Deer Resistant Plants for Lake County Landscapes

Lake County has a large, comfortable, well fed deer population, and with forest preserves threaded through our neighborhoods they are not going anywhere. After enough seasons of watching hostas get mowed to stubs, most homeowners here arrive at the same conclusion: work with the deer rather than against them.

The honest caveat

Nothing is deer proof. In a hard winter with deep snow, deer will eat plants they ignore in July. Deer resistant means they usually pass it by, and that is still enormously useful.

What deer generally avoid

Three characteristics predict it fairly well: strong aromatic oils, fuzzy or coarse leaf texture, and toxicity.

Perennials

• Russian sage, catmint, lavender and salvia, all aromatic and reliably skipped.
• Peony, which deer almost never touch and lives for decades.
• Lamb's ear, too fuzzy to be appealing.
• Bleeding heart, ferns and daffodils, all toxic and therefore ignored.
• Coneflower, black eyed susan and yarrow, which see occasional nibbling but rarely serious damage.
• Ornamental grasses of nearly all kinds.

Shrubs

• Boxwood, the most dependable evergreen alternative to yew.
• Spirea, potentilla and ninebark, tough and largely ignored.
• Juniper, which deer dislike far more than they dislike arborvitae.
• Lilac, viburnum and forsythia, generally low on the menu.
• Bayberry and sumac for naturalized areas.

What they will destroy

If you want to know where the damage will happen, it is hostas first, then daylilies, then tulips, then yews and arborvitae. Arborvitae in particular gets browsed into a bare lower half that never regrows, since the plant does not produce new growth from old wood. Emerald green arborvitae planted as a privacy screen on a deer trail is one of the most reliably disappointing purchases in Lake County landscaping.

If you want that screen, use juniper, boxwood, spruce or a mixed shrub border instead.

Protection strategies that work

• Rotate repellents. Deer habituate to any single product within weeks, so alternate two or three and reapply after rain.
• Focus protection on the plants you genuinely care about instead of spraying the whole property.
• Use physical barriers on new plantings, which deer test first, until they are established.
• Site vulnerable plants close to the house and in high traffic areas where deer are less comfortable.
• Accept that fencing is the only complete answer, and it needs to be roughly eight feet to be reliable.

Do not overlook buck rub

Browsing is not the only damage. In fall, bucks rub their antlers on young tree trunks and strip bark, which can girdle and kill a tree that survived every other threat. Any newly planted tree with a trunk in the one to four inch range should get a trunk guard or a ring of stakes from September through December. Repellent sprays do nothing for this.

If deer have worked through your landscape, we can help you replant with species that will still be there next spring. Call or text 224-634-0673 or 224-200-8363.

Ruiz Landscaping serves Vernon Hills, Libertyville, Mundelein, Buffalo Grove, Lincolnshire, Long Grove and the rest of Vernon Hills's surrounding North Shore and Lake County communities.