Flowers this year - Page 2

nancyruhl · January 22, 2018

Ah, the deer population. That is a real issue. They are a strange group of munchers. I find they will try just about anything new. I strongly suggest that for a couple of years, you keep your beds off limits. Once they are established as off limits, they stay off their grazing trail. They regularly eat my columbine. They do not bother monarda, butterfly weed, gaillardia, daisy, snapdragon, foxglove. They have munched the flowers off coreopsis, zinnia, salvia, some coneflowers. I finally moved my most prized ones to my itty bitty deer free zone, along with all my hydrangeas and sedums, and peonies. They also don't touch snapdragons and alyssum. They ate the chrysanthemums last year, just because they were something new. They just can't taste yummy. I don't have experience with lupine because they are a short lived perennial and I want something that will endure. Same with all those pretty foxgloves, except mertonsis which is a true perennial.

GrowingCoastal · January 22, 2018

Here's a site with lists of garden flowers and which ones attract particular beneficial insects. interesting that they prefer certain flowers over others.
https://permaculturenews.org/2014/10...icial-insects/

GrowingCoastal · January 22, 2018

"They ate the chrysanthemums last year, just because they were something new. They just can't taste yummy."

Actually.....depends on the variety! I remember reading about battered and fried chrysanthemum leaves Japanese style. Google says all chrysanthemums are edible but some taste better than others.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/05/s...um-greens.html

I was surprised to read that evening primrose is also an edible green. I hope I never need to know that! It would be too odd to start eating those. And I'm still marveling at the fact that sweet potato leaves are edible.

Cole_Robbie · January 22, 2018

I gave a potted mum to a friend, who put it on her porch. A deer then came up to the porch in the night and ate most of it.

nancyruhl · January 23, 2018

I thought of a few more things things they don't bother. Poppies, penstemon, and perennial geranium. I am very partial to geranium sanguinium because it is a low growing front of the border perennial with nearly season long blooming. They don't touch ferns either.

Nan_PA_6b · January 23, 2018

Deer have never touched the butterfly bushes.

Nan

January 22, 2018	#16
nancyruhl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan Posts: 1,051	Ah, the deer population. That is a real issue. They are a strange group of munchers. I find they will try just about anything new. I strongly suggest that for a couple of years, you keep your beds off limits. Once they are established as off limits, they stay off their grazing trail. They regularly eat my columbine. They do not bother monarda, butterfly weed, gaillardia, daisy, snapdragon, foxglove. They have munched the flowers off coreopsis, zinnia, salvia, some coneflowers. I finally moved my most prized ones to my itty bitty deer free zone, along with all my hydrangeas and sedums, and peonies. They also don't touch snapdragons and alyssum. They ate the chrysanthemums last year, just because they were something new. They just can't taste yummy. I don't have experience with lupine because they are a short lived perennial and I want something that will endure. Same with all those pretty foxgloves, except mertonsis which is a true perennial.

January 22, 2018	#17
GrowingCoastal Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jan 2016 Location: Vancouver Island Canada BC Posts: 1,253	Here's a site with lists of garden flowers and which ones attract particular beneficial insects. interesting that they prefer certain flowers over others. https://permaculturenews.org/2014/10...icial-insects/

January 22, 2018	#19
Cole_Robbie Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Illinois, zone 6 Posts: 8,407	I gave a potted mum to a friend, who put it on her porch. A deer then came up to the porch in the night and ate most of it.

January 23, 2018	#20
nancyruhl Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Metro Detroit, Michigan Posts: 1,051	I thought of a few more things things they don't bother. Poppies, penstemon, and perennial geranium. I am very partial to geranium sanguinium because it is a low growing front of the border perennial with nearly season long blooming. They don't touch ferns either.

January 23, 2018	#21
Nan_PA_6b Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Dec 2016 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 3,194	Deer have never touched the butterfly bushes. Nan