Deer Resistant Flower Bulbs
There is a big chance that when you were a child you watched Walt Disney’s beloved film ‘Bambi’, and cried your eyes out when Bambi’s mother died.
There is also a big chance that, as you are reading this blog, Bambi’s local offspring is making you tear your hair out with anger and frustration at their insistence on ruining you lovingly planted bulb garden.
With their beautiful dark round eyes, elegant long legs, inquisitive noses and graceful jumps, there’s no denying that deer are handsome animals. But just like you and me, they get hungry. And where we can pop into a diner or pick up a burger at a drive through, they have to rely on their surroundings to feed them. And their favorite open-air snack bar turns out to be your garden.
Keeping your crops
The battle between gardeners and ‘interested animals’ (snails, deer, rodents, birds, insects) is as old as time, and many methods have been developed to stop these unwanted guests from coming in your garden to nibble on your crops. Placing high fences, dotting your garden with things that flash & move, setting sprinklers to go off at predetermined times, planting sacrificial plants that you don’t mind them snacking on, plundering your kitchen cupboard for strong spices to sprinkle around your flowerbeds and sometimes, in desperation, even resorting to using chemicals.
Some of the above measures are quite successful, but all of them involve work. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an easier way to be sure the bulbs you put into the ground would actually stay there, and get a chance to grow to their full potential?
Enter deer resistant bulbs! Deer (and other critters) will turn up their nose at these varieties, meaning that you can plant them and then happily forget about them, resting assured in the knowledge that they will be left alone all winter long.
A snack-free season
If you plant the selection of deer-resistant bulbs listen in this blog, you’ll get a full season of unharmed bulbs & flowers, from earliest spring all the way to summer.
Let’s start the deer-resistant year with the beloved & classic Snowdrops, giving them some company with the lesser known but equally cute Striped Squill and Eranthis Hyemalis.
As early spring gives way to mid-spring, bulbs really come into their own. Your garden is shaking off the last vestiges of winter, and from the soil crocuses like Orange Monarch, daffodils like Ice Follies and hyacinths like Cotton Candy Collection burst forth, quickly followed by anemones like de Caen Sylphide or Saint Brigid.
Mid to late spring is the time for tulips, but alas, they are the bulbs that deer love more than anything else, so they’re out. However, there’s one tulip variety they’ll happily leave alone, the tiny varieties Tinka and Clusiana. And just like us humans are not super partial to biting into a raw onion, deer aren’t too keen on the taste of alliums, such as the 30-inch Purple Sensation. Another favorite non-deer-favorite at this time of the year is the adorable snakehead fritillary or Fritillaria Maleagris.
As the season is winding down, bulbs still have some beautiful blooms in store. What about funky Ixias? And last but not least, the apotheosis of the season is left to the giant eremurus or foxtail lily, like Eremurus Romance.
Best bulbs get happiest gardens
Here at DutchGrown we are fully committed to giving you the best quality bulbs possible, so you can have the garden of your dreams, year after year after year. Now that you know which bulb varieties won’t get eaten by deer (and other animals), nothing is standing between you and a full season of gorgeous flowers. Visit our easy-to-use website today, get ordering, and come planting season we’ll deliver our top-size bulbs straight to your door.
