Umm…..your deer are anorexic! 😂🤣😂🤣. But seriously, sounds good. Worth experimenting with. I use the deer resistant list to guide my experiments with my 5 goats. Many things they don’t touch until the summer dry here in CA. I’ve found a few things that are absolutely safe all year. Euphorbia (the thicker foliage type like wolfenii), kniphofia, Russian Sage, oregano, culinary sage, Salvia Spathecea. Other things that they prune but don’t kill when it gets dry here Aug-Nov. are ornamental Salvias, Lavender, rosemary, Erigeron karvinskianus, ostespermum (she eats the flowers off every few weeks though) I’m going to try some curry plant outside because I’ve noticed that they don’t eat it through the fence.
@@elsagrace3893 they are definitely not anorexic! I have (over the years) put all my “deer food” plants into six large beds that are closest to our home. From early spring-late fall, we have night motion detector water sprayers that keep them out and force them to take different paths. In the winter and after snow, I toss Milorganite in those beds. Not sure if you can get in CA. It has a funky smell that usually keeps them away until we get the sprayers hooked up again.
Have 3 acres none fenced. Have deer come right up to the house sometimes. But things they’ve never touched: viburnum Juddii, mahogany splendor hibiscus, zinnias, agastache, peonies, lantana, Russian sage, canna Lillies, Siberian irises, American beautyberry, liatris, bonesets, blue cardinal flower, tickweeds, milkweeds, penstemons, marigolds, alliums, clethra, itea, montauk daisies
Salvia, lavender, boxwood, Feather Falls Carex, yarrow, monarda, Cenizo, Spring Bouquet Viburnum. Btw… your series on evergreen shrubs of various sizes is one of the BEST informative videos!! So many YT content creators focus on flowers, and flowering shrubs while ignoring the shrubs that are the backbone of the garden. Thank you, sir for this seemingly overlooked content!
When you were talking about plants that had a lifespan of about 20 years, I checked that box. I am having to take down a very old dogwood tree that has been on the decline for at least 5 years. I will miss the grande dame but I have a replacement kousa waiting. Also, I can't tell you how much I have learned watching your channel. I work in a garden center and your expertise has been invaluable in conversations with customers. Your obvious love for gardening is contagious! Thanks tons for sharing your knowledge with us.
I had to take down a dogwood right out front too. It's hard to lose those bones of the garden. I have a first lady cherry tree in the ground now. As much as I hate to lose an established piece in the landscape, it will be nice to watch the new one grow.
I've been following along for a few years now and always look forward to the Sunday Q and A. Jim, you are my 'encyclopedia' whenever tackling a garden situation or needing sound advice. Thank you for all you and Stephany do. Good to see Miss Holly ❤
With all of the depressing news these days your UA-cam site is like a breath of fresh air. So much good information and entertainment (look hummingbird 😂).
The only thing deer have never touched on our property is our Elephant ears. To be honest if they ate them to the ground I wouldn't care LOL. They did me a favor this year when they ate my sedum. It bounced back with more blooms and very upright. Taught me that the small cut back I had been doing wasn't enough. This year around early summer we started spraying for the first time. It seems to be working. We have some reblooming azaleas that bloomed for the first time in 4 years. Pretty exciting for us since we had forgotten what color they were.
Hi Jim, you have spoken about 'cold composting. Could you do a video of how you do your compost, what you use to fuel it, how long it takes to have compost for the garden? Thanks for the great information and your wit, and great production value of your videos about all things Gardening! Keep it up!
I live on the edge of woods and have never had problem with deer. Probably because I have dogs. Suddenly my roses got eaten by deer one night which has not happened in the 47 years I have lived here. Guess my dogs are getting old. A friend of mine told me a trick that worked for her. She took fishing line and put it about knee high around the plants she was wanting to protect and they left them alone. I was skeptical but tried it around my roses. I have not had a single nibble since. I guess because they can’t see it they get scared when they touch it. This really worked! I know it is a hassle and may not be the most attractive but it could save some special plants!
I believe the deer behavior reflects that they follow diverse landscaping channels. 😂 We have owned properties in diverse areas of the country and Jim speaks the truth, if they are hungry, they will eat or rut on anything. Thanks for the growth habit videos. Wish I knew back in the day what you teach me now.
That was my idea, thanks Jim! I would have sent more pictures cuz that's pretty much all that's on my phone but didn't want to overload your inbox. It was the first time I sent a photo, being a techno- dino I wasn't sure it would work. Your channels subscribers are the best, we follow the best! Not only are you wise & experienced, you understand gardening on a budget. Sure appreciate you Jim & Stephanie 😘 Starting to have leaf drop from my 2 big Oaks around the porch, blower time coming. I was thrilled to see honey bees working my Calico Asters. They're flowering despite the drought, I'll be transplanting some this fall, they've been great place- holders under the Oaks keeping undesirables out while I get more dry, part shade ornamentals for that space. Even the native gingers ( little brown jugs) are looking dry ATM, hope the next rain doesn't miss N. Georgia!
I want to thank you for your videos on all the various individual plants. Especially the Empress of China Dogwood. After seeing yours in bloom and listening to the video - several times- I was hooked. Found one at a reputable nursery in Athens, GA. It was quite large - a #15 container. We decided on a location and proceeded to auger a proper hole for our new acquisition. My poor husband must have felt he dug to China to finally get the root ball room to thrive. Since we aren't at this property in Georgia all the time, we hooked it up to some drip irrigation. Had to get back to our home base in Florida to prepare for Ian. We were very blessed that we didn't flood with 19 inches of rain. No damage to the house, just a ton of pin needles to rake up when we don't even have a pine tree! But we do have woods in back of our house. Hey - free mulch for our magnolia. I digress. Now, we've decided it's time to go back to Georgia where I'll be getting my daffodil bulbs delivered this week. We are so anxious to see how our Empress of China Dogwood is doing. Thanks to you, Steph and all of the plant pros that are willing to share their knowledge.
I always look forward to your show in the early morning before I head out to my garden. I really enjoy having my morning coffee with you. Thank you for the videos.
I have herds of deer daily, my list of never touched is: Hellebores, Daphne, Abelia, Salvia, Allium, Daffodils, Ivy, Pieris Japonica, Camellia, Artemisia, Dahlia, St. John's Wort, Coleus, Tea Olive, Chaste Tree, Thalictrum, Ferns, Basil, Persian Shield, Buddleia, Dichondra Silver Falls, Euphorbia, Bearded Iris, Lambs Ear, Caryopsis, Foxglove, Smoke Bush, Zinnia, Magnolia, Peony, Dusty Miller, Coneflower, Gaura, Eggplant, Leeks, Onions, Chinese Forget Me Nots
Thanks for the info re: house orientation. It never occurred to me that with an east facing house I’d be able to open my windows in the winter to get fresh air! So grateful!
Deer Proof Plants for me in San Antonio, TX, Zone 8B: Salvia (any), lavender, butterfly bush, gardenia, and lantana. Seems to be any plant with a strong herbal/minty or floral smell except for butterfly bush - not sure why they don’t like it, but they never go after it. And the deer here have no fear of entering your garden or stepping up on a porch!
Great lists of deer resistant plants so far! For me in NC north of Charlotte, zone 7b, the deer resistant plants have been: nepeta, all salvias, basil, garden sage, vinca, thyme, oregano, lavender, autumn Fern, Boston Fern, all other ferns, Japanese forest grass, foxglove, marigolds, lamb's ear, otto leuken laurel, butterfly bush, viburnum (almost all varieties), junipers, iris, daffodils, Bluebeard, larkspur, cosmos.
Liquid fence or other deer repellents do work. If you take note of your seasonal natives and what they are providing the deer and when they die out and also note the deer browsing habits you can just use the deer repellent for a few months a year. It also works for goats! I use it for my 5 goats. I have a few unfenced plants that they don’t touch until the end of August when here in CA the grass goes brown. I’m using the repellent on a couple of plants until the rains come and grass grows. Many of my other plants like Salvias and lavenders need to be pruned at this time any how so the goats are helping. They just prune it down. They don’t kill anything.
