There is no sight worse than that of a herd of deer, serenely munching their way through your garden. But you don’t need to despair because there are a large selection of flower bulbs that aren’t considered tasty by Bambi’s progeny. Among the many flower bulbs that deer do not normally eat are Allium, Chionodoxa, Corydalis solida, Crocus, Dutch Iris, Eranthis hyemalis, Erythronium, Fritillaria, Galanthus, Hyacinthoides, Hyacinths, Muscari, Narcissi, Oxalis, Puschkinia and Scilla.

Avid Tulip and Lily lovers have also successfully deterred deer by using some of the methods outlined below. By taking some of these precautions you will still be able to enjoy spring Tulips and the fragrance of Oriental Lilies during the summer.

Deer Fences
The best way to protect your garden from munching deer is to enclose your property with fences at least 8’ high. If you don’t want to barricade yourself in, you can install 8’ fences or 8’ perimeters of high fine wire or cloth netting fastened securely to posts around your primary garden.

Home Remedies
Sometimes fences aren’t option so you may want to try some of these do-it-yourself remedies:

• Walk your dog around the perimeter of your gardens.
• Scatter human or dog hair clippings around your garden perimeters.
• Hang Irish Spring Soap in panty hose on garden perimeter posts.

Apply topical commercial deer repellents after every rainfall. Some of the repellents exude the scent of animals like coyotes, which frighten deer. Our staff has had success with anorganic deer repellent containing mint oil, putrescent whole egg solids, rosemary oil and vinegar, and a few other ingredients.

Create your own stinky concoctions of rotten eggs, garlic, pureed scallions, chives, mint, crushed red pepper flakes and water slimmed with dissolved deodorant soap and spray it around the perimeter of your garden. This mixture creates a very pungent odor so make sure you wear a face mask and garden gloves.

Place a salt lick on the far end of your property, away from your garden, to entice the deer away from your prized possessions.

Try some defensive garden design by planting borders and garden perimeters with Allium, Fritillaria, Narcissi, Garlic, Shallots and other plant material normally detested by deer. You can also try planting tomato plants in the middle of a large garden with concentric borders of eggplant, peppers, squash and basil, which are plants detested by marauding deer.

For a never-ending garden, interplant deer-proof flower bulbs among lush perennial plants. Although really starving deer may taste or even eat something that they normally detest, these perennial plants are normally considered deer-proof: Antirrhinum, Astilbe, Artemesia, Budleaia, Colchicum, Coreopsis, Dicentra, Digitalis, Echinacea, Echinops, Eurphoriba, Ferns, Hemerocalis, Liatris, Monarda, Perovskia, Siberian Iris, Stachys, byzantina, Tagetes and Veronica.

For a foundation planting of shrubs, consider planting Boxwood, Rose of Sharon, Forsythia, Hydrangeas, Lilacs, Mountain Laurel, Potentilla, Shadblow, Spirea, Weigelia and White Alder. Most ornamental grasses usually survive deer munchy attacks too.

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment!
Don’t be afraid to try different combinations of these ideas, suggestions from your neighbors, and even a few of your own ideas. You might come up with the perfect solution and if you ever do, please let me know! GG

Jo-Anne Vandenberg-Ohms works is with Van Engelen which offers a wholesale collection of exhibition-quality Dutch flower bulbs and their sister company John Scheepers which serves consumers. For more information including a free catalog visit their websites at www.vanenglen.com and www.johnscheepers.com or call 860.567.0838. Jo-Anne can be contacted via email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it