The single most common call we get in Franklin Lakes, Wyckoff and Saddle River is somebody who has replaced the same plant two or three times. Usually arborvitae. Occasionally hostas, which is less of a mystery.
Here is how we think about it.
There is no such thing as deer-proof
Every plant tag that says deer resistant means the same thing: a deer with other options will usually choose something else. In February, after a hard freeze, with two feet of snow on the ground, a deer does not have other options.
So the useful question is not whether deer eat a plant. It is how far down the list it sits, and how bad the winter has to get before they reach it.
The plants we build around
These get browsed rarely enough that we will use them for structure, meaning the parts of a planting you cannot afford to lose.
- Inkberry holly (Ilex glabra). Native, evergreen, holds a rounded shape without shearing. This is what we replace arborvitae with about eighty percent of the time.
- Bayberry (Morella pensylvanica). Semi-evergreen, and it shrugs off terrible soil and road salt. The right answer along a driveway.
- Catmint (Nepeta). It works on smell. Deer find food by nose before they find it by eye, and catmint puts them off. Blooms from May to frost if you shear it once in July.
- Little bluestem and switchgrass. Ornamental grasses are close to untouched. They also give you something to look at in January. Most foundation plantings give you nothing at all.
- Boxwood. Browsed occasionally in a very hard winter, almost never otherwise. Watch for boxwood blight rather than deer.
- Hellebore. Toxic, evergreen, blooms in February. The most reliable thing we plant in shade.
The plants we only use close to the house
Deer are cautious about approaching a building, especially one with lights and a door people use. We still plant the things people love, we just put them where a deer has to commit.
- Hydrangea, particularly the big-leaf types. Deer love them.
- Hosta. Deer candy.
- Daylily. Same.
- Tulips. Plant daffodils. They are toxic and get left completely alone.
The one that keeps costing people money
Arborvitae, specifically green giant and emerald green. It is cheap, it grows fast, every garden center sells it as a screen, and in a heavy-pressure neighborhood it gets eaten to a bare stick from the snowline down within two winters.
If you want a screen in Bergen County, use inkberry, use bayberry, or mix several things together. A mixed row also means one disease or one bad winter cannot take the whole thing out at once. On a screen that matters as much as the deer resistance does.
What about spray
Repellents work. They also need reapplying every four to six weeks and after heavy rain, every year, forever. We will do it on a maintenance contract if a client wants it. We would rather spend the money once on plants that do not need it.