In the Garden: Deer love roses, but a well-planned gateway can help

Terri Hiatt

In the Garden

Of course deer love roses. But with a little strategy and some Liquid Fence Deer Repellent, you may be able to have your roses and your deer, too.

The strategy is a gardening technique called “Camouflage Gardening,” which merely means planting the undesirable plants that deer rarely touch in front of the plants and roses they adore.

There’s usually a gateway in one’s garden where the deer enter. That’s where the “undesirable to deer” plants should be planted.

When deer come into your garden the aroma, texture and taste of the plants play a huge role in determining if the deer will eat them and continue to browse, munching as they stroll. A couple of things to remember are that baby deer are not as particular as their parents. They may eat plants the older deer would not, thereby developing a taste for them, unless the plant is incredibly toxic.

If the deer population is extremely heavy and you see lots of babes, your design must be well thought out. Spraying deer repellent every two to three weeks (during the growing season) in conjunction with camouflage gardening will be a necessity.

Other important issues to remember: In the spring, the fresh new growth on established plants and any new plants that are introduced into the garden directly from the plant nursery are going to be much more attractive to deer. The soft (nitrogen rich) new growth on your established plants makes them more appealing than they are later in the season.

The best “deer repelling” plants have a bitter taste, prickly leaves and/or a milky sap coming out of the stems. The more of these plants they encounter first, the better your chances that they will decide to go to other areas that are “safe.”

In sixor more hours of sun, use a combination of annuals, perennials, shrubs and grasses, not only to create a beautiful landscape but because there are plenty of choices to confuse and repel even an experienced muncher.

Some of my favorite perennials include asclepias, agastache, artesmia, echinacea, euphorbia, nepeta (catmint), papaver (poppies), perovskia atriplicifolia (Russian sage), salvia farinacea (“Mealy Blue Sage”) and salvia guaranitica.

Others include santolina, verbascum and Verbena “Homestead Purple.”

Some of the more effective annuals include: ageratum, alyssum, annual vinca, dusty miller, nicotiana, heliotrope, snapdragon and spider flower.

Use plenty of herbs, not only in the gateway, but throughout the sunny parts of your garden. Some favorites include lavender, oregano, rosemary, sage and thyme. Do not overwater your herbs, as they are more aromatic with a slightly drier soil and will stay better-looking.

In fact, many of these suggested sun-loving plants, once they’re established, tend to be more drought-resistant. Some of the best sun-loving shrubs include: abelia, berberis, buxus (boxwood), buddleia (butterfly bush), caryopteris, cistus (rockrose), ilex, juniper, phorium (flax) mugo pine and spirea.

Most perennial grasses are ignored by deer, but think of carex, fescue, miscanthus, panicum and pampus, just to name a few.

Grass blades are sharp and often irritating to deer. Some of the taller varieties used as a hedge in your gateway could be very effective.

Many miscanthus varieties are not only striking but very tall (6 feet) and overpowering.

I haven’t included many low-growing groundcovers, but for sunny/partly sunny areas, I adore ajuga reptens “Black Scallop” or “Chocolate Chip.” Both have shiny, chocolate-colored foliage topped with beautiful deep blue flower spikes in the spring.

For your shadier gateways (morning sun only, filtered sun all day, etc.), try using these perennials: aconitum (monkshood), asarum canadense (wild ginger), brunnera, corydalis, dicentra (bleeding heart), digitalis (foxglove), hellebores, ligularia dentate, myosotis (forget-me-nots) and Pulmonaria.

Shade-loving, deer-resistant shrubs include: daphne, leucothoe fontanesiana, pieris floribunda, pieris japonica (lily of the valley), sarcococca hookeriana and skimmia japonica.

There are some beautiful ferns, too. Try cinnamon fern, holly fern, any of the beautiful Japanese painted ferns or wood fern, to name a few.

Great shade-loving groundcovers include: convallaria majalis (lily of the valley), galium odoratum (sweet woodruff), lamium and pachysandra terminalis. Ajuga reptens also will grow in part shade. Both acorus and hakonechloa macra are beautiful, shorter ornamental grasses for shadier spots.

Once your gateways are created, you can continue beefin’ up security by using some of the roses that are deer-resistant.

It is all about re-training the deer and creating a confusing entrance that will make it simply not worth their time and effort to explore your garden.