Located in Oxford, MS. HIGH deer pressure in my neighbor hood. The deer have never touched the Green Giant aborviate, native illicum (haley's comet), frost proof gardenia, or gardenia radicans. But the regularly hit everything else (e.g., oak leaf hydrangeas, sweet spire, and azaleas, etc.
I have a herd of about 8 deer that come through my garden. The only things they haven’t touched are Salviaand lavender. I currently have two varieties of salvia: ‘blue suede shoes’ and ‘black and blue.’ I also have two varieties of lavender: Goodwin Creek and Phenomenal. I am in North GA, and these two varieties handle the heat and humidity well-particularly the Goodwin Creek.
Great video as usual! Ok, deer resistant: Usually carex, salvias, butterfly bushes, boxwood, dystilium, camellias, and abelia. (Spelling) Jim is exactly correct in that you never know what the fawns or herds will do. I had some beautiful bright yellow everillow carex and several were mowed to the ground. Took a while to recover! So frustrating! (I do spray with the I must Garden deer spray beginning in the early spring and it helps)
I am in 7b coastal Virginia. We have herds of deer in our yard nightly during the summer and sporadically throughout the rest of year. They have sampled almost everything in our yard, to include my ninebark and roman candle Podocarpus which are both supposed to be deer resistant. The ONE plant they have not touched in 4 years is the barberry. We have a red rocket barberry and a sunjoy gold pillar barberry and deer seem to avoid it. New to our yard this year that they have not eaten have been the blue star juniper shrub, my monet weigela, russian sage and aster. Not sure they won't get eaten, but they haven't so far.
I would like to recommend a small native tree that is gorgeous ( I work at local botanical gardens native plant beds ) it is the American fringe tree it is beautiful in the spring with white feather looking booms and smells great , it has a beautiful form . Turns yellow in the fall .
I’ve had similar good luck with the plants MD Walker listed, and also rosemary. Another strategy…my deer love poke salad! Poke is a big beautiful plant with berries the birds like. It grows alongside beautyberry (callicarpa), which the mockingbirds and robins also love, but the deer don’t. The deer prefer poke salad to everything else in my yard.
Zone 6. I'd say fothergilla, ground cover phlox, bee balm, garden sage, butterfly bush, oregano, lilac, may night salvia, lambs ear, and cat mint. I repeat a lot of these because the large amount of deer I have to fend off. I also have witch hazel, gaillardia, rudbeckia, forsythia, itea. These last few get sampled a few times but it's minimal.
For my area (Zone 7, Central Virginia) “deer proof” tends to be plum yew, spirea, Viburnum (particularly double-file), Vitex, bearded iris, and daphne. Definitely NOT deer-proof are roses, daylilies, hosta, young trees…we have had to protect a young tulip poplar for the past couple years because the deer completely denude it of tender leaves. Deer pressure is REAL where I live, and has increased over the past 10 years we’ve been here.
Zone 6b: lavender, sage, rosemary, thyme, lantana, ferns, mint, Holly, mahonia, butterfly bush. They ate my tomatoes for the first time this year and my Zinnias. They love host a, hydrangea, and my pine trees.
I have deer probs and 3 plants that have not even been tasted is Japanese Forest grass “All Gold”, pieris, and most ferns (western sword fern & Jap tassel fern). Deer tasted one of my euphorbia but then left it alone. These are deer that even eat my Autumn Joy and (in winter) eat hellebore leaves. Also, they don’t eat ajuga or sweet woodruff. I’m in South Puget Sound, WA State
Jim: just wanted to let you know I went to a fabulous plant sale and heard 3 great speakers talk about native plants at the university of TN, Jackson. Lots of good question and answer too. I knew about most of the plants that were talked about because of you! Thanks for the info and BTW I love my Bermuda grass! 7b MS.
Hi Jim & Stephannie! I lived in Washington state zone 8b on a golf course with herds of deer daily in my yard.. The only plants that were not affected by them consistently were Lamb's Ear, Artemesia , Cat Mint, Lavendar, Canna's, Rhodies, Foxglove, Sedum Autumn Joy, Marigolds, Heather, any variety of Thyme, Rosemary, Peonies. and Pieris Japonica.. I sprayed Liquid Fence on all my other plants which worked most of the time but not full proof. Only very tall fencing with a fierce dog would be the only thing that could possibly deter deer from demolishing your yard!
Hi Jim! I am up in western WA, zone 8a, and I'm a huge fan of your channel! I wish more nurseries carried the Southern Living plants up here because of the plants you feature. The deer that pass through our front yard are ruthless. They sample almost everything, but they have not touched my Red Emperor Japanese Maple, All Gold Juniper, or rudbeckia. Even if they don't eat something, they will trample it (all four of my Tuscan blue rosemary shrubs got hit one year). The questions and/or recommendation requests I have for future videos are how best to screen a border with a neighbor that you a) don't get along with and b) he has invasive plants (blackberries, ivy, buttercup, slide alders) that he couldn't care less about growing into our yard (where the sun shines from). My current plan is a varied, as deer resistant as possible, evergreen border (all planted on our side of the property line) ranging from 5-8 ft wide, 6 ft tall minimum (thank you so much for those recent videos, btw) with native plants to flush out the front. I figure I will need to need to plant far enough away from the property line so that I can beat back the invasive plants growing from his side. Thoughts?
Here in coastal NC (Swansboro), I had a pair of hummingbirds last year through the entire winter. Luckily we had very few below freezing nights. On those cold nights, I took the feeder in and would put it back out in the morning. I have several still here well into October.
We have deer on a daily basis. I live in Silverdale, WA, Zone 8b ... five acres with pasture and forest surrounding garden space. Some things I don't have to protect in our yard from deer: boxwood, brunnera, salvia, lavender, abelia, weigela (well... one was just sampled), rhododendron, barberry, lamb's ear, rudbeckia, loropetalum, artemisia, dahlias, buddleia, cape fuchsia (phygelius), ornamental grasses, primula vulgaris, viburnum davidii, corylopsis, philadelphus, daylily, heather (calluna), dianthus, mugho pine, choisya, melianthus major, schizostylis, verbascum, digitalis, daphne, oregano, lonicera nitida, osmanthus delavayii, iris, leucothoe, hellebores, sarcococca, escallonia, daisies, chrysanthemums, campanula. thalictrum, forget-me-nots, papaver, peonies, ferns, deutzia, kniphofia.
Heavy woods behind my house, lake in front, next door neighbor feeds deer to get pictures, and the herd beds down in the field on the final side. Only things deer don’t at least nibble on are salvia, daffodils, and coneflowers. Have heavily nibbled other deer resistant plants, including butterfly bush, peony, forsythia, magnolia trees, and marigolds. This includes alternating liquid fence and coyote urine.
Have a shade garden under apple trees in Pennsylvania zone 5 which deer frequent regularly. They don't touch ferns, Japanese forrest grass, huchera, or lungwort...__hosta gets demolished every year causing me to spray them this year for the first time
We are already losing tons of leaves here in GA. I’m guessing because if the lack of rain. I have to chop mine up. For one, I have a massive amount because of the neighbors giant oak and two, it’s easier to find the dog poop! As for deer resistant plants, they never touched my gardenias but love my knockout roses which are next to them. They also don’t touch my loropetalums or my viburnum. I just planted an abelia so fingers crossed they leave it alone.
Hey Jim, I love your channel! You’ve taught me so much over the past few months. I’m a new gardener and over the spring/summer I’ve bought and propagated a few plants that I’d like to keep safe over the winter. I have a small house and don’t really have a good place to put my plants inside. I was wondering if you, or someone in the comments, could share strategies to keep plants safe over the winter? Do you think a green house would be a good option or is that more for trying to grow year round? To give some context, I’m in Birmingham, AL zone 7B. I have a jasmine, a baby jasmine I’ve propagated, a Red Dragon Japanese Maple that’s in a container, a tree formed Euryopes, a large Xanadu, a few propagated oak leaf hydrangeas, and a few plants I’ve done from seed such as a Nasturtium. Because of how many plants I’d like to protect, I’m thinking a small green house may be the best route but I’m curious your thoughts on it. Thanks, and I love love love the channel and the community here. Cheers!
