There may be a lot of hungry rabbits and deer in your area, which means damage is near for your plants and garden. Check your existing plantings for feeding. Chicken wire is a quick fix to prevent more feeding. On shade trees, if you notice rabbit or mouse damage on the bark, you can wrap smaller trunks with aluminum foil for a quick fix, but next fall remember to use something more permanent for the winter months.
If you live in an area where deer are abundant, you know just how devastating their browsing can be. Here is a basic list of plants that deer like to eat. Remember that what deer like and dislike can change with availability of food types, weather and deer population.
Deer Food (these are plants deer consider salad) 1st Choice to eat
- Arborvitae varieties (White Cedar)
- Hemlock
- Mountainash
- Red Maple varieties (Rubrum Maples)
- Pagoda Dogwood and Red and Yellow twigged Dogwood (Cornus species)
- Japanese Yew varieties (Taxus)
Deer Food - 2nd Choice to eat
- Sugar Maples
- Linden (Basswood)
- Amelanchier varieties (Juneberry)
- White Pine
- Cherry varieties (including Shubert or Canada Red Cherry)
- Red and Bur Oak (Quercus)
- Birch varieties (Betula)
- Black Ash (Fallgold)
- Quaking Aspen (Populus)
- Honeysuckle varieties (Lonicera)
- Winterberry (Ilex)
- Hazelnut (Corylus)
Deer Food - 3rd Choice to eat (Starvation Foods)
- Norway Pine
- Balsam Fir
- Tamarack
- White and Black Spruce
- Black Alder
- Raspberries
To learn more from McKay Nursery blog post click here: McKay Nursery Green Tips