I attended an interesting lecture today at the Bartlett Arboretum here in Stamford, CT called Gardening in Deer Country. The lecture was given by horticulturalist Vincent Drzewucki who has written two books on the subject, Gardening in Deer Country and Flowerbeds and Borders in Deer Country. I have attended my fair share of these kinds of lectures and also read every article and/or book I have come across on the subject but I still picked up a few good pointers.
One of the things I found most interesting was Mr. Drzewucki’s take on the perils of gardening in an area with a robust deer population. Rather than advocating for the use of external measures like installing deer fencing or electronic devices to scare the deer away or regular applications of deer repellents, his take on the issue is that the deer are not going away so get used to it. It makes more sense to plant unpalatable choices rather than bambi’s favorite culinary delight! Did you know the average adult deer eats between 5 – 10 pounds of food each day? Factor in that they browse in groups of anywhere from 2 – 7 deer and it’s no wonder they can wreak havoc on a garden overnight.
A trick I plan on trying this year is inter-planting perennials that deer may browse with plants that naturally deter deer with their strong aromas (like artemisia, basil, chives and lavender) . I actually tried a version of that strategy last year but I didn’t use aromatic plants. The deer still found and ate my hosta.
I’m also going to plant a strip of cotoneaster in front of some hydrangeas to deter the deer. According to Mr. Drzewucki, deer don’t like to walk through a woody groundcover like cotoneaster. I’ll need a strip about 4′ wide but I think it may be a good option to protect my beloved hydrangea.
I’ll let you know how my experiments with deterring deer work out but in the meantime I’d love to hear about any approaches you use in your own garden to keep the deer away.
Hi Debbie. I also garden in CT, in the middle of a heavily deer-populated hardwood forest in the south-central area. But, like you, I’m not willing to give up my gardens or fence in my entire yard. I tried interplanting deer-cancy with plants they seem to ignore, but unless I spray regularly, and sometimes daily, with fish emulsion or other ‘fragrant’ sprays, they always find the plants they like. I posted many of my successes on my blog, http://joenesgarden.wordpress.com/. I’d love to learn how your trials go this year.
Joene, Isn’t it sad that we have to resort to regular spraying to keep the deer away from some of our prized plants? I’m all for co-existing with nature but it’s hard not to get discouraged, especially since the deer seem to eat plants just as they are coming into their glory. I’m very excited about inter-planting aromatic plants with my hosta, I’ll post results as warranted.
PS – I checked out your blog and left a few comments.
I live with deer (well, in the garden) in the Sierra Nevada foothills. I go with the “they were here first” philosophy, and have a garden full of things they don’t like. I rely on the Deer in my Garden series by Carolyn Singer and she has been accurate, and helpful with her suggestions for companion plantings.
Very interesting to hear how much deer eat in one day! At this point they browse our open compost heap, leave a calling card, and hop the low fence. If our dog sees them she just stands and STARES in amazement and deference.
Daffodil Planter,
I tend to agree that the deer were here first so I should be gardening around them not against them. But it doesn’t seem that they read the same books as I do – they obviously have a different ‘deer resistant plant list’ than I have. This growing season in particular has been very difficult.
I’ll have to check out Carolyn Singer’s books and see if her advice will translate to my CT garden.