order to take a closer look. Tracks meandering toward the back prairie confirm the presence of a group of deer. Further inspection leads me to three melted indentations among the pine and spruce where they bedded down for some rest. Here they nibbled my Pagoda Dogwood.... there they munched the tips of an old Japanese Yew. They couldn't get at the arborvitae, because we wrapped them in deer netting last fall to prevent the 'mushroom' look often found due to deer browse.
Ideally, in deer country, we select plants they will 'steer' clear of (I know, bad pun). There is actually a fairly substantial plant palette of trees, conifers, shrubs and perennials considered less palatable to deer. Here are a few of my favorites - chosen for interesting form, extended seasonal interest, uniqueness and/or resistance to insect and disease pressures.
Trees: For leafy ornamentals (<30' or so), look to Musclewood (Carpinus caroliniana), Ironwood (Ostrya virigniana) and Apple Serviceberry (Amelanchier x grandiflora). Unique branch texture like a well-muscled elephant leg, shrimp-shaped seed pods and delicate white spring flowers respectively, combine with excellent fall color for all three. Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) is a deciduous conifer - bearing cones, yet dropping its golden needles each fall. Give this tree plenty of room to grow, as it can top out at 70+ feet in height when fully grown! On a smaller scale, upright varieties of Juniper (Juniperus spp.) can provide a nice privacy buffer, as well as excellent wildlife habitat in sunny areas.
Shrubs: Try something different in the shade, with Japanese Kerria (Kerria japonica). While most shade tolerant plants run towards pastel colors, this gently arching shrub sports bright yellow clusters of bloom. Also notable is Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), an under-utilized native Wisconsin shrub, in my opinion. Given good moisture conditions, this mid-sized shrub boosts vivid red berries during the winter, provided you plant a male and female for pollination.
The list is long for Perennials: I love Joe-Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum), available in large and dwarf varieties. Butterflies and hummingbirds will seek out this pink, mid-summer bloomer. False Indigo (Baptisia spp.) now offers an expanded color range from the native cream, to purple, blue, cherry red, and yellow. In fall, dark brown dried seed pods rattle in the breeze, creating their own unique show of interest in the landscape. Ornamental onion (Allium spp.) continues to gain in popularity for its long season of bloom and unpalatable foliage to deer as well as rabbits.
While animals don't read articles like this... and will browse almost any plant given the right circumstance, I try to utilize these types of plants as much as possible when working in known deer habitat. And, for those plants known to be on the buffet, which we choose to use anyway for various reasons, simple barriers such as the deer netting around my arborvitae provide some measure of security during the high pressure months of winter.