Deer resistant landscaping for the Northeast
Welcome to Deer Resistant Landscaping for the Northeast. Hi there! I live in a suburb of Philadelphia, where deer is more than a nuisance. Although I am trained as a biochemist, my hobby is gardening. I have 31 years of “trial and error” experience in dressing up the curb appeal of my own house. I would like to share with you my experience and help you to design and plant a deer resistant landscape for your brand-new home in the Northeast region, if you have the passion of doing it yourself.
Some people like to use graph paper and pencil or computer program to plan the landscape. I use neither for planning. I just plan in my head, and plant accordingly. Of course, I made many mistakes. For perennials, relocation is not a problem. They are also forgiving, as you need to dig up and divide them in a few years anyway. For shrubs, it will be difficult to relocate them, although I did successfully relocate a spirea shrub. So site selection for them is important. I hope this website will give you some ideas on how to create your own deer resistant landscape.
The annuals, perennials and shrubs recommended here are field tested in my own garden. Many other deer resistant plants are not listed here, because I do not have experience with them. Of the deer resistant plants recommended here, only a few of them are absolutely deer resistant. Most of them are deer resistant only to certain degree. When the deer are hungry enough, they will eat any plants, even the poisonous ones. They like young plants, and sometimes they pull the newly planted plants out of the ground and just leave them there. I found protecting young plants with a wire cage is essential. Once they established, they will survive without the wire cage.
