{"id":2292,"date":"2019-04-15T18:49:24","date_gmt":"2019-04-16T01:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/?p=2292"},"modified":"2019-04-15T18:49:24","modified_gmt":"2019-04-16T01:49:24","slug":"tax-on-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/2019\/04\/tax-on-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"Tax On Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Manipulating Deer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today is tax day and the local deer seem to have figured that out. The deer tax is paid in foliage and flowers, sometimes fruit, but as with all taxes, it would be easier to bear if we got a say in how the tax is collected and what it pays for. (Right?) A trampling herd of deer ran riot last night in several nearby gardens, browsing heavily on newly emerging peas, nibbling hydrangeas to the ground, and dis-budding the roses. This morning, I noticed two moms with twins as well as a few single girl hangers on wandering through the carnage. Perhaps they were feeling the need for some spring tonic in the form of fresh greens\u2026.<\/p>\n

Given the rate of local development, I definitely understand the pressure woodland critters are under. When their own habitat gets turned into million dollar McMansions by the dozen, hundreds of trees and shrubs are stripped off the land, leaving a barren wilderness. As the giant houses are built, tiny gardens are inserted with a handful of token plants that do little or nothing to replace the mature woodland that\u2019s been lost. Add that to the trend for \u201cparking out\u201d wooded properties, removing the abundant understory in favor of bark mulch and a few rhododendrons, and animals\u2019 options vanish fast. When we set out our tasty, tempting smorgasbords in spring, what\u2019s a hungry critter to do?<\/p>\n

Plant A (Hedge)row For The Hungry<\/strong><\/p>\n

One thing we can do to help is not remove every scrap of native vegetation when we tidy up our yards. Instead of ripping out all the underbrush, we can edit, trim, and (definitely) remove recent deadwood that\u2019s likely to burn should a fire sweep through. (I know, nobody wants to think about that, but please do. Rotting, crumbling old nurse logs may smoulder but winter blow-down can burn like a bonfire.) Make a few wandering paths but leave the healthy native stuff as intact as possible\/practical. Where space allows, I love to embellish the woodland edges with lovely natives, from manzanitas, flowering currants, and wild roses to Indian plum, Salmonberry, and Ocean spray. If these lovely plants aren\u2019t already present, add some for your own pleasure and that of the wildlife around you.<\/p>\n

In rougher areas, we can add extra plantings of preferred deer fodder like redtwig dogwoods, which offer lively winter-stem colors and (usually) can grow faster than the deer can chew. Once they\u2019re full sized, deer can browse the lower branches with impunity. If deer are chomping your roses, plant wild ones as a barrier hedge; rose hips feed birds and other creatures, and their bushy stems provide shelter as well. Salmonberry is too eager to spread in prickly thickets to invite them into the garden proper, but those thickets make excellent bird habitat in out-of-the-way areas and are great in mixed hedges that protect gardens while supporting wildlife.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Tempt Fate
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Once we create areas where deer are welcome, we need to consider ways to keep them away from places we don\u2019t want them. I\u2019m always amused by lists of plants deer love and plants deer hate, especially since quite often some of the same plants appear on each \u201cdefinitive\u201d list. Clearly, deer in one area eat things that deer elsewhere don’t. They can also change their habits, perhaps as one herd moves away and another drifts in. For many years, I grew azaleas and peonies without ever seeing deer damage, but one year, both groups were gnawed to the roots. In a former garden, the resident deer family eagerly ate the new growth on ivy (that was a new one on me). I\u2019ll never forget the time a curious deer devoured most of a large and extremely toxic angel trumpet (Datura). I kept waiting to find a dead deer in the nearby woods, but apparently the toxin isn\u2019t as potent for deer as for humans.<\/p>\n

Though young deer will eat pretty much anything, mature deer are (usually) more discriminating. And if there are no reliably deer-proof plants, there are less preferred ones. Generally speaking, deer don\u2019t like hairy, smelly, waxy, dense, or highly textured foliage. So far, I\u2019ve never seen deer eat sword ferns, or ornamental grasses, or eucalyptus, or madrona, or cedar, or Doug fir (though they often like Thuja). Anyway, I prefer to coax deer to stay in certain areas rather than try to keep them away from obvious temptation. I\u2019ll plant lots of preferred browse to entice them to non-critical areas, then use less preferred hedges (often informal and never clipped) to steer them away from the garden proper. With no guarantees, here\u2019s my current list of plants my local deer rarely eat (all of):<\/p>\n

