Deer Proof Your Garden with these 10 Herbs - Herb of the Week

Gardening in Deer Country depends on a number of factors including weather, attitudes of neighbors, and the season.  If your neighbors feed the deer in winter, you will have more deer closer to your home.  They are creatures of habit and once they find someplace they like, they will keep returning. But having a fragrant herb garden is a confusing place for deer. They use scent to keep track of predators, so the scents in the garden can overpower that making them shy away.

Having a dog in the yard, even a small one can also deter deer.  Solutions with blood meal, urine, peppers, garlic, eggs and mint also keep away unwanted animals.  Applying these products around your property edge can work wonders.  However, they will need to be reapplied after rain or heavy watering.

If you have a floral landscape you many want to incorporate some of the plants in the following list to add the kinds of scents deer tend to avoid. Here is a list of 10:

1. Horehound (Marrubium vulgare) - A hardy perennial that grows to about 2 1/2 feet; deer generally dislike the foliage because of its bitter menthol-like flavor.  It will self-seed, so dead head the blooms.
   

2. Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) - This native plant comes in many varieties and any will work.  Blooming in the fall it will send out 3 foot panicles in late summer.  You can start form seed or plants.

3. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) - Grow this in a container so you can bring it inside for winter.  You want an upright variety that will be a deer nose level, as they dislike the scent.

4. Anise Hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) Another Native perennial in the mint family, the dense spikes of purple flowers are very fragrant on 3-to-4-foot stems.  Not only will it attract bees and other pollinators, the scent keep deer at bay.

5. French Tarragon (Artemesia dracunculus) This perennial can get to 2 to 3 feet in the second year it has bittersweet leaves with an anise scent deer dislike.

6. Poppy (Papaver orientale) - This reseeding annual has pretty blooms in a myriad of colors and forms.  It is easy to grow, just scatter the seed throughout the garden.

7. Lavender (Lavendula spp) - Many varieties and species to pick from choose the stronger scented ones for deer resistance and the lighter scented ones to cook with.  Start them from plants and stick to the ones hardiest in your area.

8, Santolina (Santolina spp) comes in both gray and green leaf forms, it is a small shrub with strongly scented leaves.  Only 12 to 16 inches tall is makes a nice evergreen edging that can create a nice barrier.

9. Barberry (Berberis vulgaris) another hearty shrub, it has bright red berries and sharp spines.  It is easy to grow as a hedge  and can reach 8 feet tall in ideal conditions.  Place it in the back of the garden where deer like to slip in and they will think twice.

10. Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa) a hearty native milkweed, it has yellow, red and orange blooms that butterflies adore.

The key to making these plants work for you is allowing them to get to a mature size, so protect the young seedlings from rabbits and deer with small cages.