I’m trying to make my front yard more drought resistant so I’ve removed most of the grass and planted some flowers. But the neighborhood deer like to come by and eat everything. To stop this, I bought some black-eyed susan flowers after reading that deer don’t like them.
But one day some deer came along and ATE them.
I learned an important lesson here. I learned that black-eyed Susans may be considered “deer-resistant” but they aren’t deer proof.
And that hungry deer will eat the flowers.
You can see by my photo below where the deer has munched the flowers off the stem. The leaves are bristly (which you can also see in the photo below) and deer don’t usually like textures like that, so they ate the flowers and left the leaves.
(The Latin name for this flower is Rudbeckia hirta and in Latin, “hirta” means hairy, shaggy or bristly. (Reference))
I’m hoping since the root and some leaves are still intact that it will grow back again next year.
I’m trying to employ xeriscape principles in my front yard because we’re seeing less summertime rainfall in my region. The deer are feeling the effects of this too.
And what it boils down to is that hungry deer will even eat plants that are generally considered deer-resistant.
I think if I want flowers in my front yard, I’ll need to put up some physical barriers around the flowers to keep the deer out.
I don’t think a full-height deer fence is feasible for me at this time though. The Oregon State University Extension put out this PDF stating that a non-solid deer fence (like mesh or chain link) should be 8-feet high while a solid fence where the deer can’t see where they’d be landing on the other side can be 5-feet tall.
A front yard fence that tall won’t work for me right now though.
I’ll keep trying out different plants and deer-proofing for my front yard and I’ll let you know what I find out.
Thank you.
Tim from LearnAlongWithMe.com
Tim worked in construction for a few years before going to university. Then he worked in a pharmacy for 10 years and now works as a full-time writer and online publisher. He has experience in several different, far-reaching lines of work.
“I sincerely hope you find the articles helpful and informative.”
Tim from LearnAlongWithMe.com
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