I would skip the shrubs and plant some deer resistant perennials in the lower part of the lovely woods--Hellebores and Arum Italicum Pictum have handsome winter foliage and the Hellebores have very early bloom. Epimediums also bloom early and are highly deer resistant. Then go for daffodils and shooting stars (Dodacatheon).

I certainly woudn't want a huge monster like a Green Giant filling that pretty space--50-60 ft tall with a spread of 20 ft!

Your backyard is beautiful. I found this list that might be helpful. In my experience, Bambi stayed away from the pjm rhododendron, barberry, and the holly. It’s going to be a pain digging in that rock behind the wall, so I agree that you’re best bet will be some shade loving perennial. I had astilbe, columbine, and bleeding hearts that did well.

http://www.myohiolandscape.com/deer-resistant-plants.cfm

Our property is very similar to yours, and we have tried for years to find something suitable. We are overrun with deer! This year the deer have literally devoured plants that they have never touched before, and

it was a mild winter (Central PA). As you can see from the photos, they have eaten our pjm, regular rhododendron, and forsythia as far up as they can reach, leaving the bottoms brown and ugly. Even pine trees (next to the rhododendron) are not immune. The deer even come up on our deck to see what we have to offer them In pots. After 40+ years, we are giving up and letting the woods be as natural as possible. I suggest you do the same.

Deer love tulips but leave daffodils and narcissus alone. They usually ignore the “prickly” holly but have nibbled at our other varieties.

Beautiful place you have. Let Mother Nature be the star!

I have the same as you have around other parts of the house and they stay away from. I agree not to get anything tall I just wanted to beautify the area behind the wall. I know I will have to add dirt but some shrubbery would be nice. The other side I can't as it would shade the garden. I tried Hellebores and shooting stars that they ate.

One caution with American Holly--it reseeds everywhere very prolifically. I have to walk thru the woods every spring and pull out zillions of seedlings. Luckily they pull up easily after a rain.

This hillside looks exactly like our son’s yard in northern, NJ, complete with the daily visit from deer! I’ve tried lots of things for them with little success, and great frustration, but I also find they have the worst rocky, gravel soil I could ever imagine, which makes planting success even more difficult. How is your soil? Yes to Holly - but specifically American Holly, and to PJM (only PJM) Rhododendrons (despite some nibbling), also spireas. Deer also seem to leave boxwood completely alone, and there are some varieties like Green Velvet that have been bred for colder zones (4 + ) that you may want to look into. What is your zone? 5b? Epimediums, mentioned in a reply post above, also were not touched, and did very well, although they were planted in better soil edging a patio. Look for varieties of epimedium like sulpherum that are more vigorous spreaders. The flowers of epimedium are pretty dainty, and are best close up - they won’t give much color wow from a distance, though. Daffodils definitely, especially scattered on your wooded hillside would be wonderful in spring. I have found and read that new plantings, even of deer resistant plants, because they are tender and fertilized, seem to attract deer - especially fawns - for a taste. For a front yard planting, I actually purchased mesh “tents” from Lowe’s to stake over some spireas for their first season. Worth the extra expense, to not risk several hundred dollars of nursery plants! They survived, and are doing well in their third season. My advice is to go slowly, and not make a major investment. Try one at a time and see what survives a season. For easy care annuals in patio pots, our deer don’t touch dipladenia (mounding vs. vine variety of mandavilla) - except they chomped down a burgundy accent spike of something in the center of a planter pot I purchased! Looking forward to following this post!

And if all else fails, ferns and many types of ornamental grasses will always work.

I'm interested to know, since there are so many questions about 'deer proof' plants, why deer fencing or netting isn't used more. It would be well nigh invisible in those woods. Can anyone explain this to me?

I agree with floral, if you're serious about deer control put up fence of some type and monitor it. Deer are creatures of habit. They will start following another route. If someone told you arborvitae are deer resistant by all means seek advice from another source.

See my DEER CONTROL thread.

Effective deer fencing is expensive...

... and not particularly attractive.

The local nurseries that are in rural locations look like prisons - ten ft chain link fence, topped with barbed wire. Much less, and it has to be continually monitored because the deer will pull it down.

The fencing won't look nice and I get herds of deer and babies bedding on the wooded hills. I don't want to disrupt their environment. I know certain greenery they don't touch and fine with it. My wife loves sunflowers and I think between them or chipmunks they don't survive. I have daffodils around the front but after a few weeks it dies. I would love something during summer.

1. Epimedium- didn't last.
2. American Holly when I read about it they don't mention invasive. I hate hedges especially trimming them but wanted something behind the wall to give some more beauty.

I know you have different deer species but the type of black mesh or large square wire I've seen used here is well nigh invisible in woodland. I don't find it unsightly. It isn't chain lInk. And certainly I've never seen deer fencing with barbed wire on it. I suspect that's for keeping people or other animals out, not deer.