My question is: Is there anything that squirrels and rabbits won’t eat? I live in Raleigh and they’ve eaten EVERYTHING. Coneflower, morning glory, holly hocks, primrose, mums, asters, hydrangeas, allllll the vegetables, hostas, larkspur, tulips, hyacinths, irises, bachelor buttons, English daisies, lavender, dusty miller, and multiple types of salvia. I’ve tried everything to the point that if one of my sons see one on the deck or in the yard he’ll scream “squirrel!”, one of my other sons will yell “get ‘em!”, & everyone (including the dog) charges after it. Honestly… by now… the whole squirrel population in my area should have PTSD from my five sons, my dog, & I chasing them with extreme prejudice. But instead, they just get to it earlier, now. I need help 😅😂😢 😭 But seriously, squirrels and rabbits are the devil. Anyone want a bunny??? Free to a good home! Please take multiple. 😁
Thanks for sharing info on oak leaves. I’ve seen those things on the oak leaves had no idea. We have a whole forest around our house full of pin oaks and other oak trees. The leaves are insane here. That’s a good idea just lesson the load by dispersing them further back by the creek but leave a good un-chopped mulch around.
Howdy Jim. I was gone on a two week trip to Maine meanwhile I had a neighbor and my mother watering while I was gone. I noticed I had one of three Vanilla Strawberry tree formed Hydrangeas(been in the ground three years about 7ft) plus a native post oak near by that looks like they may have died. I also noticed that in front of a development near me had several mature(20-30 ft) Autumn Blaze Maples, and Bald Cyprus that look the same. We have had a very long dry period and a hot summer. I have been watering about 1-1 1/2 inches a week. I live near OKC Oklahoma. Dead, stress and will come back or other thoughts. The other two VS hydrangeas look great. Thanks
I have three wooded acres in south Raleigh with loads of deer. The ONLY plant/ shrub that hasn’t been sampled or down right destroyed over the last 34 years are Aucuba.
I thought I had a hydrangea that would not bloom. Now I realize something neatly ate every flower bloom off after it formed. I’m going to try netting it at that stage next year. I was using deer repellent, but I may have missed spraying the forming blooms. Up until now, I was blaming my poor hydrangea
We live in the heavily wooded development, lots of deer and oak trees in Annapolis, MD zone 7b. Too many to leave all the leaves on the beds. I heard they can pack down so much that they prevent water from getting through? Should they be chopped for that reason? Or not? Deer have never eaten my boxwoods, iris, daffodil, hellebores, alpine strawberry, heliopsis, cone flower, pieris, clematis, rhododendron(40 years old and maybe 10-12 feet tall), coreopsis. I spray my other plants regularly with Bobbex all year.
Daylilies, lavender, begonias. Rabbits on the other hand are more challenging. Can you discuss how we can stop rabbits from eating our vegetables and flowers!!!
My deer have not eaten the arborvitae (American pillar) but one did mark one by destroying it with its antlers... The deer have even eaten my hydrangeas, camellia, Japanese maples and the neighbors azalea. They have not eaten or damaged: Gardenia, (diamond spire) Sky pencil holly Azalea I can say the sky pencil holly has help up really well I have 22 of these with 10 camellia and they will take a bite out of the camellia but never out of the sky pencil. The gardenia and azalea are all on a very steep hill so that may be why they leave those alone but I have a lot of them and even the ones on the end have not been touched. Out of all the things they apparently enjoyed my hydrangeas the most as they ate about half of one and a third of the other two.
Trees that my deer dont touch are Yoshino Cryptomeria and Green Giant Arborvitae and most all my Junipers (Moonglow, Blue Arrow etc). All spruces. They do attack my hinoki cypress, hollywood Juniper, and weeping alaskan but only in late winter when food is scarce like February. Ive had most damage on all of these types of trees when young from the deer rut with antler damage in early November in zone 6b.
What deer do not eat (and eat) varies greatly on location in my experience. But there are some plants wherever we have lived, that deer avoid, and even more importantly, other animals do appear to also: Mahonia aquifolium, Pieris japonica and Pulmonaria hybrids. Where we had success, but when we planted elsewhere in the US there was browsing -- in winter: Cephalotaxus harringtonia (avoided, Zone 6 NJ/NYC metro) NB In our experience, rhododendrons, azaleas and kalmias are eaten to the nubs in that area, but this could be given the extreme deer pressure, the deer adapted...
Jim, I pruned my Chindo Viburnums in the late spring, and just to see what would happen I put the small stems ranging from 10 inches to 18 inches in opaque plastic containers with water in them. To my surprise most of them grew beautiful thick white roots! My question is, how many stems should I plant per pot to make a nice plant? I don't want to over crowd them but I do want them to be nice thick plants. Would 5 stems per pot be okay? Thanks in advance for your response, and thank you for all your wonderful videos! (By the way, I ended up with 42 beautifully rooted cuttings!)
Are there any shrubs that are especially good to limb up and turn into small trees? Lately I'm drawn to the look of exposed multi-trunk trees/plants. Thank you for taking the time to share your wealth of knowledge with us!
This isnt a shrub but if you want a fun project to work on get a wisteria and grow it into tree form. It develops a really cool “exposed trunk” and winding cool branches at the top. Since it is a vine you have to have structures for the wisteria to hang on (I used four plant shepherds hooks in a square around the center) along with a strong center post until the vine (trunk) gets strong. As far as shrubs to limb up i would say anything that is commonly used in the art of bonsai.
Do you eat everything when conditions are harsh in the winter time, or late winter time especially if there’s snow on the ground. During the spring and summer if it’s dry they will come to your garden and eat well watered plants no matter what they are. There’s just too many deer no one hunts anymore and they’re over populating everywhere where people have built up cities.
We have the herd of deer problem and the only things they havent eaten for us in zone 7a new jersey are boxwood, spruce, lavender, pulmonaria and hellebore. Thank you so much for the extremely informative evergreen videos. We have a road that was screened with many now mature evergreen trees, mostly cedar, pine and spruce. As you mentioned, the bottoms have all thinned out by now. Can you recommend good plants to underplant these areas to maintain the lower screen? I appreciate the height of the mature trees for noise blocking and would prefer to keep them in. Thank you so much for all your super informative content!
Zone 7b west coast, they dont eat rosemary and holly, but everything else they eat or sample, even much down my salvias and iris. Fence is only thing that works for me to keep them away.
Question related to deer: Since I have only trees on my 1.5 acre lot (other than foundation plants just installed), I wondered if I should plant some things in certain areas that I know deer will eat to give them something to browse on--hoping they will leave other plants/shrubs alone? Or just try to plant things that are considered deer resistant and hope for the best? Thanks for your videos!
I'm I 6a southeast PA and nothing is deer proof in my yard. You don't need to talk about deer resistance. I have a huge pin oak in my yard. It's been struggling for a few years and at some point we will need to replace. I've had fun with planning and planting my succession trees. I have volunteer oaks and tulip poplars. I've added maples and honey locust and cherry and a stewartia. Also added and babied a franklinia. It isn't very interesting now but I see the future.
Question: I am in Saskatchewan Canada Zone 3b. I planted four new ninebarks and I kept experiencing wilting throughout the summer. They seemed to improve after giving them a drink. But now that fall is here some leaves have turned brown around the edges and seem crispy. My question is.. can I move them in the spring or should I leave them where they are until they have improved? What may be causing these issues with my ninebarks? Thanks in Advance.
Deer have not bothered indica hybrid azaleas or hydrangeas. Totally decimated Indian Hawthorne. Have sampled red twig dogwood and stripped hostas before I found repels all spray. 7b central NC
Acorns...I have a beautiful white oak tree in the center of my yard. Every fall the acorn drop is massive & sometimes dangerous ( If one hits you in the head). I rake, blow, get on hands & knees to get the acorns so they don’t sprout & become baby oak trees in the spring. Any tips or tricks?
