I am looking for deer resistant plants for shade, large ones.I spent some time on Google and didn't find many big ones.
This plant appealed to me.Dicentra Gold Heart.
I also like Heuchera Palace Purple.
This is a combo of the plants there now with the exception of the Hosta( which might not happen) and heuchera.
The only drawback I can see is Dicentra is a summer dormant plant. I have no idea what this means unless it only refers to no flowers.
It means it quietly disappears in summer and goes dormant, then returns the following year.
I'd suggest coleus, since I know you love them, but they are not as big as you want.
The Mahogony Giant gets huge. Its a tall as the dicentra but not as big in diameter so I am putting 2 in.
Let us hope the deer don't investigate and snap the branches.
Helleborus - not to tall but oh so pretty.
Thanks Azalea Thats a great idea. I have 1 that needs transplanting.Fotidus.This meand green leaves all year round.
i just googled "Deer resistant plants" - there is a list for different states, but I didn't see NY . Here is a list for shade.
http://www.google.com/search?q=deer+resistant+plants+for+shade&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1
Look up your planting zone.
See if the plants are hardy here.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/80951/
I will be trying butterbur this year. Anyone grown that one? Other big stuff i've used includes purple flowering raspberry and large ferns.
how unusual
Astilbe can grow large.
What varieties are those Pen.
How tall do they get?
Hosta is like deer candy, and the deer don't like astilbe. However, astilbe can be hard to get rid of and becomes a very sturdy woody plant. Astilbes can get very bushy, but I would not guess they would grow higher than 3 feet.
I've purchased some bitter tasting spray from the pet warehouses and carefully spray it on everything that gets eaten, including lilies. Don't blame everything on deer; apparently Peter Rabbit helps himself and his family to your greenery as well.
Deer have never touched my red twig dogwood which is a nice bush/tree. In the cold weather the stems turn red. Have never had trouble with epimedium which is a great ground cover tht bushes up, but I don't know if it gets higher than 12 inches. If you don't need blooms, there are lots of small, mediu, tall and very tall ferns as well as wood poppy or celandine poppy. They bush out and grow to about 3 feet and if you dead head them, they continue to bloom a flower that resembles a large yellow buttercup for quite a while. The celandon poppy also has a really attractive dentate leaf.
Balloon flower (platycodon) does not seem to attract deer. I think they grow in partial sun, and once established, die down and come back every year and flower for a long time. Mine are in the sun, but they definitely grow to 3-4 feet high. I'm guessing that since you are also in zone 6 that they would do well for you. I know they don't like to be moved.
Deer also stay away from my monarda (bee balm) and centaurea montana (bachelor's button) which I think grow in partial shade. They get full and about 3 feet or so tall. The biggest plant I have that grows in partial shade really is a big bush. It is a hydrangea, and deer never touch it.
Deer do not touch the heuchera (coral bells), but they really don't get that full.
I hope this helps.
GE1836,
I don't know which type of astilbe that is in the picture. I do have some dark pink astilbe that are about 2 and a half feet. Check around, and you can find some tall versions. Bella and rheinhard are about 2' 1/2 feet. Purple candles is about 4 feet.
Red twig dogwood is very popular in Ct along highways I95, and Route 9. I planted some when I lived in Waterford Ct. They are beautiful shrubs, but the deer promptly ate them. Sometimes deer will eat a plant in the Jones yard, but not touch the same plant in the Smith's yard - you never really know.
There is also foxglove - if you don't have small children and pets that nibble.
That's true, pennefeather. The deer ate the some (not all) of the buds from one Limelight hydrangea but didn't touch the other one, less than four feet away.
Thanks Penefether.I think I have Rhineland.New last year so its not mature.
Penne, I have never figured out why deer like my tulips but not those of my neighbor across the street. Perhaps my soil makes sweeter buds or more attractive colors. My next-door neighbor doesn't believe we have deer. He tells me it is rabbits. However, when we put up the deer netting, the only problem in the yard was the red lily beetle (ugh).
Around here the deer are not skittish. There is no "deer in the headlights" look. It is the "don't bother me while I'm eating" look.
Deer have a regular path they follow to any water or feeding source. Your neighbor must just be off the pathway far enough.
When you spray repellent the deer sence danger because of the strange scent. they will find another path.Hope your neighbor isnt on the new travelway for them.
