Deer-Resistant Gardening in Southwest Missouri
How can I keep deer from eating my plants?
Myron Royce Gardens has been landscaping for over 30 years in the Springfield-Branson area, and throughout the years, the #1 problem people have had in their gardens is deer. Your garden can look fantastic, your plants can be blooming, and then overnight – gone! The deer have found your garden and had a feast!
What can you do to stop deer from eating your plants? Is it even possible?
Don’t despair! It is possible to keep deer from eating your garden, or at least minimize the damage. Let us teach you our tried-and-true methods for repelling deer.
#1 Deer-Resistant Plants
Deer eat almost everything, but not everything. Many claims are made about deer-resistant plants, but not all of them are true. It is important to remember that if deer are desperate, they will eat things they don’t prefer. However, the plants on this list are usually a deer’s last choice.
Here are the plants we have found to be deer-resistant and well-suited to Southwest Missouri gardens.
(*Deer Resistant – we usually don’t see deer eat these plants)
(**Deer “Proof” – we rarely see deer eat these plants)
(Perennial – comes back every year)
(Annual – only lives for one year)
Deer generally avoid:
Perennials
- Ajuga** (groundcover, shade)
- Allium ‘Millenium’** (sun)
- Anemone** (sun)
- Angelina Sedum** (groundcover, sun)
- Artemesia** (sun)
- Astilbe** (shade)
- Baptisia** (sun)
- Bear’s Breeches** (shade)
- Bee Balm**
- Betony ‘Hummelo’** (sun)
- Blazing Star** (sun)
- Bleeding Heart (shade)
- Brunnera** (shade)
- Butterfly Weed** (sun)
- Campanula* (sun)
- Cannas** (bulb, not hardy, sun)
- Catmint** (sun)
- Clematis** (sun)
- Coral Bells* (shade)
- Coreopsis* (sun)
- Creeping Phlox* (sun)
- Daffodils** (bulb, sun)
- Dahlia** (tuber, not hardy, sun)
- Dianthus* (sun)
- Ferns (shade)
- Ferns** (shade)
- Hellebores** (shade)
- Hen & Chicks** (groundcover, sun)
- Iris** (sun)
- Lamb’s Ear** (sun)
- Lamium** (groundcover, shade)
- Lavender** (sun)
- Ligularia** (shade)
- Lungwort** (shade)
- Pachysandra** (groundcover, shade)
- Penstemon* (sun)
- Peonies** (sun)
- Salvia (sun)
- Solomon’s Seal* (shade)
- Stokesia* (sun)
- Vinca Minor** (groundcover, shade)
- Most Ornamental Grasses**
Annuals
- Angelonia** (sun)
- Artemesia** (sun)
- Begonia* (shade)
- Bidens* (sun)
- Caladium Elephant Ear** (shade)
- Calibrachoa* (sun)
- Coleus** (shade/sun)
- Euphorbia** (sun)
- Lantana** (sun)
- Lobelia* (sun)
- Marigolds** (sun)
- Mums** (sun)
- Salvia** (sun)
- Zinnia** (sun)
Trees/Shrubs
- Bird’s Nest Spruce** (sun/shade)
- Blue Spruce** (sun)
- Boxwood Shrub** (sun/shade)
- Butterfly Bush** (flowering shrub, sun)
- Evergreen Cypress** (sun)
- Hemlock Tree** (shade)
- Japanese Umbrella Plant* (sun)
- Juniper Cedar* (sun/shade)
- Laurel** (sun)
- Mahonia Holly** (sun/shade)
- Mugo Pine* (sun)
- Norway Spruce* (sun/shade)
- Oakleaf Hydrangea* (sun/shade)
- Yew** (shade)
- Most Deciduous Trees* (deer may nibble on buds or rub their antlers on the trunks, but they usually won’t eat your deciduous trees)
Deer love to eat:
Perennials
- Coneflower
- Daylily
- Hibiscus
- Hostas
- Oriental Lilies
- Penstemon Beardtongue
- Phlox
Annuals
- Pansies
- Petunias
- Sunpatiens
- Sweet Potato Vine
Trees/Shrubs
- Arborvitae
- Azalea
- Holly
- Hydrangea macrophylla, paniculata
- Pine (deer love to rub their antlers on pine trees, but don’t eat them)
Pro tip: If you arrange your plants carefully, you can sometimes get away with planting plants that deer love. For example, you can surround your susceptible plants with deer-repellant plants like Salvia. You can also plant susceptible plants closer to the house or areas that are frequented by people, where the deer would rather not go. This gives your plants a chance at being overlooked by the deer.
