Do deer eat lavender plants? Knowing that they love vegetables and they are incredibly adept at destroying your garden, but will they stay away from lavender? Thus, for lavender lovers, it’s essential to know whether or not lavender plants will attract deer.
Thankfully, deer don’t eat lavender as they dislike its intense aroma and fuzzy leaves. We will discuss why deer don’t eat lavender and deer-resistant plants for gardens so you can maintain them.
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Do Deer Eat Lavender Plants?
No, deer will not eat lavender flower or the plant, because the texture of the plant is a fuzzy one and it is important to know that the smell is also a repellent to these animals. Which means that with the strong smell and texture, deer don’t eat lavender.
– Fuzzy Texture
Lavender flowers spread an intense and powerful smell when they bloom. Indeed, this lavender smell feels suitable for humans. However, deer don’t like this smell as it disturbs their nose. On top of it, lavenders have fuzzy leaves. This frizzy texture makes it difficult for the deer to eat them.
Of course, you may rarely see the deer eating lavender plants. It happens when deer haven’t eaten for days and looking for anything to survive.
Usually, lavenders bloom in the summer, from late June to early September. This season will have an abundance of different food sources for deer. So they will avoid eating lavender.
Nonetheless, deer might take their chances on the lavender leaves during winter when everything dries up and goes under the snow. But that’s a rare case; possibly one in a thousand deer may try their luck on lavenders.
– Strong Smell
In addition to the texture, it is important to note that lavender is one of the plants that has a very strong smell, and the latter will quickly spread and fill in the atmosphere of the place.
When deer are out at night in hunt for food, they will not eat these flowers, because the strong smell is one that will repel the animal away.
Hence, lavenders are deer resistant as their powerful aroma and intense flavor protects them from deer. So you may grow them confidently in your garden.
As you grow a bunch of lavender plants in the garden, it releases the most assertive aroma. During the blooming season, the aroma from the flowers will be so intense that you can sense it from yards away. It becomes stronger in deer noses because of their powerful olfactory sensor.
How Can Lavender Protect The Garden From Deer?
Lavender can protect the garden from deer, because it is deer resistant, you can plant it in a shielding way, and grow in a vast number. Which means that you can use this as a way to repel them from eating other parts of your garden too.
– Shield Growing
When growing in large numbers, lavenders also work as a deer deterrent. In fact, all the 70 varieties of lavenders available in nature will deter deer. You need to grow them in numbers, however.
You may grow the lavenders around the nursery beds and protect the vegetables and plants. As these flowers would be the ones to surround the nursery beds, deer won’t penetrate them to eat tomatoes, lettuce, and other veggies.
Also, the fizzy texture of the lavender leaves will stop deer from poking their neck through the vegetation to eat the flowers and veggies.
– Plant With a Vast Number
Nonetheless, you can’t grow just one or two lavenders and expect them to repel deer. You must grow them in numbers and densely to keep deer away. The best thing you can do is to grow lavender plants on the outskirt of the nursery.
Its intense aroma, with the fizzy textures of the leaves, will successfully keep deer and rabbits away.
What Are Some Deer Resistant Perennials And Plants?
Some plants that are deer resistant are lamb’s ear, bleeding heart, and veronica royal candles. On the other hand, deer would also stay away from peony, bee balm, butterfly bush, and lastly they would even hate to come across some brunnera Jack Frost.
– Lamb’s Ear
The name of this perennial may appear somewhat unusual, but they are excellent to stop rabbit and deer attacks in the garden. It comes from the group of Stachys plants and has thicker and thorny leaves. So, it resists the deer browsing in the garden superbly.
The perennial is a fast grower and, once spread, creates a carpet on the ground. Also, the silvery foliage looks stunning too. One of the best advantages of growing the lamb’s ear is its easy maintenance. They can grow even in harsh conditions. Thus, you can take a little care of the deer resistant perennials.
Additionally, the faster spread of lamb’s ear makes them an excellent ground cover in any landscape. It grows in sunny areas and is drought-resistant. Which means that you don’t need to worry about their growth and watering.
Hence, you must only make sure that the plant receives maximum sunlight, and it will be fine. As you grow it in the perimeter of your garden, it will stop rabbits and deer from grazing in the vegetables there.
Occasionally, a lamb’s ear will bloom slightly purple-colored flowers. It will, therefore, add brilliant aesthetics to the garden. So, you will enjoy two in one with all benefits that come from the lamb’s ear perennials.
– Bleeding Heart
People adore the bleeding hearts, Lamprocapnos spectabilis, for their charming flowers. These flowers have pink colors and a pendent shape that looks like a human heart. Hence, it improves the landscaping in the garden and deters deer.
A tree with up to 20 flowers on a branch adds striking beauty. It looks fantastic on the green foliage.
