Deer Resistant Plants
Showing 65–72 of 170 results
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Euphorbia corollata Flowering spurge Z 4-7
Small white flowers (bracts), like a baby's breath but better, July & August. One of the best prairie natives, but slow to mature.
Small white flowers (bracts), like a baby’s breath but better, July & August. One of the best prairie natives but slow to mature.
Size: 36' x 24" spreading slowly
Care: sun in well-drained to moist well-drained soil. Drought resistant.
Native: Canada to Florida and west through the plains, Wisconsin native
Wildlife Value: deer resistant. Its pollen & nectar feed endangered Karner Blue butterfly as well as other small butterflies, numerous bees, wasps and flies. Several birds eat the seeds.A favorite medicine among native Americans. Cherokee rubbed the plant’s juice on skin to cure cancer. Also used to remedy tooth aches and gonorrhea. Winnebago cut a 2.5” long root to clear stomach and steeped leaves for a baby’s colic. According to Breck (1851), “One of the most elegant species peculiar to the United States.”
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Euphorbia myrsinites Donkeytail spurge Z 5-8
Chartreuse umbels at stem tips in early spring contrast succulent blue-gray foliage encircling the reclining stem.
Chartreuse umbels at stem tips in early spring contrast succulent blue-gray foliage encircling the reclining stem.
Can not ship to: Colorado.
Size: 4” x 12”
Care: Sun in well-drained soil
Native: Western Asia
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.Euphorbia was named for Euphorbus, physician of Numibian King Juba, father of Ptolemy (c. 50 B.C. – 20 A.D.) Reputedly Euphorbus used spurge to remedy the King’s enlarged stomach. Euphorbus’s brother was Augustus Caesar’s physician. Myrsinites is a Greek word meaning “resembling myrtle.” This plant described by Swiss botanical scholar Conrad Gesner in his book Horti Germaniae published in 1541.
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Euphorbia polychroma Cushion spurge syn. Euphorbia epithymoides Z 4-9
May – June a clump of flashy chartreuse bracts frame each flower altogether growing in a dome 12-18" tall and wide on erect, sturdy stems. In fall foliage turns orangey-red.
May – June a clump of flashy chartreuse bracts frame each flower altogether growing in a dome 12-18″ tall and wide on erect, sturdy stems. In fall foliage turns orangey-red.
Size: 16" x 24"
Care: Sun, moist well-drained humusy soil.
Native: Central and Southern Europe
Awards: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit.Polychroma means many colors referring to the fact that the foliage changes colors. Named by Swedish botanist Linnaeus 1753.
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Festuca ovina var. glauca Blue fescue Z 4-10
Short mound of silvery blue spiky grass tufts. In summer short spikes of blue-green flowers.
Short mound of silvery blue spiky grass tufts. In summer short spikes of blue-green flowers.
Size: 12" x 10"
Care: full sun, well-drained soil
Native: temperate areas in Europe
Wildlife Value: host for larvae of a few butterfliesFestuca is Latin meaning “grass stalk..” This variety described and named in 1881
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Galium odoratum Sweet woodruff, Bedstraw Z 4-8
Whorls of fine textured leaves, like spokes of a wheel, with white blooms in spring lighting up the shade
Whorls of fine textured leaves, like spokes of a wheel, with white blooms in spring lighting up the shade
Size: 6-12" x 18" spreading
Care: shade to part shade in moist to moist well-drained soil.
Native: Europe and Mediterranean areaCalled “Bedstraw” because, according to legend, Mary rested on hay of Bedstraw on Christmas. May wine made an ancient herbal remedy: handful of dried and crushed leaves plus fresh lemon juice steeped in wine for 3-4 hours “makes a man merry and (is) good for the heart and liver.” Garlands hanging in houses in summer “coole and make fresh the place, to the delight and comfort of such as are therein.” per English herbalist Gerard, 1633. Dried branches give a grassy vanilla fragrance, used in sachets and potpourris, as an insect repellant and to make grey-green dyes.
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Geranium phaeum ‘Samobor’ Mourning widow Z 4-9
Very distinctive, variegated, chocolate-green chevron-marked leaves. Nodding, eggplant purple flowers in late spring-early summer.
Very distinctive, variegated, chocolate-green chevron-marked leaves. Nodding, eggplant purple flowers in late spring-early summer.
Size: 12-15” x 12"
Care: part sun to shade in moist well-drained soil
Native: Croatia
Wildlife Value: Deer & rabbit resistant. Attracts butterflies and other pollinatorsOK you caught me, it’s not heirloom – this had its 34th birthday in 2024. In three decades, it will be eligible for Social Security. It’s such a wonderful plant it’s Ok to make an occasional exception. It is a natural, genetic variant found growing in damp woods in Croatia. Named for the Croatian town of Samobor where the very first ‘Samobor’ still grows. Discovered in 1990 by Elizabeth Strangman of Washfield Nursery in Kent England.
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Helictotrichon sempervirens Blue oat grass Z 4-9
June-October spikes rise above a rounded mound of thin, steel-blue, evergreen (sempervirens means always green) leaves – one of the best.
OUT OF STOCK
June-October spikes rise above a rounded mound of thin, steel-blue, evergreen (sempervirens means always green) leaves – one of the best.
Size: 4' x 2'
Care: full sun in moist well-drained to well-drained soil
Native: Europe
Awards: Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden Great Plant Pick, England’s Royal Botanical Society Award of Garden Merit.1st described in Prospectus de l’Histoire des Plantes de Dauphiné 17. 1779. Liberty Hyde Bailey said that Blue oat grass was “scarcely grown as ornamental subjects.”(1933)
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Helleborus foetidus Bear’s foot Z 5-8 POISON
Nodding chartreuse cups with purple accents emerge in March-April from evergreen, palmate foliage. As much as a Robin - the 1st sign of spring.
Nodding chartreuse cups with purple accents emerge in March-April from evergreen, palmate foliage. As much as a Robin – the 1st sign of spring.
Size: 12-24" x 18-24"
Care: full to part shade in well-drained to moist well-drained soil.
Native: W. Europe
Awards: Great Plant Pick Award from Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden; England’s Royal Horticultural Society Award of Merit.
Size: Deer and rabbit resistantThe name Helleborus is Greek from hellein meaning “to kill” and bora meaning “food” referring to the plant’s poisonous qualities if eaten. Foetidus because crushed leaves are malodorous, but the flowers are sweetly fragrant. In gardens before 1753. In 1876 it was a “well known old-fashioned plant…” The Garden.
