Deer-Proof Plants

Over these last twenty-some years of country living I have tried all manner of “deer-resistant” and “deer-proof” plants.  Mule deer are browsers by nature.  They eat forbs and the leaves of woody plants but will munch on grass if nothing else strikes their attention.   Over the years I have been informed by all manner of people that mule deer do not like fuzzy-leaved plants, strongly aromatic plants such as lavender or ___________________ (please feel free to fill in the blank with some kind of plant you were told deer did not like).

Eventually, the deer chomped at everything I tried.  One day I chanced to meet a wildlife biologist and I mentioned to her my dilemma about mule deer.  She laughed.  “Most mule deer abide by the rules of what they are supposed to like and what they are supposed to dislike, but all of them do not receive the memo with the lists on them.   Some mule deer will eat all kinds of stuff they are not supposed to like.  They may even develop a taste for plants they are not supposed to like.”

Here is a picture I took of what was a deer-proof marigold flower near my back deck only yesterday.

Only recently did I find a plant that completely resists deer.  The plant?  Any plant enclosed in a big-assed fence.

That’s it.

Big fence.

Today, I am also posting one photograph of 20 pounds of cat watching as a mule deer considers viciously attacking my yard, another photograph of a deer staring at my jade plant (through the bay window) considering a raid inside my home and one of a deer eating at my linden tree.

--Mitchell Hegman