I recently went on a wholesale nursery tour where the owner had set several (what were believe to be) setsugekka camellias out to be discarded. She asked me if I wanted them, so I brought them home with me. They are in trade galllon size pots but many of them are leggy and not very full. Should I plant them and prune them? Or plant them and wait some amount of time before pruning? They are loaded with buds. I’d like to use them in a mixed screen. Thank you for doing these videos. I’ve learned so much from your channel.
Hello Jim. Thank you for your videos. I have a question concerning Shade/Part Shade evergreens. I have planted several Shade evergreens under 3 willow oaks which give shade in the Spring, Summer and part of the Fall but come Late Fall and Winter these Shade evergreens are in full sun. Can these shade evergreens thrive in full sun during the Late Fall/Winter or do they need shade year round? Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply.
Question about planting around existing irrigation lines. I had pretty much no choice but to plant a mixed border directly on top of where some existing sprinkler lines were buried. The larger plants include Nellie Stevens Hollies, dappled willows, and a few others. How long do you think it will take for the roots to damage the irrigation lines? If it becomes a problem, can I just re-route the lines and leave the old ones buried where they are?
Ligustrum invasive? My property has several tree-size ligustrum, probably 30+ years old. Seedlings pop up all over. Should I get rid of all of them? In this video, you mentioned planting ligustrum at your "old" house. Was it a newer, non-problematic variety? Is ligustrum still a good landscaping plant? Or a bid no-no?
I garden in zone 6b and have white flies in my raised garden beds. They have moved out of that area in to my flower beds on holly hocks and monarda. Will the naturally die over winter? Do I need to do something to kill any eggs in the soil that make it through winter?
Question: I'm in Cary, NC, with a bunch of liriope in different parts of my yard that I would like to separate and plant as ground cover for the side yard. How small can I separate each liriope and how far apart should I plant them. For example can they be separated down to 2-in diameter planted every 18 inches?
Mr. Jim I have a yellow bell (esparanza) its over 10 ft tall, its loaded with blooms, my question is can I limb it up, there are limbs on the ground. Thank you so much, Im in east texas zone 8b. I have learned so much from you. Thanks.
Question: I planted a white dogwood tree in the spring (about 4ft tall) and late summer deer came through and ate all the leaves. Will the tree survive and if it does, how can I deter the deer from eating it next year? Can I put a fruit net or something over it?
My west side back porch is brutal in summer. I enclosed my porch with ezebrreeze windows. It makes my porch like a greenhouse in winter. It will be 80 degrees on a 30 degree day. But summer it is not usable. I have planted a live oak on the south side if the yard but sadly, my septic drain field is on side that should have a large tree to provide summer shade.
Hey Jim! Love your channel and these weekly Q&As! I’m in Archdale NC zone 7b. I finally found an osmanthus fragrans in my area and picked it up. Is it ok to go ahead and put it in the ground or do I need to baby it through the winter and plant it in the spring? Thanks again!
Hi Jim thanks for very informative video. I recently building backyard propagation tunnel using 90% shade net and I have set up misting system with HTC Led automatic timer which have 3 programs schedule , my cycle is on for 10sec and off 20min and my climate in south Africa it's summer it's very hot can I turn up the frequency of misting without saturate my rose cuttings
Lilacs seem never bothered, but I'm not a huge fan of lilacs, so I don't check carefully. Gladiolus for me got the flowers eaten off in every case, so the deer not liking the foliage isn't much of a recommendation. They truly don't touch daffodils.
Jim - I know you've answered many questions about mulch, but let me pose my question specifically - I have bags of pine bark nuggets from Lowes that are from garden pro jcm (grant county w va) but it doesn't have the seal of the mulch and soil council. I also have bags of Scott's best mulch with the seal from the mulch and soil council but it's dyed naturally. This is so confusing to me. I want to use these in my flower beds (not food production) - what are your thoughts on both of these products. I do care about my soil in the long run and for many years I've just been using compost - mostly leaf gro, but this year I applied black cow. Thanks so much if you have the time to address this 🙂
I would be willing to bet my deer predation is about as bad as it gets in the lower 48. I have lived and gardened in 4 different regions in the USA and where I am now on the Kitsap Peninsula Western Washington (zone 8, wooded, on a deer trail, but lots of population growth in last 10 years) is the worst for deer and, short of a very expensive 8 foot tall fence, I have tried it all in my 20+ years here . Things they, and the rabbits, always leave alone here make a pretty short list but include: rhododendrons, hellebores, sarcococca, vitex, magnolia grandiflora, acers, monarda, brunnera, buddleia, parrotia, mahonia, viburnum, lambs ear, St John's wort, mint, salvia, brugmansia, datura, ricinus, foxgloves, mullein, red buds, epimedium, dicentra, lavender, cannas, daffodils, dogwood trees, (but they eat the shrubs), ribes, tri color beech, katsura, ferns, etc. I purchased some lorapetalum and osmanthus and have them potted up to see if the deer are going to eat them before I go to the trouble of planting and, even though they are sitting amongst plants the deer are eating, so far so good on lorapetalum and osmanthus.
I have some brown turkey fig cuttings I took a few weeks back and are starting to leaf out now. Should I keep growing them indoors thru the winter or let them go dormant just after leafing out?
100% deer proof plants for me (zone 7a, rural/wooded subdivision near Annapolis, MD): saracoccoa (sweetbox), kalmia (mountain laurel), loropetalum, buddlea (butterfly bush), Japanese snowbell, Stewartia pseudo-camellia, camellia japonica & sasanqua, leucothoe, skimmia, pieris japonica, pjm rhododendron, catawbiense rhododendron, illicium (woodland ruby, banappeal, Florida sunshine, pink frost), mahonia (marvel & soft touch), American holly, skip laurel, Otto luekens laurel, fragrant tea olive, deutzia, spirea japonica, mondo grass, ferns (Christmas, cinammon, autumn brilliance, ostrich, Japanese painted, lady), carex (have 10+ varieties), New Zealand sedge grasses, blue dart rush, Japanese forest grass, Canadian & European ginger, geranium macrorhyzzum, white wood aster divaricatus, lamium, Japanese pachysandra, Russian sage, Stachys (lambs ear & hummelo), wall germander, agastache, iris (dwarf crested, Siberian, Japanese roof), thread leaf coreopsis, nepeta, perennial salvia, Veronica (Georgia blue, various spiked), peonies, alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle), juniper (gold mop, blue star), hypericum (tri-color & golden rule), creeping thyme, epimedium, plumbago (leadwort), dianthus, Max Frei saponaria, acorus ogon (sweet flag), ajuga, ornamental allium, pennisetum, ornamental oregano, aralia sun king, Japanese holly Helleri, astilbe, bleeding heart, brunnera. Whew!! Took 25+ years of trial & error…but I can plant all of these without worry of deer damage on our 2 acre wooded lot with tons of deer. I rely heavily on Rutger University’s deer resistance ratings of plants. Google to find their lists/ratings. Good luck, everyone!
Umm…..your deer are anorexic! 😂🤣😂🤣. But seriously, sounds good. Worth experimenting with. I use the deer resistant list to guide my experiments with my 5 goats. Many things they don’t touch until the summer dry here in CA. I’ve found a few things that are absolutely safe all year. Euphorbia (the thicker foliage type like wolfenii), kniphofia, Russian Sage, oregano, culinary sage, Salvia Spathecea. Other things that they prune but don’t kill when it gets dry here Aug-Nov. are ornamental Salvias, Lavender, rosemary, Erigeron karvinskianus, ostespermum (she eats the flowers off every few weeks though) I’m going to try some curry plant outside because I’ve noticed that they don’t eat it through the fence.
YO md walker.. incredible list thanks
@@elsagrace3893 they are definitely not anorexic! I have (over the years) put all my “deer food” plants into six large beds that are closest to our home. From early spring-late fall, we have night motion detector water sprayers that keep them out and force them to take different paths. In the winter and after snow, I toss Milorganite in those beds. Not sure if you can get in CA. It has a funky smell that usually keeps them away until we get the sprayers hooked up again.
