In the Garden Articles

Those Darned Deer

by Joan S. Bolton

Oh, deer! Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear.

Those cute, doey-eyed beasts are at it again. They're ramping up to ravage my summer garden, my fall garden and my winter garden. The only thing that has survived unscathed at the moment is my spring garden. The roses, the sages, the exotic, lavender Brillantaisia. All are budded up or have just begun blooming. Fresh, young apples are still on the trees.

Yet just days ago, the first four-legged critter strolled through the garden during breakfast time. That was our breakfast time, not his. He didn't do any damage -- yet. He was probably assessing the buffet, in anticipation of alerting his relatives and friends.

We've lived on the edge of a rural canyon for the past 15 years, and had no trouble with deer until last summer. The lack of rain, forest fires and general scarcity of food and water in the back country drove many wild animals into local gardens. Everywhere I went, folks talked about more frequent encounters with deer, coyotes, skunks, possums and even bobcats. In our back yard, the same deer became so persistent and recognizable that I gave them names.

This summer seems headed on the same track: early hot temperatures are already drying out vegetation in the hills and canyons. And while the sight of any wild animal in a neighborhood can cause concern or delight, deer are the most likely to cause real damage, ripping through plant after plant.

How to stop them? The three basic lines of defense are plant choices, repellents and barriers.

Deer-Resistant Plants

Let it be said that deerproof plants are few and far between. Tales have been told that when hungry and thirsty enough, deer will kick over thorny agaves and prickly pear cactus in order to eat the tender, moist undersides.

However, deer tend to leave alone plants that are oily, resinous and strongly scented. They'll often walk right by Mediterranean shrubs and perennials such as rosemary (Rosmarinus), rockrose (Cistus) and Jerusalem sage (Phlomis). Or they make take a nibble, but not devour the plant.

If you can't bear to rip out your roses or other highly susceptible plants, try surrounding them with aromatic plants. Place a swath marigolds or low-growing catmint (Nepeta) around those roses, or plant mint (Mentha), Russian sage (Perovskia) or hyssop (Agastache) around your vegetable garden and fruit trees. Just make sure the aromatic plants are in a broad enough line that the deer can't stretch over them to decapitate the tender treasures inside. You'll have to step over the line, too, to harvest your crops.

Deer aren't much interested in fibrous and strappy or grassy plants, either. New Zealand flax (Phormium), billowy fountain grass (Pennisetum), Mexican feather grass (Nassella tenuissima) and other ornamental grasses are safe bets, along with clivia and Pacific Coast iris.

Native plants are a mixed bag, sometimes even within the same genus. The susceptibility of California lilac (Ceanothus), for instance, is based on leaf size. Larger-leaved Ceanothus, such as popular Yankee Point, is delectable. However, small-leaf, low-growing varieties such as Anchor Bay, Centennial and C. hearstiorum, are usually left untouched.

Las Pilitas Nursery in Santa Margarita has created an excellent list ranking the deer resistance of more than 300 native plants, along with great tips for living with deer.

Repellents

The stinkier, the better, according to the folks that advocate this "scents-able" approach. I'm currently sprinkling dried blood meal on and around my most prized plants, which a friend who lives on 20 acres off San Marcos Pass swears by. At $30 a bag, it's not cheap. But if it saves my apples, tomatoes and beloved Brillantaisia, it's worth it.

A recent conversation with a rose lover in Westchester, New York, revealed another time-honored technique: soap. This fellow, who grows several hundred show-quality roses, hangs bars of deodorant soap on bamboo stakes every 5 feet in his garden. He swears by it -- but I'd swear, too, based on how ugly it must look.

Other odiferous, yet less visible concoctions include commercial or home-made sprays of sulfur (rotten egg) compounds, garlic and hot pepper. Less consistent results have been reported from marking your territory with predator urine or human urine (that's right), or sprinkling human hair around susceptible plants.

If your deer browse at night, a motion-activated sprinkler can be effective. The sudden blast of water can startle them away. However, friends living near Yosemite who tried the device said their deer became so accustomed to the arc of the spray that they simply moved in rhythm to the water to avoid getting wet.

In order for a sprinkler -- or scarecrow, motion-activated lights, strips of shiny foil or balloons -- to work, move them around on a regular basis, so they continue to startle and spook the deer.

Barriers

Netting tossed over fruit trees is sometimes suggested as a deterrent. The trouble is, most fruit is usually toward the tips of the branches, and motivated deer have a remarkable ability to maneuver their mouths to exact just enough damage to ruin the fruit.

Fences and walls are the ultimate barrier -- provided you build them high enough and strategically enough. Unfortunately, deer have been reported to jump fences up to 10 feet tall, and it's a rare neighborhood where you're allowed to construct a fence that high, even if you wanted to.

Instead, folks have devised all sorts of shorter mesh and chain link fences. Electrified versions sport bait stations: when the deer lick the bait, they get zapped with a non-lethal jolt of electricity. Others confuse a deer's depth perception by jutting out at an angle, away from the garden. But you're supposed to leave the ground bare beneath, and the space is difficult to weed. Still others consist of two fences spaced 3 feet apart: deer can't jump both at once, yet get stuck if they jump just one.

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Sources

The following websites offer lists and information about deer-resistant plants and deer-resistant gardens.

Las Pilitas Nursery, Santa Margarita

http://www.laspilitas.com

3232 Las Pilitas Rd., Santa Margarita, CA 93453

(805) 438-5992

California Flora Nursery

www.calfloranursery.com/pages_main/deer.html

P. O. Box 3, Fulton, CA 95439

(707) 528-8813

San Marcos Growers (wholesale only)

www.smgrowers.com/resources/deer.asp

P.O. Box 6827, Santa Barbara, CA 93160

The Humane Society of the United States

www.hsus.org

2100 L Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037

(202) 452-1100

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Seeds of Wisdom

If you suspect deer are munching your plants, look for a "browse line," which is typically from a foot or two off the ground, up to three to five feet high. Munched branches will look shredded or torn: deer can't take a clean bite because they don't have upper incisors.