Deer control is perhaps the landscaper's biggest pest control challenge -- literally. As North America's largest of garden pests, these mammals can do a lot of damage in a small amount of time. Although you can practice control by installing deer fencing or using repellents, the most sensible approach is to learn how to use plants for deer control.
These plants are known as "deer-resistant plants." If you live in a region where Bambi roams far and wide, it just doesn't make sense to grow something that he is known to love to eat, such as hosta plants. The same concept applies to other pests. For example, there are plants that rabbits eat with abandon, and then there are rabbit-proof flowers -- plants that they eat less frequently. When Bugs Bunny gets the munchies, wouldn't you rather be growing the latter? In the case of deer though, again, size matters: they can put away a lot more food than rabbits can.
The following articles all discuss plants that deer don't eat (as much as other plants, that is), each from a different landscaping perspective:
Plan for Deer Control, Tick Control
The focus of Plan for Deer Control, Tick Control is the presentation of a sketch, or landscape design plan, illustrating a border garden. This arrangement of plants would be appropriate, say, along a fence at the edge of a property. But it's not a landscape design plan for just any border garden. Rather, it is composed specifically of deer-resistant plants.
The article also offers introductory remarks on the problem of Lyme disease. Our big garden pests, those dear deer, also serve as hosts for deer ticks, which are the carriers of Lyme disease. Thus deer tick control goes hand-in-hand with planting deer-resistant plants. Deer control is an important measure in Lyme disease prevention.
Deer Control With Deer-Tolerant Plants
The thrust in Deer Control With Deer-Tolerant Plants is keeping these pests from destroying your rock garden design. The plants described here are both drought-resistant and deer-resistant, making them perfect for rock gardens. Deer garden pests don't consume these plants, and the plants return the favor by not consuming excessive amounts of water!
Deer Control With Perennial Groundcovers
In Deer Control With Perennial Groundcovers you'll find the greatest number of descriptions of deer-resistant plants. The theme is "a groundcover for every occasion," and they're all deer-resistant. Need a groundcover for a shady area? Want pretty flowers, or just vibrant foliage that won't quit? How about an ornamental grass? Or perhaps a fragrant herb. There's a deer-resistant groundcover in each case to fill the bill.
The natural methods of deer control presented in these three articles sure beat spending money on fences, traps, poisons and repellents to battle garden pests! The descriptions in all the articles are supplemented by photos of the plants described. You'll see that they are all more than just plants effective in deer control -- they are attractive, useful plants in their own right.