@@chompers11 hope they work for you! I forgot to list hellebores.
Wow, thank you for such an extensive list! That gives us hope!
Have 3 acres none fenced. Have deer come right up to the house sometimes. But things they’ve never touched: viburnum Juddii, mahogany splendor hibiscus, zinnias, agastache, peonies, lantana, Russian sage, canna Lillies, Siberian irises, American beautyberry, liatris, bonesets, blue cardinal flower, tickweeds, milkweeds, penstemons, marigolds, alliums, clethra, itea, montauk daisies
Salvia, lavender, boxwood, Feather Falls Carex, yarrow, monarda, Cenizo, Spring Bouquet Viburnum. Btw… your series on evergreen shrubs of various sizes is one of the BEST informative videos!! So many YT content creators focus on flowers, and flowering shrubs while ignoring the shrubs that are the backbone of the garden. Thank you, sir for this seemingly overlooked content!
Totally agree! Well said!
When you were talking about plants that had a lifespan of about 20 years, I checked that box. I am having to take down a very old dogwood tree that has been on the decline for at least 5 years. I will miss the grande dame but I have a replacement kousa waiting. Also, I can't tell you how much I have learned watching your channel. I work in a garden center and your expertise has been invaluable in conversations with customers. Your obvious love for gardening is contagious! Thanks tons for sharing your knowledge with us.
I had to take down a dogwood right out front too. It's hard to lose those bones of the garden. I have a first lady cherry tree in the ground now. As much as I hate to lose an established piece in the landscape, it will be nice to watch the new one grow.
I've been following along for a few years now and always look forward to the Sunday Q and A. Jim, you are my 'encyclopedia' whenever tackling a garden situation or needing sound advice. Thank you for all you and Stephany do. Good to see Miss Holly ❤
With all of the depressing news these days your UA-cam site is like a breath of fresh air. So much good information and entertainment (look hummingbird 😂).
The only thing deer have never touched on our property is our Elephant ears. To be honest if they ate them to the ground I wouldn't care LOL. They did me a favor this year when they ate my sedum. It bounced back with more blooms and very upright. Taught me that the small cut back I had been doing wasn't enough. This year around early summer we started spraying for the first time. It seems to be working. We have some reblooming azaleas that bloomed for the first time in 4 years. Pretty exciting for us since we had forgotten what color they were.
Hi Jim, you have spoken about 'cold composting. Could you do a video of how you do your compost, what you use to fuel it, how long it takes to have compost for the garden? Thanks for the great information and your wit, and great production value of your videos about all things Gardening! Keep it up!
i second that idea.
I live on the edge of woods and have never had problem with deer. Probably because I have dogs. Suddenly my roses got eaten by deer one night which has not happened in the 47 years I have lived here. Guess my dogs are getting old. A friend of mine told me a trick that worked for her. She took fishing line and put it about knee high around the plants she was wanting to protect and they left them alone. I was skeptical but tried it around my roses. I have not had a single nibble since. I guess because they can’t see it they get scared when they touch it. This really worked! I know it is a hassle and may not be the most attractive but it could save some special plants!
I believe the deer behavior reflects that they follow diverse landscaping channels. 😂 We have owned properties in diverse areas of the country and Jim speaks the truth, if they are hungry, they will eat or rut on anything.
Thanks for the growth habit videos. Wish I knew back in the day what you teach me now.
That was my idea, thanks Jim! I would have sent more pictures cuz that's pretty much all that's on my phone but didn't want to overload your inbox. It was the first time I sent a photo, being a techno- dino I wasn't sure it would work. Your channels subscribers are the best, we follow the best! Not only are you wise & experienced, you understand gardening on a budget. Sure appreciate you Jim & Stephanie 😘
Starting to have leaf drop from my 2 big Oaks around the porch, blower time coming. I was thrilled to see honey bees working my Calico Asters. They're flowering despite the drought, I'll be transplanting some this fall, they've been great place- holders under the Oaks keeping undesirables out while I get more dry, part shade ornamentals for that space. Even the native gingers ( little brown jugs) are looking dry ATM, hope the next rain doesn't miss N. Georgia!
I want to thank you for your videos on all the various individual plants. Especially the Empress of China Dogwood. After seeing yours in bloom and listening to the video - several times- I was hooked. Found one at a reputable nursery in Athens, GA. It was quite large - a #15 container. We decided on a location and proceeded to auger a proper hole for our new acquisition. My poor husband must have felt he dug to China to finally get the root ball room to thrive. Since we aren't at this property in Georgia all the time, we hooked it up to some drip irrigation. Had to get back to our home base in Florida to prepare for Ian. We were very blessed that we didn't flood with 19 inches of rain. No damage to the house, just a ton of pin needles to rake up when we don't even have a pine tree! But we do have woods in back of our house. Hey - free mulch for our magnolia. I digress. Now, we've decided it's time to go back to Georgia where I'll be getting my daffodil bulbs delivered this week. We are so anxious to see how our Empress of China Dogwood is doing. Thanks to you, Steph and all of the plant pros that are willing to share their knowledge.
I always look forward to your show in the early morning before I head out to my garden. I really enjoy having my morning coffee with you. Thank you for the videos.
I have herds of deer daily, my list of never touched is: Hellebores, Daphne, Abelia, Salvia, Allium, Daffodils, Ivy, Pieris Japonica, Camellia, Artemisia, Dahlia, St. John's Wort, Coleus, Tea Olive, Chaste Tree, Thalictrum, Ferns, Basil, Persian Shield, Buddleia, Dichondra Silver Falls, Euphorbia, Bearded Iris, Lambs Ear, Caryopsis, Foxglove, Smoke Bush, Zinnia, Magnolia, Peony, Dusty Miller, Coneflower, Gaura, Eggplant, Leeks, Onions, Chinese Forget Me Nots
Your fluffy boutonnière does a fine job of blocking background noise. I didn't hear the construction sounds at all.
Thanks for the info re: house orientation. It never occurred to me that with an east facing house I’d be able to open my windows in the winter to get fresh air! So grateful!
Deer Proof Plants for me in San Antonio, TX, Zone 8B: Salvia (any), lavender, butterfly bush, gardenia, and lantana. Seems to be any plant with a strong herbal/minty or floral smell except for butterfly bush - not sure why they don’t like it, but they never go after it. And the deer here have no fear of entering your garden or stepping up on a porch!
Lavender, santolina, rosemary, oregano, salvia, Russian sage, agave
Great lists of deer resistant plants so far! For me in NC north of Charlotte, zone 7b, the deer resistant plants have been: nepeta, all salvias, basil, garden sage, vinca, thyme, oregano, lavender, autumn Fern, Boston Fern, all other ferns, Japanese forest grass, foxglove, marigolds, lamb's ear, otto leuken laurel, butterfly bush, viburnum (almost all varieties), junipers, iris, daffodils, Bluebeard, larkspur, cosmos.
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Liquid fence or other deer repellents do work. If you take note of your seasonal natives and what they are providing the deer and when they die out and also note the deer browsing habits you can just use the deer repellent for a few months a year. It also works for goats! I use it for my 5 goats. I have a few unfenced plants that they don’t touch until the end of August when here in CA the grass goes brown. I’m using the repellent on a couple of plants until the rains come and grass grows. Many of my other plants like Salvias and lavenders need to be pruned at this time any how so the goats are helping. They just prune it down. They don’t kill anything.
Located in Oxford, MS. HIGH deer pressure in my neighbor hood. The deer have never touched the Green Giant aborviate, native illicum (haley's comet), frost proof gardenia, or gardenia radicans. But the regularly hit everything else (e.g., oak leaf hydrangeas, sweet spire, and azaleas, etc.
