If you live in North America, chances are you see a deer in your yard now and then. They are majestic creatures that are beautiful to watch. Until they eat all of your tulips, that is.
It can be discouraging to carefully plant your flower bulbs in the fall, wait all winter long only to have them eaten up in a single day. But, take heart.
If you live in an area with high deer pressure, there are plenty of bulbs that deer either won’t eat or prefer not to. You might even be able to sneak in a tulip here and there if you surround them with bulbs deer don’t like.
Every story about deer resistant plants has to have this warning: if deer are hungry enough, they’ll eat almost anything. Only daffodils, snowflakes and snowdrops, are truly deer proof.
Why won’t deer eat them? These flower bulbs contain a bitter tasting substance that no mammal will eat. In addition, there is large group of flowering bulbs that have their own defenses that deer rarely bother with. Snowdrops and Crocus can start flowering as early as February. Other bulbs will flower in turn Allium grace your garden in early summer. The only hard part is deciding which ones to choose.
Deer Resistant Bulbs
- Anemone – Anemone blanda
- Grape hyacinth – Muscari
- Chequered fritillary – Fritillaria meleagris
- Crocus – Crocus
- Crown imperial – Fritillaria imperialis
- Daffodils – Narcissus
- Dwarf iris – Iris reticulata
- Glory-of-the-snow – Chionodoxa
- Grape Hyacinth – Muscari
- Grecian windflower – Anemone blanda
- Hyacinth – Hyacinthus
- Indian quamash – Camassia
- Nodding star-of-Bethlehem – Ornithogalum nutans
- Ornamental onion – Allium
- Spring starflower – Ipheion uniflorum
- Siberian squill – Scilla siberica
- Snowdrop – Galanthus
- Spanish bluebells – Hyacinthoides hispanica
- Spring starflower – Ipheion uniflorum
- Striped squill – Puschkinia libanotica
- Summer snowflake – Leucojum
- Winter aconite – Eranthis hyemalis
Deer Resistant Bulbs for Naturalizing
Bulbs that naturalize make for ‘easy gardening’. Try these varieties that will produce more and more flowers year after year.
- Amemone – Anemone blanda
- Grape hyacinths – Muscari
- Crocus – Crocus
- Daffodils – Narcissus
- Spring starflower – Ipheion uniflorum
- Siberian squill – Scilla siberica
- Snowdrop – Galanthus
- Winter aconite – Eranthis hyemalis
