Yup, I lost Malva and Hollyhocks to the deer this year. They never even got the chance to flower.

The deer must find plants in the mallow family to be quite tasty. I don't get much grazing in my gardens, but this year they nibbled on the Aster laevis and the Lavatera trimestris - which is an annual mallow. It's very pretty though and is blooming well NOW - after recovering from the deer - despite a light frost or two, which nipped my more tender annuals.

Malva zebrina is a weed for me. I planted it three or four years ago, and I have several seedlings coming back every year since then in spite of digging them out, cutting the flowers off, even spraying with round up. I'm convinced the seeds stay viable for years. So don't worry, I'm sure you'll have new ones next spring.

How I wish they were a weed for me. I've been growing them for years, both from seed and purchased young plants, and I get few seedlings.

This is the first time I've gotten those self-sown seedlings to mature and bloom magnificently so I am crushed. The rest of my garden is done for the year.

It's funny but the deer have never come near them during the summer and, as I said, the woods next to me are full of food for them.

Aw, that's a shame, ginny. I too have had no luck getting zebrina to self-sow successfully so I can imagine your excitement when they bloomed.

Deer... bah. I live near several major highways and fairly close-in to the center of our city, and yet the deer are foraging in my neighborhood as though it were a wildlife preserve. I never see them, just find the evidence in the yard the next day. And I thought that caging plants against rabbits was a drag. Oof.

Deer stripped leaves and flowers off 4 O'Clocks, Echinacea and chowed down on Verbena bonariensis. Nothing is off limits once an overpopulation gets hungry enough.

I stayed away from Malva, gorgeous as they are, since they weren't on the now useless deer resistant lists.

Hope you have luck keeping some of the Malva. Such beautiful blooms!

I like Zebrina with Marigolds. This was a few years ago before the deer decided they were tasty...we had a lot of seedlings coming up around the bricks the following year, but they were easily mowed down(after potting some up).
{{gwi:278309}}

My malva is in its first year,. Dear ate them twice..they come back,but haven't had a chance to flower...I spray deer repellent after each rain. I need a shot gun. And like you I have plenty of woods for them to eat.. WTF