Protect Your Flower Beds From Deer By Adding This Ground Cover

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Deer are constantly eating, and with good reason. To stay healthy, a typical 150-pound deer must consume 9 to 12 pounds of green plant matter daily. This means having a hearty meal five times a day. If this deer enters your yard, many of your plants are at risk of becoming breakfast, lunch, and dinner. White-tailed deer gravitate toward the woody stems of shrubs and even fruit trees, but some of their favorite foliage comes from flowering broadleaf plants. The list includes hostas, impatiens, tulips, and roses, which they love so much that they'll put up with their thorns. A fishing line border can deter deer from your garden, especially when paired with plants that don't interest these munch machines. One such plant is barrenwort (Epimedium spp.). Also called bishop's hat and fairy wings, this perennial is an ideal ground cover in flower beds.

Hardy in USDA growing zones 5 through 8, barrenwort tolerates most types of soil, including heavy clay, as long as water drains adequately. It can also tolerate the slightly acidic conditions many flowers prefer. Barrenwort can grow to a height of 10 inches and produces tiny blossoms in May and June. Depending on the variety you buy, the flowers will be red, yellow, pink, or white. You can grow barrenwort from seed or a potted greenhouse specimen, then divide it to get more plants after three years. It's important to give this plant at least a few hours of shade each day. It will also thrive in dappled sunlight. In addition to resisting deer, barrenwort is rarely bothered by rabbits, insects, or diseases.

Barrenwort excels as a ground cover that doubles as a border. Since it spreads slowly, it's unlikely to take over grass beside your garden. This makes it a good choice for lawn-adjacent beds filled with daylilies, petunias, and other flowers deer find irresistible. To protect these vulnerable beauties, pair a barrenwort ground cover with a regular dusting of cinnamon. In addition to making rodents turn up their noses, cinnamon's scent can be used to keep deer out of your garden. Alternatively, you could install a sturdy 8-foot fence or hang a bar of Irish Spring soap in your garden to deter deer. Like cinnamon, Irish Spring original scent bar soap emits a fragrance that deer find disgusting but many humans find pleasant. You can also scatter slivers of this soap in your barrenwort and near the flowers that need defending.

Planting barrenwort with other deer-resistant plants is another way to shield your flowers from nibbles. Bee balm (Monarda spp.), black cohosh (Actaea racemosa), and fringed bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) all ward off deer and thrive in most parts of the United States. If space is too tight to add more plants, consider purchasing a deer repellent. I Must Garden mint scent deer repellent spray is safe for flowers, pollinators, pets, and gardeners.