Protect Plants Whitetail Deer Target in New England

Why Whitetail Deer Love Your Garden: Top Plants They Target in New England & How to Protect Them

If you’re a homeowner in New England, you’ve likely experienced the frustration of waking up to find your carefully tended garden looking like an all-you-can-eat buffet for deer. Whitetail deer are beautiful creatures, but their feeding habits can wreak havoc on your landscaping. They don’t have top teeth, causing them to tear and pull at their food. This makes them messy eaters, and they aren’t ones to clean up before heading back to their home!

Understanding what attracts deer to certain plants and how to deter them can help protect your garden while keeping deer at a safe distance. In this blog, we’ll explore why deer love some plants more than others, highlight the top plants they frequently devour, and provide solutions to keep your New England garden safe and thriving.

Why Deer Target Certain Plants

Deer are opportunistic feeders, meaning they will eat whatever is most appealing and available to them. Several factors influence their plant preferences:

1. Nutritional Needs: Deer crave nutrient-dense plants that provide them with energy and sustenance. Tender new growth, young shoots, and flowers are especially attractive due to their high protein content.
2. Seasonal Availability: In the spring, deer target fresh, emerging growth. During summer, they browse on leafy plants and flowers. In fall and winter, they seek out nuts, berries, and evergreen shrubs when other food sources dwindle. During the winter, there are less natural food sources available to them in the woods and they will turn to your evergreen plants to sustain them over the long New England winters.
3. Scent and Taste: Some plants naturally deter deer with strong scents, bitter flavors, or toxic compounds, while others, like soft and sweet-tasting foliage, are irresistible.
4. Ease of Access: If your yard offers an easily accessible and plentiful food source, deer will take advantage of it. Yards that abut wooded areas or open fields are especially vulnerable to deer walking though the area.

Top Plants Deer Love in New England

Some plants are essentially an open invitation for deer to feast. If you have any of these in your garden, you may be at higher risk for deer damage:

• Hosta: Often called ‘deer candy,’ these lush, leafy plants are a favorite snack due to their soft texture and moisture content. Deer often eat hosta all the way down to nubs, indicating their preference for this plant.
• Tulips: Deer love munching on tulip leaves and buds, often eating them before they even have a chance to bloom.
• Rhododendrons: These evergreen shrubs are targeted year-round, especially in winter when other food sources are scarce.
• Fruit Trees: Deer are highly attracted to the fruits themselves as well as the tender leaves and bark. They are known to target apple, pear and cherry trees.
• Vegetables: If you have a vegetable garden, deer are likely to help themselves to your crops, particularly leafy greens and tender legumes. They love lettuce, beans, peas and more.
• Roses: Despite their thorns, deer find rose leaves and buds particularly tasty.
• Daylilies: These colorful flowers make a perfect snack for hungry deer. They will eat the buds, flowers and roots.
• Pansies: Pansies offer deer a source of water, nutrients, sugars and proteins. The vibrant blooms are especially attractive to deer.

How to Protect Your Garden from Deer

If deer have turned your garden into their personal dining area, don’t worry! There are several effective ways to deter them while keeping your plants safe.

1. Plant Deer-Resistant Varieties

While no plant is completely deer-proof, some are far less appealing to them. Consider planting:

• Strongly Scented Plants: Deer do not like the scent of lavender, sage, and rosemary plants.
• Toxic or Irritating Plants: Daffodils, foxglove, and marigolds contain compounds that deer avoid.
• Fuzzy or Prickly Foliage: Lamb’s ear and barberry shrubs are less desirable due to their texture.

2. Use Physical Barriers

• Fencing – A sturdy fence at least 8 feet high is the most effective long-term solution. Deer can jump high and easily get over shorter fences.
• Netting or Cages – Protect individual plants with mesh netting or wire cages.

3. Apply All-Natural Deer Repellents

One of the best ways to keep deer away without harming them or the environment is by using ohDEER’s all-natural deer control solutions. Our proprietary repellent formula makes treated plants unappetizing to deer while being completely safe for kids, pets, and beneficial wildlife. Unlike chemical-based deterrents, ohDEER’s solution is eco-friendly and leaves no harmful residue behind.

4. Modify Your Landscape

• Strategic Plant Placement
  • There are no plants that are truly deer-resistant, but you can surround plants that are vulnerable to deer with plants that are less appealing to them. Perimeter planting is an effective and eco-friendly strategy to keep deer away from gardens and crops. Plant more deer-resistant species along the edges of your garden and the more desirable plants closer to your home. This method creates a barrier of plants that deer typically avoid, discouraging them from entering the protected area. Deer will also typically try to feed closer to the woods line where they feel safe. At ohDEER, we rank the “Feed Factor” of plants based on how much deer like to eat them. Learn more about the plants in each Feed Factor below.
• Remove Attractants
  • Pick up fallen fruit from fruit trees in your yard, trim overgrown shrubs, and limit easy access to deer preferred food sources. If your yard abuts the woods, it is especially crucial to avoid attracting deer into your yard, due to the close access.
• Use Motion or Sound Deterrents
  • Deer are very skittish creatures and motion-activated sprinklers, lights, or sound deterrents can startle deer and keep them from returning. These things will cause deer to throw up an alert cue, and it will no longer be known as a safe place for them.

Feed Factor

• Feed Factor 1: Deer will not feed there unless there is no other option. A plant with a Feed Factor of 1 is daffodils.
• Feed Factor 2: Deer will feed there is there are no other preferred food source. Plants with a Feed Factor of 2 include Montauk daisy and dahlia.
• Feed Factor 3: Seasonal feeding on seasonal plants that deer will not eat year round. Plants with a Feed Factor of 3 include chrysanthemum, heucherella, mandevilla, and viburnum.
• Feed Factor 4: Moderate feeding which is typically year round. Plants with a Feed Factor of 4 include Pansies, black-eyed Susan, coneflower, and impatiens.
• Feed Factor 5: Heavy feeding year round, deer prefer this food source more than anything else and will almost always eat these plants if they are on a property. Plants with a Feed Factor of 5 include daylily, hibiscus, hosta, roses, and tulips.

Conclusion

If you’re tired of deer treating your beautiful New England landscaping and gardens like a free buffet, it’s time to take action. By understanding what attracts them, choosing the right plants, and implementing protective measures, you can enjoy a lush, beautiful landscape without constant damage.

For the most effective, all-natural solution, trust ohDEER’s Deer Control services. Our plant-based, eco-friendly treatments keep deer away without harming them or the environment. Contact us today for a free consultation and reclaim your garden!