Sometimes even a doe-eyed Bambi will wear out its welcome.
Deer have been banned from many gardens, orchards and woodlots because they damage or destroy so many tender shoots, fragile saplings and emerging blooms.
“At high density, deer will eat just about anything on the landscape,” said Paul Curtis, an extension wildlife specialist with Cornell University, in Ithaca, N.Y. “Orchard and nursery-industry crops are particularly susceptible. It’s almost impossible to plant without some kind of deer protection.”
Safeguards can range from netting and fences (the latter at least 8 feet high and electrified) to free-ranging dogs, repellents and deer-resistant plants — often in combination.
The problem is huge. Deer numbers have ballooned from fewer than 500,000 nationwide in the early 1900s to a current 25 million to 30 million.
“New houses out in rural areas have become deer sanctuaries,” Curtis said. “Most (subdivisions) become no-hunting zones. That makes for subsidized grazing.”
Deer bring other costs too, including automobile accidents, Lyme disease, and extensive wildflower and forest losses.
“They can really do a job on hardwood seedlings browsed during the winter months,” Curtis said.
They’re not kind to wildflowers either. “Trillium and several kinds of Lady’s Slippers (orchids) are particularly sensitive to deer grazing. We have a 7-acre wildflower garden on campus, and we’ve had to put a 10-foot-high fence around it.”
Not everyone likes installing physical barriers, however.
“Part of having a garden is surely an attitude of wanting to be part of nature rather than shutting yourself off,” said Ruth Clausen, author of the new “50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants” (Timber Press).
No plant is deer-proof, Clausen said, but the animals are selective feeders and will ignore certain plants if offered alternatives.
“Many stunning plants are unpalatable to deer because of their poisonous compounds, fuzzy or aromatic leaves, tough, spiny or bristly textures,” she said.
Well-known plants that Clausen labels “deer candy,” likely to attract the foraging critters, include: phlox, azalea, chrysanthemum, clematis, daylilies, hostas, hydrangea, leaf lettuce, petunias, strawberries and ornamental sweet potato vines.
How to rein deer in
Other suggestions for reducing damage from deer:
• Use combination planting in mixed beds and borders. Integrate at-risk plant species with deer-unfriendly natives.
• Hang ’em high. That includes plants and birdfeeders. Remove shrubs or understory plants that give deer shelter and invite them to linger. Prune low-hanging limbs on fruit trees.
• Place plant containers near the house or beyond the animals’ reach on patios and decks.
• Add yard art or ornaments that frighten deer. Strips of light-reflecting aluminum and objects with moving parts often prove effective, Clausen said.
• Orchard fruits, vineyard grapes and acorns littering the ground constitute a deer feast, Clausen said. Gather them up.
• “Plants that are strongly aromatic usually are left alone,” she said. “That includes most herbs.”
