Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Garden

Q&A: New 'menu' might deter deer

By YVONNE SWANSON
Published February 26, 2005

Q. I live in Palm Harbor on a golf course near a large preserve. The deer come out at night and chew all the leaves on the hibiscus bushes and annual flowering plants. What can I plant that the deer will not eat? - Eleanor Abbo

A.You're smart to be thinking about growing plants the deer don't prefer. It's a much simpler, less expensive and hopefully less frustrating approach than the alternatives, such as chemical repellents, fencing and even gas exploders that frighten deer away.

The University of Florida surveyed 71 county extension agents throughout the state to develop a list of plants less likely - but not guaranteed - to be consumed by deer. While this list may be helpful, it's important to remember that in areas with a high concentration of deer and limited plant choices, they'll eat almost anything. But it is worth a try.

TREES: American beech, Australian pine, bottlebrush, butterfly/cabadar palms, cabbage/palmettos, Christmas palms, coconut palm, crape myrtle, date palms, edible fig, eucalyptus, fishtail palms, flowering dogwood, ligustrum, live oak, loquat, magnolia, orchid tree, paurotis palm, persimmon, pineapple guava, podocarpus, pomegranate, ponytail/bottle palm, queen palm, royal palm, thatch palm and yaupon.

SHRUBS: Banana shrub, bird of paradise, blackberry (thorny species only), camellia, carissa, Chinese holly, croton, gardenia, heavenly bamboo, ixora, Japanese boxwood, juniper, lantana (natives only), mahonia, Myrtle-leaf holly, needle palm, oleander, philodendron, plumbago, rutty, silver thorn, Southern Indian azaleas, sweet tea olive, viburnum and wax myrtle.

GROUND COVER: Allamanda, asparagus fern, Aztec grass, Boston fern, English ivy, holly fern, pampas grass, shield fern, society garlic, star jasmine, wandering Jew, yellow jessamine.

ANNUALS/PERENNIALS: Ageratum, aloe, angel flower, angel trumpet, anise, black-eyed Susan, bush daisy, century plant, cone flower, coreopsis/tickseed, crown of thorns, devil's trumpet, dusty miller, ginger lilly, heliconia, lilly family, lily of the Nile, lupine, marigolds, peace lilly, periwinkle, petunia, rotunda, sage, shasta daisy, Ti tree, Turks cap, verbena and yucca.

Yvonne Swanson is a freelance writer in St. Petersburg and a master gardener for Pinellas County. If you have garden questions, e-mail features@sptimes.com put "Garden" in the subject line; or write Yvonne Swanson, Garden Writer/Floridian, St. Petersburg Times, P.O. Box 1121, St. Petersburg, FL 33731. Those of general interest will be published. Unpublished questions cannot be answered individually.

[Last modified February 25, 2005, 09:20:07]