Bulbs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Allium Ornamental onions
\nBegonia Begonia (tuberous)
\nCrocosmia Crocosmia
\nDahlia Dahlia
\nEndymion Spanish bluebells
\nFreesia Freesia
\nFritillaria Crown imperials (specifically)
\nGalanthus Snowdrops
\nGladiolus Gladiola
\nHyacinthus Hyacinths
\nNarcissus Daffodils
\nScilla Squills
\nPolianthes Tuberose<\/p>\n

Shrubs & Subshrubs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abelia Abelia
\nBerberis Barberry
\nBrugmansia Angels trumpet
\nBuddleia Butterfly bush
\nBuxus Boxwood
\nCeanothus California lilac
\nCistus Rockrose
\nCotoneaster Cotoneaster
\nDaphne Daphne
\nDatura Angels trumpet
\nErica Heather
\nEscallonia Escallonia
\nGaultheria Salal
\nHypericum St. John’s wort
\nIlex Holly
\nJuniperus Juniper
\nKerria Kerria
\nLavandula Lavender
\nMahonia Oregon grape
\nNandina Heavenly bamboo
\nPicea Spruce
\nPieris Lily-of-the-valley shrub
\nPinus Pine
\nPotentilla Cinquefoil (usually)
\nPrunus Laurel
\nRhododendron Rhododendron, Azalea
\nRhus Sumac
\nRibes Flowering currant
\nRosmarinus Rosemary
\nSalvia Sage
\nSarcoccoca Sweetbox
\nSenecio Sunshine (specifically)
\nSkimmia Skimmia
\nSpirea Spirea
\nSyringa Lilac
\nViburnum Viburnum<\/p>\n

Perennials<\/strong><\/p>\n

Acanthus Bear breeches
\nAconitum Monkshood
\nAchillea Yarrow
\nAgastache Hummingbird plant
\nAlyssum Basket-of-gold
\nArtemisia Artemisia
\nAster Aster
\nAubretia Rockcress
\nBergenia Leatherleaf
\nChrysanthemum Chrysanthemum
\nCrambe Sea kale
\nDigitalis Foxglove
\nEchinacea Cone flower
\nErigeron Fleabane
\nEryngium Sea holly
\nEuphorbia Spurge
\nFerula Fennel
\nGaillardia Blanket flower
\nGeranium Geranium
\nHelleborus Hellebore
\nIris Iris
\nKniphofia Poker plant
\nLavatera Mallow
\nLupinus Lupines
\nMeconopsis Welsh poppy
\nMonarda Bee balm
\nNepeta Catmint
\nOenothera Evening primrose
\nPapaver Poppies
\nPenstemon Beardtongue
\nPerovskia Russian sage
\nPhlomis Phlomis
\nPhormium New Zealand flax
\nPulmonaria Lungwort
\nRheum Rhubarb
\nRudbeckia Black-eyed Susan
\nSantolina Lavender cotton
\nScabiosa Pincushion flower
\nStachys Lambs ear
\nThymus Thyme
\nVerbascum Mullein
\nVerbena Verbena<\/p>\n

Annuals<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alyssum Sweet alyssum
\nCalendula Pot marigold
\nClarkia Farewell to spring
\nCleome Spider flower
\nEschscholzia California poppy
\nHeliotropus Heliotrope
\nLobelia Lobelia
\nMyosotis Forget-me-nots
\nNasturtium Nasturtium
\nNicotiana Flowering tobacco
\nPapaver Poppies
\nPelargonium Geranium
\nPetunia Petunia
\nRicinus Castor bean
\nTagetes Marigold
\nVerbena Verbena
\nZinnia Zinnia<\/p>\n

Good luck!<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manipulating Deer Today is tax day and the local deer seem to have figured that out. The deer tax is paid in foliage and flowers, sometimes fruit, but as with all taxes, it would be easier to bear if we … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1811,1153,43,130,182],"tags":[281,1865],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1lB7f-AY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2292"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2293,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2292\/revisions\/2293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.loghouseplants.com\/blogs\/greengardening\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}