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Old January 22, 2018   #16
nancyruhl
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Ah, the deer population. That is a real issue. They are a strange group of munchers. I find they will try just about anything new. I strongly suggest that for a couple of years, you keep your beds off limits. Once they are established as off limits, they stay off their grazing trail. They regularly eat my columbine. They do not bother monarda, butterfly weed, gaillardia, daisy, snapdragon, foxglove. They have munched the flowers off coreopsis, zinnia, salvia, some coneflowers. I finally moved my most prized ones to my itty bitty deer free zone, along with all my hydrangeas and sedums, and peonies. They also don't touch snapdragons and alyssum. They ate the chrysanthemums last year, just because they were something new. They just can't taste yummy. I don't have experience with lupine because they are a short lived perennial and I want something that will endure. Same with all those pretty foxgloves, except mertonsis which is a true perennial.
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Old January 22, 2018   #17
GrowingCoastal
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Here's a site with lists of garden flowers and which ones attract particular beneficial insects. interesting that they prefer certain flowers over others.
https://permaculturenews.org/2014/10...icial-insects/
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Old January 22, 2018   #18
GrowingCoastal
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"They ate the chrysanthemums last year, just because they were something new. They just can't taste yummy."

Actually.....depends on the variety! I remember reading about battered and fried chrysanthemum leaves Japanese style. Google says all chrysanthemums are edible but some taste better than others.
http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/05/s...um-greens.html

I was surprised to read that evening primrose is also an edible green. I hope I never need to know that! It would be too odd to start eating those. And I'm still marveling at the fact that sweet potato leaves are edible.
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Old January 22, 2018   #19
Cole_Robbie
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I gave a potted mum to a friend, who put it on her porch. A deer then came up to the porch in the night and ate most of it.
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Old January 23, 2018   #20
nancyruhl
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I thought of a few more things things they don't bother. Poppies, penstemon, and perennial geranium. I am very partial to geranium sanguinium because it is a low growing front of the border perennial with nearly season long blooming. They don't touch ferns either.
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Old January 23, 2018   #21
Nan_PA_6b
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Deer have never touched the butterfly bushes.

Nan
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