If you get more sun in the front yard, and you wife likes yellow, try coreopsis. I planted Moonbeam and Zagreb, and the deer left them alone.

American holly is native, so it can't by strict definition, be 'invasive'. Honestly it grows fairly slowly. I seriously doubt it will take over. And if it grows further back in the woods, great! It can provide food for birds.

why dont all those deciduous trees self mulch the bare earth.. to retard weed growth??? .. when i cleaned the lawn in fall ... i would be dumping all the leaves there if they would not blow away during winter ... free mulch is the best mulch ...

it must be stunning when the hill has green trees ... and i also wonder ... why dont you enjoy it as it is.. rather than trying to plant food for the native deer???

you really only start having expensive problems... when you try to battle ma nature.. rather than reveling in what she provided ...

do you have any pix of it in mid summer ... just see we can get a flavor of such ... what direction does the wall face ... and how much sun will the plants on the hill receive after the trees leaf out ???

are redbuds an option .. those would give a nice early spring pop .. and they are understory trees ....

ken

ps: i have also seen dames rocket in areas like this.. in my MI ... i dont know if deer like them ... though based on the patch im thinking of ... there are a lot of deer there ... and i dont know if its invasive anywhere

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Hesperis+matronalis+in+forest&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

maybe there is a reason i see it too often.. lol : https://www.invasive.org/browse/subinfo.cfm?sub=5702

Some shrubs that aren't particularly tasty to deer are some hollies, viburnums, elderberry, leucothoe, sumac, heather, mahonia, yew & daphne.

(Carex)Japanese Sedge is not a favorite of deer as is a host of ornamental grasses.

Regards,

Will

On another thread, also about deer eating plants, someone mentioned Irish Spring soap....that deer don’t like it. She had taken peelings of the soap and scattered around plants and deer seemed to avoid those plants. Any experience with this?

Oh, good heavens! Yew is deer candy. It is probably their top winter favorite. Perhaps Will M65 means Plum Yew--Cephalotaxus which is indeed highly resistant to deer. But not Yew (Taxus)

Yes,

Japanese plum yew.

Will

But... are Japanese Plum Yews Hardy in Chicago? I saw zone 6 +? Chicago is Zone 5 or 5b?

Bottom line, there are no deer-proof or even deer-resistant plants. They eat death-angel mushrooms & thorny brambles! It just depends on what the particular deer(s) fancy at the time. One has taken a liking to one of my hollies last couple winters (even w/no snowcover) and denuded one, but hardly touched another next to it.

Yeah, I agree about no plant is deer proof, they get hungry enough they'll taste test it. And if they like it, they'll devour it.

Best defense is a high fence or natural fence (high tight hedge of some sort), best offense, a pellet stinging their ass every time they try a nibble. I've been hunting whitetails for over 45 years and testify to them being creatures of habit and taking the path of least resistance-they are stubborn sob's once they develop a routine.

As far as what plants work in your zone, that is up to you to decide. Only you know where you live and what conditions you experience year to year.

Will

When I look at the pic in the OP I assume the area we are talking about includes the wooded lot. if that is so, it is a beautiful piece of property and really should be looked after. I can only say that I would resist filling the area with plants suited only for a supermarket/filling station parking lot.

Deer issues are by far the number one grievance that I hear about. I would find a way to exclude them. Does anyone here know about Garlic Mustard? This link gives the range in the US. Here it is, its blooming now in eastern US. It is a noxious weed and rapidly colonizes in areas of high deer populations.

Garlic mustard is a winter annual, be sure to get all of the root when you remove it. As the native understory is vacuumed clean by the deer, a blanket of GM and Japanese Stiltgrass will move in.

Looks like the OP has kids? If your place is a deer run, learn to check everyone for ticks. Lyme disease is found in areas with high deer populations.

I am working on my front yard plantings. I will wait until the backyard fills in. I planted some ornamental grasses last year. I will send some photos once everything is completed.

The wall in front is getting replaced with belgium block. The other side will have the same as a border. I removed azalea bushes and will need to get new shrubs deer resistant for this area. I alsp transplanted the fire bushes to this area.

sam, your reference to garlic mustard is interesting. This is ALL OVER my lot every spring. What is interesting is that I've never seen any cropped by deer, tho that may be because there's plenty of fresh grass, etc available at that time.

In reference to Garlic Mustard I've never seen any cropped by deer.

That same statement could be made about any of the pernicious, noxious weeds mostly of Asian orgin. Deer won't eat them, they don't recognize them as food. The seed catches a ride on the hairy parts of the deer's body. The link I provided has the geographical range of GM in the US. Anyone within that range, with a high deer population be assured lot of GM to follow.

here is the back filling in