Fw: Deer proof plants
Gary A. Griffith (brdnsum@dpnet.net)
Fri, 06 Feb 98 13:40:16 PST
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> Date: Friday, February 06, 1998 05:46:32
> From: Michael Gochfeld
> To: Multiple recipients of list HUMNET-L
> Subject: Deer proof plants
>
> I'm sure all hummingbird and butterfly gardeners would like insights on
> deer-proofing a garden.
>
> Our deer herd (we're in central NJ)has been cut down drastically (but
> not eliminated) by the continuing development of suburbia. But even
> though wildlife biologists assure us that a herd of deer needs at least
> 150 acres of habitat, that must include highways, paved parking lots,
> and suburban gardens (or our remaining deer can't read).
>
> Deer are peculiar in their tastes, and they must vary from place to
> place, and perhaps even year to year. There are some consistencies:
> they always eat tulips and never eat daffodils for example (neither of
> which are good for hummers or butterflies), but they illustrate a point.
>
> Our hummingbirds have only been seen feeding on Japanese Honeysuckle
> (a no-no for planting), red Salvia and Rose-of-Sharon. I've never seen
> deer eating Honeysuckle or Rose-of-Sharon (a tree Hibiscus), and they've
> never even trimmed our Salvia.
>
> Nor for that matter I have every seen a deer even nibble at Buddleia.
>
> M. Gochfeld