Read an Excerpt

Introduction
Considering the explosion of deer populations across the United States and the huge amount of damage that they inflict on rural, suburban, and even urban gardens and parks, it is no surprise that deer and gardeners are seldom compatible. But is it possible to achieve a beautiful, deer-resistant garden without resorting to fences, barriers, and toxic repellents? Indeed, you can still have a lush, thriving garden by making smart plant choices. Many stunning plants are unpalatable to deer because of their poisonous compounds, fuzzy or aromatic leaves, tough, spiny, or bristly textures, and for a variety of other less obvious reasons. This guide presents the most outstanding ornamental examples of these.

The “Bambi” syndrome is fine for those not plagued by deer. Of course deer are beautiful, and yes, they were sometimes (not always) here first, and they certainly deserve to live out their lives with full bellies as nature intended, but there is often not enough food for dense deer populations, and these animals are stressed by modern life and eradication of habitat. Since natural predators such as mountain lions and wolves have been largely eliminated, deer have been allowed to run out of control. A hundred years ago when year-round hunting was permitted, white-tailed deer numbers dropped, so hunters, fearing their sport would be ruined, urged laws to restrict hunting to about three to four months, from fall through Christmas. As the balance of nature was disrupted, white-tailed deer populations exploded.

Gardeners in different parts of the country are plagued by different species of deer. West of the Mississippi River, mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) and black-tailed deer (O. hemionus columbianus) predominate. The latter is a subspecies of the former, smaller and stockier but just as hungry. In the East and elsewhere, white-tailed deer (O. virginianus) make their home. Moose and elk are found in northern regions. While these species formerly lived on the edges of woods and forests, they have now discovered that there are easy and tasty sources of food in a new region called “the backyard.”