Do deer eat holly?

I'm thinking of getting Blue Prince or Blue Princess holly but have big deer problem ... is holly fairly safe from deer? They have lots of other things to eat at our house!

No, they love it. You'll need to cage it from them in perpetuity, as even on mature hollies the bark is thin enough for them to strip it off.

Resin

Deer even munch the metal labels on my trees! I think they are the evil cousins of goats and beavers. They also might have suicide bombers in their family lineage, diving in front of speeding cars at twilight. And don't get me started about the antler rubbing on my tree trunks, those sons of _______ . . .

Guy S.

well forget it then ... I'm doing pyracantha given to me by my neighbors and pieris which supposedly are somewhat safe (nothing's really safe!) ... any other ideas for an exposed area along the back side of the house? Lots of hot afternoon sun ...

How about a garden structure like a gazebo for some shade, with a built-in deer-sensing automatic-activating machine-gun turret on the roof? (Hey, it might keep the neighbor brats out of your yard too!)

I like American smoketree and sumacs for hot, sunny areas. And if the deer nail them, more stems will arise the next year.

Guy S.

I am just down state from you a bit in Orange County. As our deer might be related :- ) I thought I'd chime in. I have two beautiful variegated hollies (the sharp pointy kind) which the deer nibble to a small degree, but my pieris are decimated if I don't protect them. The rhododendrons and azaleas are also completely defoliated without protection, and I could go on and on. The rhodies have been on my property, which was formerly my parents, for at least 25 years. They were never touched until about 7 years ago when the evil building boom really took off in my area. On any given day I might see upwards of 25 deer in the yard at once now. They are voracious. There is very little way of knowing what will be the flavor du jour.

I heard that Adams in Newburgh will be hosting a seminar on deer resistant landscaping this weekend. It might be worth checking out. Good luck.

"I heard that Adams in Newburgh will be hosting a seminar on deer resistant landscaping this weekend."

It's so very sad that the deer are now the ecological gods, determining the makeup of landscapes and ecosystems throughout great portions of the USA. They consume the good to extinction, while promoting the vigorous assualt of invasives through their own version of natural selection, as well as by the physical spread of seeds.

and I don't see any semblance of a solution coming over the horizon.

It will take a pandemic of some sort, and CWD is not it. Something really nasty has to brew up, something people can get as well. Only then will the imbalance correct.

I wish I had known this before I bought a Blue Prince and Blue Princess. I failed to cage them, and went out to find them eaten! I then caged them ( better late, than never) but the Blue Prince did not recover. This was a couple of years ago. The Princess has grown a little and bloomed this spring. I am debating whether to get another Prince, and cage them for "perpetuity". :-(
Guy S. , I like your solution.....:-)

Kevin_5,

Your words are so true. Aside from our personal landscapes, there are the larger issues of crop destruction, vehicular accidents, and contribution toward the spread of tick related illnesses. I just can't believe that a viable solution isn't out there.

Colleen