#2 Invisible Nets
If you and the deer have similar taste in flowers, don’t let that stop you from planting what you love. Placing netting over your plants can easily prevent the deer from getting their teeth around your flowers. And don’t worry – the nets aren’t visible from a distance, and are barely visible close-up. Because it is a physical barrier, invisible netting is one of the surest way to keep deer from eating your garden.
To install the nets, first we put hoops in the ground that reach higher than the plants’ maximum height. This suspends the net over the plants even after they grow. If the net is too low, the plants will grow through the net, and the deer will still be able to eat them. After we set the hoops, we lay the net over and keep it in place with landscape staples. If you don’t have plant hoops but do have some time on your hands, you can pull the nets up by hand once a week so that they are just laying over the tops of the plants.
#3 Deer Spray
There are many homemade deer spray recipes out there, but none of them are as effective as Plantskydd. We spray our customers’ gardens with this deer repellent every 2-4 weeks. When you garden has been sprayed, the deer hate the smell and will stay away from your plants. The deer spray does not affect the plants at all, but gives them a chance to grow to the fullest and bloom their best.
It is important to mention the difficulties of deer spray. First, it can lose effectiveness if used too many times in a row. To avoid this, we rotate Plantskydd with Bobbex and Liquid Fence so that the deer won’t grow used to the smell. Another difficulty is that the smell can be repellent to people, too. However, it dissipates within a day or two.
Bonus: What Doesn’t Work to Repel Deer
Let us save you some of the trouble. We’ve tested many methods of repelling deer at Myron Royce Gardens, and over the years, we’ve compiled a list of things that don’t work.
#1 Privacy fences – Deer can easily jump a 6-foot fence or higher, and they will if they are hungry! (And deer are always hungry!)
#2 Human hair – Deer are rumored to not like the smell of human hair. This is true, but the smell of the hair fades quickly, so it needs to be replaced weekly. Additionally, deer quickly become comfortable with the hairy smell of your garden once they learn that the threat is not real.
#3 Irish soap – Irish soap does repel deer, but it comes with similar caveats to the hair repellent. It needs to be replaced often, and you need to use a lot of the soap to get a strong enough smell. It also doesn’t keep deer from eating your trees unless you hang the bars of soap in the branches.
#4 Noisemakers – There are products that can make a high-pitched chirp when motion is detected in the garden, which scares deer away. This is good for small gardens, but for those with a large space to protect, noisemakers aren’t very practical. (And they are noisy to humans too!)
#5 Motion sensing sprinklers – These are the same concept as the noisemakers, but they turn on sprinklers to scare away deer. Again, this is good for small gardens, but not for large yards.
Conclusion
It is important to have a plan in place to keep the deer away before you start your garden. Don’t wait until the damage is done! With several strategies working together, the deer will avoid your garden and choose to eat other plants that are more appealing.
Deer damage seems to be worse in the winter when food and water sources are scarce, such as after a big snow. Even when the proper steps are taken, deer may still munch on your shrubs in the wintertime. However, you can minimize the damage and keep your flowers looking great throughout the growing season if you have a plan.
Myron Royce Gardens is happy to help you deer-proof your garden. We design and plant deer-resistant gardens, net plants, and spray deer repellent on many gardens in the Springfield-Branson area. We are experts at balancing deer-repelling strategies with attractive garden design. If you’re interested in our services, just give us a call at 417-443-2648 or contact us here!
About the Author
Myron Royce Gardens is a professional landscaping company based in Ozark, MO. We provide landscape design, installation, and maintenance services throughout the Springfield-Branson area.
We started this blog because we want to share our knowledge and expertise with everyone in Southwest Missouri. Landscaping is our passion, and we want it to be a pleasant experience for everyone.
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