Also, the leaves are poisonous, and as a result to this deer won’t eat them. If any deer accidentally eat the leaves and flowers, it will cause stomach aches to them.
It blooms in early spring and requires a woodland garden. If you maintain loamy and well-moist soil and take proper care of the plants, they can grow extensively. However, the flower will need support to grow, which means you must be careful about it.
– Veronica Royal Candles
This perennial’s flower is royal blue and resembles a candle shape. So, from a distance, it looks like candles with blue illumination. Thus, it gets the common name Veronica royal candles. The violet and blue flowers add stunning aesthetics to any landscape.
What’s more, the leaves are slightly toxic, and as a result it keeps the most animals away and protects the garden further. You may grow it around the fencing to boost the landscape and as a natural defense against deer attacks in the garden.
You must plant the perennials in full sunlight as they need maximum lighting for growth. Also, the more sunlight it receives, the flower color will be brighter and more intense. You can grow them in semi-arid to moist soil. Nonetheless, you must water the plants properly until it establishes appropriately in the garden.
You will love the adorable flowers, as expert gardeners suggest mixing it with a broader range of perennials and plants in the garden front and fencing so that it would shield other flowers that animals might come to nibble on, plust, it will make the landscape more attractive.
– Peony
Peonies are one of the most popular ornamental and indoor plants worldwide. Americans have been planting it in their gardens and indoors since 1800. They adore it for easy maintenance, colorful flowers, and repelling deer facility.
The flowers are so vibrant that you will surely love them, however other than humans, rabbits and deer will despise them so much and won’t come near them, they grow in a bulky shape and thrive all together in spring.
You might grow them in pots, gardens, sideways, and on walkways, so that no animal would approach these beautiful flowers and as a result you will see them surviving and not bitten.
Once the flower blooms, it releases a sweet scent. Although we humans will love the sweet aroma, deer equally dislike it. So, you can use them to repel deer and enjoy better protection in the garden.
– Bee Balm
Bee balm has attractive and fantastic scarlet flowers. Also, the foliage is green and has an intense fragrance. It keeps the deer away and safeguards the vegetation inside. The flowers bloom from late summer to mid-winter, offering a beautiful landscape.
Bee balms have an intense smell coming from foliage. It will stop deer from eating both the leaves and flowers. However, this intensity of the bloomed flower attracts butterflies and bees.
So, it helps in the pollination of vegetables and flowers. Growing bee balm perennials will work brilliantly if you wish to yield better harvesting in the gardens of your favorite veggies.
It attracts the hummingbird and other smaller birds too, which are excellent pollinators. So, your garden will be full of charming chirping in winter and fall, and of course away from danger of animal bite.
– Butterfly Bush
Butterfly bush is another top deer resistant perennial that grows in abundance with minimal care. Once the perennial matures, it will be three to four feet wide and up to 12 feet tall.
As it grows thick, deer will hardly penetrate the bush to enter the garden. This way, it becomes a deterrent to deer. In fact, it will help you protect the landscape from rabbits and a few insects.
As it grows, the perennial requires moist and well-drained soil. After achieving full maturity, it can strive with minimal watering and maintenance. Its flowers are of different colors, including white, yellow, blue, pink, and even blue. Which means that depending on your landscape design, you can choose from these flower variations.
Also, the perennial forms a thorny shrub once it matures. The shrub becomes so hard that even hours of hurricane can’t damage it, as a result, you don’t need to worry about its existence or growth.
– Brunnera Jack Frost
As the name suggests the frosty leaves of the plant look amazing. Also, the leaves look like hearts, and people prize them highly for such unique shapes. Besides the look, these frosty leaves are also on the dislike list of the deer. They won’t put their tongues on the flowers and leaves. It makes the Brunnera jack frost a highly resistant perennial to deer.
The flowers are bright blue colored and look fantastic as they bloom in numbers. It also requires the least maintenance and will grow in average soil, basically the newbie gardeners can grow perennials without any worries.
Conclusion
Do deer eat lavender plants? No, deer don’t eat lavender plants. In fact, lavenders are both deer resistant and repellant plants. So, it improves the protection in your garden and brings a different aesthetics to it.
- You must grow lavenders in thicker and denser formations to help them resist deer. A few of these plants won’t do the job of protecting the landscape.
- You can grow Russian sage, poppies, irises, foxgloves, and alyssum in the garden. They have toxicity in the leaves and will keep deer successfully away.
- You can’t depend on perennials and plants only to deter deer. You must also ensure proper fencing. So, choose mesh wiring fences to safeguard the garden.
Lavenders, with their attractive flowers, are a brilliant addition to any landscape. The good part is it can deter the deer. Thus, we strongly recommend you use the lavenders as an extra layer of protection from wild deer in the nurseries and home gardens.
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