A: We always counsel our customers that there is no sure solution to stopping deer from destroying their gardens. However, we believe that there is one method that is more successful than all others. It is the inclusion of native Texas deer resistant plants in your garden or landscape. Deer will usually not browse those plants labeled as deer resistant. Whether they do or not usually depends upon how well fed the deer in your area are. When deer are hungry, they will eat anything. Fortunately, the central Texas deer population is generally well fed.
This means that deer resistant plants generally deter deer from browsing your garden. And, the more deer resistant plants you include in your garden, the better. Deer rely primarily upon a sense of smell when deciding whether or not to browse a garden. So, the more deer resistant plants you have planted, the more likely deer will avoid dining in your garden.
In our Texas climate drought is also a huge problem. All Texans are familiar with the headache of keeping any plant life alive in the summer heat. Some plants handle the Texas heat better than others.
I have compiled this list of plants I readily recommend for both deer and drought problems:
Popular Deer and Drought Resistant Plants for Texas:
Agave, Agarita, All Hollies, All Ornamental
Grasses, All Palms, All Sages, All Sedges, All Yuccas, American Smoke Tree, Arizona Cypress, Artemesia, Bearded Iris, Black-eyed
Susan, Blackfoot Daisy, Carolina Jessamine, Copper Canyon Daisy, Coral Honeysuckle, Cotoneaster, Crossvine, Damianita, Desert
Willow, Dwarf Nandina, Esperanza, Flame Acanthus, Fragrant Mimosa, Guara, Gregg Dalea, Indigo Spires, Lantana, Littleleaf
Periwinkle, Mexican Buckeye, Mexican Marigold, Mexican Redbud, Montezuma Cypress, Mountain Laurel, Oleander, Oregano, Palmetto, Pink
Skullcap, Plumbago, Pride of Barbados, Primrose Jasmine, Purple Coneflower, Rock Rose, Rosemary, Ruellia, Santolina, Sedum, Wooly
Stemodia, Shrimp Plant, Texas Bettony, Texas Persimmon, Texas Sotol, Turk's Cap, Verbena, Yarrow, Zexmenia
When visiting your favorite nursery, check the plants whose appearance you like with the common names of plants in this list. Doing so will tell if the pretty flower you have selected is likely to be eaten by deer or to die quickly in the next heat wave. If your selection does not appear on this list, it is most likely a risky purchase! This full listing of deer and drought resistant plants may be found on the backs of all Vernon's LandEscapes business cards. If you do not have one of our business cards, contact us and ask us to send you one. It is a handy reference guide to have with you when you go plant shopping! We can also purchase all of these plants for you at wholesale prices!