The Unique Plant, Inc. offered the New Hope Improvement Association (NHIA) community a special workshop on Deer-Resistant Gardening. Owner Joann Currier showed us many varieties of plants for both sun and shade garden locations. (Her recommendations are included below.)
The plants all shared general characteristics such as (1) fuzzy or thorny, (2) odorous, or (3) not palatable / poisonous to deer.
We also were treated with a scenic stroll on winding paths through the picture perfect grounds and nursery located at 4207 Oak Hill Road in Chapel Hill.
Many thanks to Joann and The Unique Plant!
Recommendations for SHADE-Loving, Deer-Resistant Plants:
SHRUBS:
Thorns
– Mahonia ‘Winter Sun’ (not all Mahonia are deer-resistant)
– Osmanthus ‘Goshiki’ (or ‘Variegata’)
Not Palatable, Odorous or Poisonous:
– Boxwoods ‘Golden Dream’ (many other types)
– Cephalotaxus (Japanese Plum Yew) – ‘Prostrata’ & ‘Fastigiata’
– Gardenia ‘Crown Jewel’
– Illicium ‘Woodland Ruby’, ‘Florida Sunshine’
– Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’
– Sarcococca confusa and orientalis
– Tropicals: Musa basjoo (Japanese Banana), Palms (Sabal minor and Windmill native), Bottlebrush Buckeye
GROUNDCOVERS & PERENNIALS:
– Acorus ‘Ogon’ (Sweet Flag)
– Carex ‘Ice Dance’, ‘Evergold’ plus many others
– Dicentra exima (Bleeding Heart – native)
– Ferns (Autumn and many more)
– Hellebore ‘Pink Frost’
– Iris ‘Japanese Roof Iris’
– Lamium ‘Anne Greenway’
– Lamiastrum ‘Herman’s Pride’
– Rohdea japonica (Japanese Sacred Lily)
– Others: Arum italicum, Epimedium, Pachasandra
ANNUALS:
Plectranthus
Recommendations for SUN-Loving, Deer-Resistant Plants
SHRUBS:
– Holly Yaupon (Ilex vomitoria)
– Conifers
– Cryptomeria (Japanese Cedar) ‘Elegans Nana’
– Junipers ‘All Gold’, Silver Mist’ (Juniperus procumbens ‘Nana’)
Blooming Shrubs
– Butterfly Bush ‘Purple Haze’
– Spirea thunbergii ‘Ogon’
– Barberry ‘Admiration’
– Agave & Yucca ‘Lone Star’ and linearifolia
Others, especially for screening
– Native Yaupon tree forms
– Osmanthus fragrans and heterolepis
– Viburnum ‘Chindo’
– Wax Myrtle
GRASSES:
– Calamagrostis ‘Karl Foerster’
– Eragrostis ‘Blue Love Grass’
– Nassella ‘Mexican Feather Grass’
– Pennisetum Rubrum (annual)
– Other: Miscanthus, Panicums, Pampas
PERENNIALS:
– Lamb’s Ear (Stachys ‘Helen von Stein’)
– Salvia ‘Hot Lips’, ‘Mystic Spires’
– Kalimeris
– Coreopsis ‘Moonbeam’ (many others)
– Peony
– Euphorbia ‘Blackbird’, ‘Ascot Rainbow’
– Amsonia hubrichtii ‘Arkansas Blue Star’
– Others: Agastache, Baptisia, Calamintha, Iris, Nepeta, and Verbena
ANNUALS:
– Angelonia, Lantana, and Mission Bells