BEAT NIBBLING BAMBI WITH DEER-RESISTANT BULBS
Start planting now to add a colourful line of defence to your spring garden
Who loves spring bulbs more than we do? Here are some clues: They have four legs, are cuteas-a-button, and enjoy visiting every garden for miles around. I can’t think of any major reason, other than deer, why folks would not plant bulbs for spring enjoyment.
Before I dare suggest deerproof bulbs, let’s be honest: No one ever tells the deer which ones they’re not supposed to eat. I’ve never felt sorrier for any speaker than I did a few years ago in Oregon during one man’s presentation on deer-resistant plants.
No matter what plant he suggested, someone in the audience, folks from across North America, had some issue with deer eating them. Katie Moss Warner, head of the National Garden Bureau in the U.S., assured me that helleborus are deer-resistant … sorry, but even they have been nibbled on.
Depending upon the time of year, the species of deer and their level of desperation for food, very few plants are truly deer proof. The best we can hope for is determining which plants are their least favourites.
As for bulbs, tulips are, by far, their favourite.
Carl Van Noort, one of the owners of the Van Noort Bulb Company, one of Canada’s largest bulb suppliers, realizes the seriousness of this problem and has, after a lot of research, put “no deer” symbols on the packaging of bulbs they believe are a very low priority in terms of deer interest or appetite.
Narcissus are poisonous, “containing active principles which produce severe gastroenteritis, vomiting and purging, sometimes accompanied by convulsions in both human beings and livestock,” according to John Kingsbury’s book, Poisonous Plants of the United States and Canada.
Snowdrops, too, have poisonous properties as the Dutch unfortunately found out when they used both snowdrops and narcissus as substitute animal food during the Second World War, when traditional forage was unavailable or very scarce.
Hyacinths are also toxic to cattle, causing severe purgation, again discovered in The Netherlands during the Second World War.
These poisonous bulbs — narcissus, snowdrops and hyacinths — are on the least likely to attract deer list, and are a safer bet to use for colour and perfume in your landscape. They are not, however, the only ones. You can round out your spring display with the addition of the following deer-resistant options.
Flowering very early, around the same time as snowdrops, beautiful yellow winter aconites are also a safe bet, especially for naturalizing. We all need that pop of yellow during the darkest days of winter. Looking like miniature buttercups, winter aconites form a beautiful low carpet of yellow. Unfortunately, they are not on the radar of most gardeners.
Perhaps one of the most underused bulbs in our garden are the stunning blue grape hyacinths (Muscari armeniacum). In the world-leading bulb showcase, Keukenhof Gardens in The Netherlands, grape hyacinths are the backbone of colour accents. Blooming for weeks and naturalizing so easily, they quickly form sweeps of colour that complement all other bulbs. They now come in a range of colours from pink, white and even yellow to bicolour blues like ‘Mt. Hood,’ with their snowy-white tops. A mix of all these colours creates quite a stunning display and as a bonus, they multiply.
Irises, including both the early-blooming miniature Iris reticulata types and the taller, more sophisticated Dutch iris, are reportedly unappealing to deer as well.
Not only is garlic (a leading member of the allium family) alleged to keep away evil spirits, it is also good at deterring deer. Alliums are one of the largest family of bulbs, second only to narcissus. They create a magnificent show and are the last of the fall-planted bulbs to bloom. After rooting and resting in the ground for nine months, they appear with fresh new colour in late June and July when we can use a burst of brilliance. It’s no wonder that the popularity of alliums is growing.
The giants of the allium family, as their name implies, are the Allium giganteums. Producing flower heads the size of small melons on 40-inch (1 m) stems, they are real eye-catchers. In combination with white alliums, these better-known purples create quite a remarkable display. I especially love when a slight breeze causes these garden giants to sway in unison — talk about bubbles in the wind.
An even larger allium, ‘Globemaster,’ is a real show-off, with blooms to match the size of a child’s head. Left alone in welldrained soil, they will multiply and produce a dramatic bouquet of balloon-like flower heads in just a few years.
Although the big guys make a huge impression, another of my favourites is the slightly shorter Allium christophii, which explodes into 12-inch (30 cm) metallic purple flower heads that look like shooting stars on top of 24-inch (60 cm) stems. Its cousin, A. schubertii, is shorter still (12 inch or 30 cm stems), and its rose-pink flower heads look like a wavy starburst.
One of the earliest alliums to flower is a Spanish native called ‘Allium moly.’ Growing only 12 inches high (30 cm), ‘moly’ has tiny yellow flowers in early July, which are nice for cut bouquets as well as garden beauty. They naturalize easily in well-drained garden soil.
‘Graceful Beauty,’ a white allium, is wonderfully fragrant and grows only 16 inches (40 cm) tall with three-inch (7.5 cm) flowers. Another great naturalizer, it makes a delightful perennial addition to a July garden.
Another allium species showing up in many gardens is ‘Purple Sensation.’ It sports four-inch (10 cm) violet-purple flowers on 24-inch (60 cm) stems. Outstanding as a cut flower, it lasts an exceptionally long time and adds a stunning look to any cut bouquet.
Also great for cutting is Allium azureum, with its similar-sized heads and stems but with distinctive blue colouring. Blue colouring in the garden is hard to find, especially in early July when it is quite refreshing.
These are just some of the most popular alliums, but there are still many more to discover. As a bonus, they will provide both pollen and nectar for bees.
Alliums bloom for weeks, and as their colour begins to fade, they turn into straw-coloured balls that last weeks longer. A few years ago, when the Garden Writers’ Association visited Stanley Park, the clever garden crew had picked the heads and stuck them in beds with a driftwood backdrop. Talk about the photo-op that day.
Perhaps its off-putting odour makes the Imperial Crown Lily (Fritillaria imperialis) a deer no-go. It’s alleged that their equally foul-smelling bulbs keep rodents away from them, and from other bulbs planted around them. In Keukenhof Gardens, they are used as focal points in many beds. Their flowers are magnificent — they look like crowns on four-foot (1.2 m) stems — and they last for weeks. Their bulbs need to be planted in a sunny location where they can be left undisturbed. Fritillaria imperialis ‘Lutea’ is one of the best yellows, and ‘Rubra’ is a stunning orange. In one Dutch garden, I turned up the petals of a fritillaria and discovered it was loaded with honeybees — a nice source of nectar for them in April. If deer are an issue in your garden, there is quite a selection of flowering bulbs that are of little interest to them and you can spread their blooming times over six months. There’s still a fairly good selection in most garden stores, but get them planted soon for a little wow in your spring garden.