I have a herd of about 8 deer that come through my garden. The only things they haven’t touched are Salviaand lavender. I currently have two varieties of salvia: ‘blue suede shoes’ and ‘black and blue.’ I also have two varieties of lavender: Goodwin Creek and Phenomenal. I am in North GA, and these two varieties handle the heat and humidity well-particularly the Goodwin Creek.
Deer never mess with my Hardy Hibiscus, but the Japanese beetles are another story.
Deers, oh boy! No plant is deer proof..they will sample if they're hungry enough..
Great video!
So true! I had them eat my hyacinths, Japanese maple (which they love) salvia and even lavender!
Great video as usual!
Ok, deer resistant:
Usually carex, salvias, butterfly bushes, boxwood, dystilium, camellias, and abelia. (Spelling)
Jim is exactly correct in that you never know what the fawns or herds will do. I had some beautiful bright yellow everillow carex and several were mowed to the ground. Took a while to recover! So frustrating!
(I do spray with the I must Garden deer spray beginning in the early spring and it helps)
I am in 7b coastal Virginia. We have herds of deer in our yard nightly during the summer and sporadically throughout the rest of year. They have sampled almost everything in our yard, to include my ninebark and roman candle Podocarpus which are both supposed to be deer resistant. The ONE plant they have not touched in 4 years is the barberry. We have a red rocket barberry and a sunjoy gold pillar barberry and deer seem to avoid it. New to our yard this year that they have not eaten have been the blue star juniper shrub, my monet weigela, russian sage and aster. Not sure they won't get eaten, but they haven't so far.
I would like to recommend a small native tree that is gorgeous ( I work at local botanical gardens native plant beds ) it is the American fringe tree it is beautiful in the spring with white feather looking booms and smells great , it has a beautiful form . Turns yellow in the fall .
I love that tree. Definitely underused in our area.
Nice tree. Needs a little sun to bloom well. We call it grancy greybeard or granddaddy greybeard.
The deers never touch the salvia.
In NJ….herds of deer have never sampled artemisia wormwood (highly fragrant), native penstemon, vinca, daffodils
I’ve had similar good luck with the plants MD Walker listed, and also rosemary. Another strategy…my deer love poke salad! Poke is a big beautiful plant with berries the birds like. It grows alongside beautyberry (callicarpa), which the mockingbirds and robins also love, but the deer don’t. The deer prefer poke salad to everything else in my yard.
Zone 6. I'd say fothergilla, ground cover phlox, bee balm, garden sage, butterfly bush, oregano, lilac, may night salvia, lambs ear, and cat mint. I repeat a lot of these because the large amount of deer I have to fend off. I also have witch hazel, gaillardia, rudbeckia, forsythia, itea. These last few get sampled a few times but it's minimal.
Hello Jim! I like your Sunday video. Thank you for interesting videos👍🌻💙
Deer family in front lawn haven’t touch my potted Boston Ferns this year. Ate all kinds of things I tried to pot up last year. Zone 8b
My mom has great luck keeping the deer away with Mexican petunias, Russian sage, and pineapple guava plant.
My deer do eat Mexican petunias -- just the flowers though!
Zone 8 A deer resistant plant Salvia Greggi
For my area (Zone 7, Central Virginia) “deer proof” tends to be plum yew, spirea, Viburnum (particularly double-file), Vitex, bearded iris, and daphne. Definitely NOT deer-proof are roses, daylilies, hosta, young trees…we have had to protect a young tulip poplar for the past couple years because the deer completely denude it of tender leaves. Deer pressure is REAL where I live, and has increased over the past 10 years we’ve been here.
Zone 6b: lavender, sage, rosemary, thyme, lantana, ferns, mint, Holly, mahonia, butterfly bush. They ate my tomatoes for the first time this year and my Zinnias. They love host a, hydrangea, and my pine trees.
I have deer probs and 3 plants that have not even been tasted is Japanese Forest grass “All Gold”, pieris, and most ferns (western sword fern & Jap tassel fern). Deer tasted one of my euphorbia but then left it alone. These are deer that even eat my Autumn Joy and (in winter) eat hellebore leaves. Also, they don’t eat ajuga or sweet woodruff. I’m in South Puget Sound, WA State
Jim: just wanted to let you know I went to a fabulous plant sale and heard 3 great speakers talk about native plants at the university of TN, Jackson. Lots of good question and answer too. I knew about most of the plants that were talked about because of you! Thanks for the info and BTW I love my Bermuda grass! 7b MS.
Hi Jim & Stephannie! I lived in Washington state zone 8b on a golf course with herds of deer daily in my yard.. The only plants that were not affected by them consistently were Lamb's Ear, Artemesia , Cat Mint, Lavendar, Canna's, Rhodies, Foxglove, Sedum Autumn Joy, Marigolds, Heather, any variety of Thyme, Rosemary, Peonies. and Pieris Japonica.. I sprayed Liquid Fence on all my other plants which worked most of the time but not full proof. Only very tall fencing with a fierce dog would be the only thing that could possibly deter deer from demolishing your yard!
Hi Jim! I am up in western WA, zone 8a, and I'm a huge fan of your channel! I wish more nurseries carried the Southern Living plants up here because of the plants you feature. The deer that pass through our front yard are ruthless. They sample almost everything, but they have not touched my Red Emperor Japanese Maple, All Gold Juniper, or rudbeckia. Even if they don't eat something, they will trample it (all four of my Tuscan blue rosemary shrubs got hit one year). The questions and/or recommendation requests I have for future videos are how best to screen a border with a neighbor that you a) don't get along with and b) he has invasive plants (blackberries, ivy, buttercup, slide alders) that he couldn't care less about growing into our yard (where the sun shines from). My current plan is a varied, as deer resistant as possible, evergreen border (all planted on our side of the property line) ranging from 5-8 ft wide, 6 ft tall minimum (thank you so much for those recent videos, btw) with native plants to flush out the front. I figure I will need to need to plant far enough away from the property line so that I can beat back the invasive plants growing from his side. Thoughts?
Here in coastal NC (Swansboro), I had a pair of hummingbirds last year through the entire winter. Luckily we had very few below freezing nights. On those cold nights, I took the feeder in and would put it back out in the morning. I have several still here well into October.
We have deer on a daily basis. I live in Silverdale, WA, Zone 8b ... five acres with pasture and forest surrounding garden space. Some things I don't have to protect in our yard from deer: boxwood, brunnera, salvia, lavender, abelia, weigela (well... one was just sampled), rhododendron, barberry, lamb's ear, rudbeckia, loropetalum, artemisia, dahlias, buddleia, cape fuchsia (phygelius), ornamental grasses, primula vulgaris, viburnum davidii, corylopsis, philadelphus, daylily, heather (calluna), dianthus, mugho pine, choisya, melianthus major, schizostylis, verbascum, digitalis, daphne, oregano, lonicera nitida, osmanthus delavayii, iris, leucothoe, hellebores, sarcococca, escallonia, daisies, chrysanthemums, campanula. thalictrum, forget-me-nots, papaver, peonies, ferns, deutzia, kniphofia.
Hi. Caryopteris (snow fairy and sunshine blue) is my #1 deer proof 😊 plant. Zone 5/Kansas City area. Love your channel!
Heavy woods behind my house, lake in front, next door neighbor feeds deer to get pictures, and the herd beds down in the field on the final side. Only things deer don’t at least nibble on are salvia, daffodils, and coneflowers. Have heavily nibbled other deer resistant plants, including butterfly bush, peony, forsythia, magnolia trees, and marigolds. This includes alternating liquid fence and coyote urine.
Interesting point about repruning Callicarpa Americana again in June. I’ll have to remember that! 👍
Have a shade garden under apple trees in Pennsylvania zone 5 which deer frequent regularly. They don't touch ferns, Japanese forrest grass, huchera, or lungwort...__hosta gets demolished every year causing me to spray them this year for the first time
We are already losing tons of leaves here in GA. I’m guessing because if the lack of rain. I have to chop mine up. For one, I have a massive amount because of the neighbors giant oak and two, it’s easier to find the dog poop!
