North Dakota Outdoors: June 7, 2021

I'll never be mistaken for a master gardener, and that’s OK. Beyond borrowing the neighbor’s tiller and breaking up the ground each spring, I lose interest in the garden even before the first spuds are planted.

So, it comes as no surprise that when a stray rabbit is clipping the greens, I wonder more about whether my son's trapping will produce another grilled cottontail dinner, than if we'll have any lettuce or peas left. Yet, I also fully understand the pride many gardeners take in their summer produce, as time is measured in weeks and months rather than hours.

While gardeners toil in the soil in anticipation of garden-fresh fare, from the first radish to the last tomato and everything in between, I hear grumblings of the damage caused by deer and other wild garden thieves.

There are ways to minimize these problems. I won’t say cure, or end, however, as dealing with wildlife involves few guarantees. In early spring as you plan your garden, take several factors into account.

First, if your goal is to protect your garden at all costs, an 8-foot-high, completely enclosed, mesh or chicken wire fence is the best deterrent. A less costly alternative is dividing your garden into smaller subplots with four-strand, smooth-wire fence. Deer can easily jump over such a barrier, but they’re less likely to take the leap if they’ll wind up in a small enclosure. The list of homemade or commercial deer repellants is long and includes things like rotten eggs, human hair, soap-on-a-rope, blood meal and many others. Some even suggest planting desirable vegetables such as squash, beans and peas in with food deer dislike. Keep in mind, deer have plenty of time to investigate your garden, and these methods are seldom completely effective.

Deer don’t just nibble on garden fodder. They eat young trees, flowers and fruit as well. One way to deter deer from eating things around your yard, besides putting up barriers, is to plant varieties that deer do not find desirable.

It's much easier and more efficient to plan, as your garden is established, and before the first greens emerge, instead of after the deer and other animals set their sights on the fruits of your labor.

The following plant lists are divided into categories based on studies of deer preference to aide in reducing depredation on your trees, bushes and garden. But don't forget, I'm not saying anything other than an exclusionary fence will be strongly effective.

Trees and shrubs

Deer generally prefer to eat apple (fruit trees in general), basswood (linden), birch, bur oak, chokecherry, cotoneaster, dogwood, English ivy, green ash, hackberry, hydrangea, larch, maple, rhododendron, sandberry, serviceberry, Siberian crab, viburnum, weigla, white ceder (Arborvitae), white pin, willows and yews.

Deer sometimes eat amur maple, azalea, black cherry, boxelder, bush honeysuckle, cottonwood, elm, forsythia, hazelnut, highbush cranberry, ironwood, mountain ash, oak, rose, scotch pine, spirea, sumac, white pine, wild plum and fir.

Deer general dislike barberry, buffaloberry, currant (gooseberry), honeysuckle, juniper, lilac, Mt. Laurel, nanking cherry, nannyberry, ponderosa pine, potentilla, raspberry, Russian olive, St. John’s wort, spruce, western yellow pine, western red cedar and wormwood (Artemisia).

Perennials

Deer generally prefer to eat crocus, daylily, hawkweed, hosta, hyacinth, iris, lily, meadow rue, phlox, rose, sedum, strawberry and tulip.

Deer generally dislike achillea (yarrow), ajuga, allium, anemone, bittersweet, bleeding heart, buttercup, clematis, columbine, cinquefoil, coneflower, coral bell, coreopsis, cransbill, daffodil, daisy, ferns, feverfew, flax, forget-me-not, gayfeather, goatsbeard, goldenrod, joe-pye weed, lamb’s ear, lavender, lily-of-the-valley, lupine, monkshood, pachysandra, penstemon, pennyroyal, peony, poppy, primrose, ribbongrass, rosemary, sage, snow-on-the-mountain, speedwell, tansy, thistle, toadflax and yucca.

Annuals and biennials

Deer generally prefer to eat hollyhock, impatiens, pansy, sunflower and violet.

Deer generally dislike alyssum, begonia, dahlia, dusty miller, flax, forget-me-not, four-o’clock, foxglove, geranium, heliotrope, lobelia, marigold, mint, morning glory, mullein, parsley, periwinkle, polygonum, primula, salvia, snapdragon, verbena and zinnia.