As for deer resistant plants, they never touched my gardenias but love my knockout roses which are next to them. They also don’t touch my loropetalums or my viburnum. I just planted an abelia so fingers crossed they leave it alone.
Hey Jim, I love your channel! You’ve taught me so much over the past few months. I’m a new gardener and over the spring/summer I’ve bought and propagated a few plants that I’d like to keep safe over the winter. I have a small house and don’t really have a good place to put my plants inside. I was wondering if you, or someone in the comments, could share strategies to keep plants safe over the winter? Do you think a green house would be a good option or is that more for trying to grow year round? To give some context, I’m in Birmingham, AL zone 7B. I have a jasmine, a baby jasmine I’ve propagated, a Red Dragon Japanese Maple that’s in a container, a tree formed Euryopes, a large Xanadu, a few propagated oak leaf hydrangeas, and a few plants I’ve done from seed such as a Nasturtium. Because of how many plants I’d like to protect, I’m thinking a small green house may be the best route but I’m curious your thoughts on it. Thanks, and I love love love the channel and the community here. Cheers!
My question is: Is there anything that squirrels and rabbits won’t eat? I live in Raleigh and they’ve eaten EVERYTHING. Coneflower, morning glory, holly hocks, primrose, mums, asters, hydrangeas, allllll the vegetables, hostas, larkspur, tulips, hyacinths, irises, bachelor buttons, English daisies, lavender, dusty miller, and multiple types of salvia. I’ve tried everything to the point that if one of my sons see one on the deck or in the yard he’ll scream “squirrel!”, one of my other sons will yell “get ‘em!”, & everyone (including the dog) charges after it. Honestly… by now… the whole squirrel population in my area should have PTSD from my five sons, my dog, & I chasing them with extreme prejudice. But instead, they just get to it earlier, now. I need help 😅😂😢 😭 But seriously, squirrels and rabbits are the devil. Anyone want a bunny??? Free to a good home! Please take multiple. 😁
Thanks for sharing info on oak leaves. I’ve seen those things on the oak leaves had no idea. We have a whole forest around our house full of pin oaks and other oak trees. The leaves are insane here. That’s a good idea just lesson the load by dispersing them further back by the creek but leave a good un-chopped mulch around.
Great video , is there anything you can do to help with browning of evergreen 🌲 thua. Was doing fine few months after planting now half brown. Thanks
Howdy Jim. I was gone on a two week trip to Maine meanwhile I had a neighbor and my mother watering while I was gone. I noticed I had one of three Vanilla Strawberry tree formed Hydrangeas(been in the ground three years about 7ft) plus a native post oak near by that looks like they may have died. I also noticed that in front of a development near me had several mature(20-30 ft) Autumn Blaze Maples, and Bald Cyprus that look the same. We have had a very long dry period and a hot summer. I have been watering about 1-1 1/2 inches a week. I live near OKC Oklahoma. Dead, stress and will come back or other thoughts. The other two VS hydrangeas look great. Thanks
I have three wooded acres in south Raleigh with loads of deer. The ONLY plant/ shrub that hasn’t been sampled or down right destroyed over the last 34 years are Aucuba.
I thought I had a hydrangea that would not bloom. Now I realize something neatly ate every flower bloom off after it formed. I’m going to try netting it at that stage next year. I was using deer repellent, but I may have missed spraying the forming blooms. Up until now, I was blaming my poor hydrangea
beauty berry, boxwood, lavender, daffodils, snowdrops, Alberta Spruce, grasses, epidemiums, brunnera, hellibores.
He said you were the best and if we had a chance we should watch you
I love these Q&A videos... So informative!
Walking distance to UNC campus and I have rabbits voles deer chipmunks and moles. I have friends in rural NC with fewer challenges. 😁
Thank you!
We live in the heavily wooded development, lots of deer and oak trees in Annapolis, MD zone 7b. Too many to leave all the leaves on the beds. I heard they can pack down so much that they prevent water from getting through? Should they be chopped for that reason? Or not? Deer have never eaten my boxwoods, iris, daffodil, hellebores, alpine strawberry, heliopsis, cone flower, pieris, clematis, rhododendron(40 years old and maybe 10-12 feet tall), coreopsis. I spray my other plants regularly with Bobbex all year.
Daylilies, lavender, begonias. Rabbits on the other hand are more challenging. Can you discuss how we can stop rabbits from eating our vegetables and flowers!!!
My deer have not eaten the arborvitae (American pillar) but one did mark one by destroying it with its antlers...
The deer have even eaten my hydrangeas, camellia, Japanese maples and the neighbors azalea.
They have not eaten or damaged:
Gardenia, (diamond spire)
Sky pencil holly
Azalea
I can say the sky pencil holly has help up really well I have 22 of these with 10 camellia and they will take a bite out of the camellia but never out of the sky pencil.
The gardenia and azalea are all on a very steep hill so that may be why they leave those alone but I have a lot of them and even the ones on the end have not been touched.
Out of all the things they apparently enjoyed my hydrangeas the most as they ate about half of one and a third of the other two.
Trees that my deer dont touch are Yoshino Cryptomeria and Green Giant Arborvitae and most all my Junipers (Moonglow, Blue Arrow etc). All spruces. They do attack my hinoki cypress, hollywood Juniper, and weeping alaskan but only in late winter when food is scarce like February. Ive had most damage on all of these types of trees when young from the deer rut with antler damage in early November in zone 6b.
What deer do not eat (and eat) varies greatly on location in my experience. But there are some plants wherever we have lived, that deer avoid, and even more importantly, other animals do appear to also: Mahonia aquifolium, Pieris japonica and Pulmonaria hybrids. Where we had success, but when we planted elsewhere in the US there was browsing -- in winter: Cephalotaxus harringtonia (avoided, Zone 6 NJ/NYC metro) NB In our experience, rhododendrons, azaleas and kalmias are eaten to the nubs in that area, but this could be given the extreme deer pressure, the deer adapted...
Jim, I pruned my Chindo Viburnums in the late spring, and just to see what would happen I put the small stems ranging from 10 inches to 18 inches in opaque plastic containers with water in them. To my surprise most of them grew beautiful thick white roots! My question is, how many stems should I plant per pot to make a nice plant? I don't want to over crowd them but I do want them to be nice thick plants. Would 5 stems per pot be okay? Thanks in advance for your response, and thank you for all your wonderful videos! (By the way, I ended up with 42 beautifully rooted cuttings!)
Are there any shrubs that are especially good to limb up and turn into small trees? Lately I'm drawn to the look of exposed multi-trunk trees/plants. Thank you for taking the time to share your wealth of knowledge with us!
This isnt a shrub but if you want a fun project to work on get a wisteria and grow it into tree form. It develops a really cool “exposed trunk” and winding cool branches at the top. Since it is a vine you have to have structures for the wisteria to hang on (I used four plant shepherds hooks in a square around the center) along with a strong center post until the vine (trunk) gets strong. As far as shrubs to limb up i would say anything that is commonly used in the art of bonsai.
Do you eat everything when conditions are harsh in the winter time, or late winter time especially if there’s snow on the ground. During the spring and summer if it’s dry they will come to your garden and eat well watered plants no matter what they are. There’s just too many deer no one hunts anymore and they’re over populating everywhere where people have built up cities.
We have the herd of deer problem and the only things they havent eaten for us in zone 7a new jersey are boxwood, spruce, lavender, pulmonaria and hellebore.
Thank you so much for the extremely informative evergreen videos. We have a road that was screened with many now mature evergreen trees, mostly cedar, pine and spruce. As you mentioned, the bottoms have all thinned out by now. Can you recommend good plants to underplant these areas to maintain the lower screen? I appreciate the height of the mature trees for noise blocking and would prefer to keep them in. Thank you so much for all your super informative content!
7a- the only plants deer have never touched are lamb's ear, vinca, and black eye Susan. Everything else is fair game. LOL
Zone 7b west coast, they dont eat rosemary and holly, but everything else they eat or sample, even much down my salvias and iris. Fence is only thing that works for me to keep them away.
Excellent Q&A Jim 💕
Question related to deer: Since I have only trees on my 1.5 acre lot (other than foundation plants just installed), I wondered if I should plant some things in certain areas that I know deer will eat to give them something to browse on--hoping they will leave other plants/shrubs alone? Or just try to plant things that are considered deer resistant and hope for the best? Thanks for your videos!
I'm I 6a southeast PA and nothing is deer proof in my yard. You don't need to talk about deer resistance. I have a huge pin oak in my yard. It's been struggling for a few years and at some point we will need to replace. I've had fun with planning and planting my succession trees. I have volunteer oaks and tulip poplars. I've added maples and honey locust and cherry and a stewartia. Also added and babied a franklinia. It isn't very interesting now but I see the future.
Awesome leaf info.
Thank you
Question: I am in Saskatchewan Canada Zone 3b. I planted four new ninebarks and I kept experiencing wilting throughout the summer. They seemed to improve after giving them a drink. But now that fall is here some leaves have turned brown around the edges and seem crispy. My question is.. can I move them in the spring or should I leave them where they are until they have improved? What may be causing these issues with my ninebarks?
Thanks in Advance.
deer proof for me (zone 7a, Bethesda, Maryland)boxwood, pieris, holly, arborvitae, osmanthus, lavender, salvia, agastache, nandina, lorepetalum, wiegela, smoke bush, winterberry holly, hellebores, veronica.
Deer have not bothered indica hybrid azaleas or hydrangeas. Totally decimated Indian Hawthorne. Have sampled red twig dogwood and stripped hostas before I found repels all spray. 7b central NC
Acorns...I have a beautiful white oak tree in the center of my yard. Every fall the acorn drop is massive & sometimes dangerous ( If one hits you in the head). I rake, blow, get on hands & knees to get the acorns so they don’t sprout & become baby oak trees in the spring. Any tips or tricks?
Deer love the acorns, to combine your question with Jim’s request for deer feeding habits!
Question - Do you annually apply fresh compost to your plants (not veggies)? If so, how do you apply? Thank you.
I recently went on a wholesale nursery tour where the owner had set several (what were believe to be) setsugekka camellias out to be discarded. She asked me if I wanted them, so I brought them home with me. They are in trade galllon size pots but many of them are leggy and not very full. Should I plant them and prune them? Or plant them and wait some amount of time before pruning? They are loaded with buds. I’d like to use them in a mixed screen. Thank you for doing these videos. I’ve learned so much from your channel.
Hello Jim. Thank you for your videos. I have a question concerning Shade/Part Shade evergreens. I have planted several Shade evergreens under 3 willow oaks which give shade in the Spring, Summer and part of the Fall but come Late Fall and Winter these Shade evergreens are in full sun. Can these shade evergreens thrive in full sun during the Late Fall/Winter or do they need shade year round?
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your reply.
No deer for me in 7b, Oleander, Bottle brush, Rosemary, Pomegranate, Camellia, Flowering Quince
Question about planting around existing irrigation lines. I had pretty much no choice but to plant a mixed border directly on top of where some existing sprinkler lines were buried. The larger plants include Nellie Stevens Hollies, dappled willows, and a few others. How long do you think it will take for the roots to damage the irrigation lines? If it becomes a problem, can I just re-route the lines and leave the old ones buried where they are?
Ligustrum invasive? My property has several tree-size ligustrum, probably 30+ years old. Seedlings pop up all over. Should I get rid of all of them? In this video, you mentioned planting ligustrum at your "old" house. Was it a newer, non-problematic variety? Is ligustrum still a good landscaping plant? Or a bid no-no?
Can we get a cutting update and talk about your winter plan for the newly rotted stuff?
I garden in zone 6b and have white flies in my raised garden beds. They have moved out of that area in to my flower beds on holly hocks and monarda. Will the naturally die over winter? Do I need to do something to kill any eggs in the soil that make it through winter?
I'm in Zone 6b too and this is the first year I've had tons of white flies on all my tomato plants!
@@t.e.mccall8886 they survived 30* temps last week. I’m worried about their eggs surviving the winter. They killed my tomato plants and cucumbers.
Question: I'm in Cary, NC, with a bunch of liriope in different parts of my yard that I would like to separate and plant as ground cover for the side yard. How small can I separate each liriope and how far apart should I plant them. For example can they be separated down to 2-in diameter planted every 18 inches?
Mr. Jim I have a yellow bell (esparanza) its over 10 ft tall, its loaded with blooms, my question is can I limb it up, there are limbs on the ground. Thank you so much, Im in east texas zone 8b. I have learned so much from you. Thanks.
Question: I planted a white dogwood tree in the spring (about 4ft tall) and late summer deer came through and ate all the leaves. Will the tree survive and if it does, how can I deter the deer from eating it next year? Can I put a fruit net or something over it?
My west side back porch is brutal in summer. I enclosed my porch with ezebrreeze windows. It makes my porch like a greenhouse in winter. It will be 80 degrees on a 30 degree day. But summer it is not usable. I have planted a live oak on the south side if the yard but sadly, my septic drain field is on side that should have a large tree to provide summer shade.
Hey Jim! Love your channel and these weekly Q&As! I’m in Archdale NC zone 7b. I finally found an osmanthus fragrans in my area and picked it up. Is it ok to go ahead and put it in the ground or do I need to baby it through the winter and plant it in the spring? Thanks again!
Hi Jim thanks for very informative video. I recently building backyard propagation tunnel using 90% shade net and I have set up misting system with HTC Led automatic timer which have 3 programs schedule , my cycle is on for 10sec and off 20min and my climate in south Africa it's summer it's very hot can I turn up the frequency of misting without saturate my rose cuttings
Lilacs seem never bothered, but I'm not a huge fan of lilacs, so I don't check carefully. Gladiolus for me got the flowers eaten off in every case, so the deer not liking the foliage isn't much of a recommendation. They truly don't touch daffodils.
Question: can I plant my bulbs in containers now (tulips and alliums), or should I wait until December or January? Zone 7b NC
Do you still the Autumn Brilliance tree up front? How’s it doing? How are you liking it? I’m considering adding one to my front yard.
Low scape mound aronia. Browsed once three years ago. Have not been back since.
Jim - I know you've answered many questions about mulch, but let me pose my question specifically - I have bags of pine bark nuggets from Lowes that are from garden pro jcm (grant county w va) but it doesn't have the seal of the mulch and soil council. I also have bags of Scott's best mulch with the seal from the mulch and soil council but it's dyed naturally. This is so confusing to me. I want to use these in my flower beds (not food production) - what are your thoughts on both of these products. I do care about my soil in the long run and for many years I've just been using compost - mostly leaf gro, but this year I applied black cow. Thanks so much if you have the time to address this 🙂
I would be willing to bet my deer predation is about as bad as it gets in the lower 48. I have lived and gardened in 4 different regions in the USA and where I am now on the Kitsap Peninsula Western Washington (zone 8, wooded, on a deer trail, but lots of population growth in last 10 years) is the worst for deer and, short of a very expensive 8 foot tall fence, I have tried it all in my 20+ years here . Things they, and the rabbits, always leave alone here make a pretty short list but include: rhododendrons, hellebores, sarcococca, vitex, magnolia grandiflora, acers, monarda, brunnera, buddleia, parrotia, mahonia, viburnum, lambs ear, St John's wort, mint, salvia, brugmansia, datura, ricinus, foxgloves, mullein, red buds, epimedium, dicentra, lavender, cannas, daffodils, dogwood trees, (but they eat the shrubs), ribes, tri color beech, katsura, ferns, etc. I purchased some lorapetalum and osmanthus and have them potted up to see if the deer are going to eat them before I go to the trouble of planting and, even though they are sitting amongst plants the deer are eating, so far so good on lorapetalum and osmanthus.
P.S. scrolling through others lists, unfortunately many of the plants they list deer in their areas leave alone ARE eaten at least occasionally here.
I have some brown turkey fig cuttings I took a few weeks back and are starting to leaf out now. Should I keep growing them indoors thru the winter or let them go dormant just after leafing out?