by Carina Langstraat

As a landscape designer in the Seattle area for the last two decades, I’ve been in the business of building gardens for quite a while. It goes without saying that I’ve learned a lot in those twenty years, and it’s that continuous learning that keeps me engaged in the profession.

Our family moved to Bainbridge Island recently, largely because of our desire to broaden our horticultural frame of reference. The 5,000-square-foot lot on Queen Anne that had been our home for ten years had given us all it could and vice versa. Add to that the idea of our two girls growing up in a place they would feel connected to and know “down to the last woodchuck hole,” to borrow Wendell Berry’s words, we made a decision. We looked, we found, we bought, we moved: acreage! Acreage that needs work, a lot of work. And the continuous learning I craved? I can comfortably say that I now have several decades of such learning ahead of me—starting with deer.

Casa blanca lily.

Deer are not unique to Bainbridge Island, but do exist here in more abundance than they do in Seattle, Redmond, Bellevue, Tacoma, Mercer Island, and even parts of unincorporated King County. Those are the areas I have worked in. I have planned a few gardens with a deer-resistant theme in mind, but looking back on it, I got away with murder. The scattering of deer in those areas were easily deterred. A modest fence, veering away from the smoking-gun delectables, and sticking to the plants on a few deer-resistant lists I picked up had helped me dodge the bullet.

But Bainbridge Island deer are far from occasional. On our second day in our new home, a trio of deer showed up in the driveway. They were graceful, charming, bucolic. We approached cautiously. “Wow, Mama, they aren’t running away!” exclaimed my nine year old. “Yes, they seem to be pretty comfortable around people,” I said hesitantly, the wheels of my mind turning. It was occurring to me that their peaceful nature might not extend to the Casa Blanca lilies sitting in the back of my truck.

Sunflowers.

On our fourth night, our kids in bed, my husband and I decided to unwind and watch a movie. Imagine my dismay when I turned to see . . . four deer eyes peering through the sun porch window watching the movie with us. I’d been prepared for deer, but now I understood that they weren’t just going to be occasionally passing through. They were here living among us as part of our regular lives. Every day.

I woke up the next morning with the beginnings of a plan. Other than around my vegetable garden, I had no interest in putting miles of fence around the perimeter of my property. I also had no interest in motion-sensor sprinklers or electric wires. And spraying smelly liquid on plants is something I am far too busy for.

My strategy: to get along with the deer by choosing plants that aren’t just deer RESISTANT, but approach deer PROOF. I say “approach” as my caveat: deer are curious, and they are bound to graze up against just about anything. The questions is, will they decimate it? I set out to discover not just plants that deer only occasionally stay away from, but plants that simply aren’t on the menu.

The information that follows comes from observing plants in my own garden combined with voraciously polling long-time local gardeners. My goal isn’t simply to keep a list of what they don’t like (although I’ve done that too), but to understand in a broader sense how I can organize and group those plants. What do they have in common?

Shasta daisies.

First, deer don’t care for anything in the Asteracea family (formerly known as the Compositae family). That sole discovery left me energized, and here’s why: There are over 1,600 genera and 22,000 species in the Asteracea family. Admittedly, not all of the plants in the family will thrive in our climate, but a lot of them do. And a lot of them are some of my favorite genera: Achillea (yarrow), Artemesia (wormwood), Coreopsis, Cosmos, Cotula (New Zealand brass buttons), Dahlia, Echinacea (purple cone flower), Echinops (globe thistle), Eupatorium (joe-pye weed), Galliardia, Helenium (sneezeweed), Helianthus (sunflower), Liatris (blazing star), Ligularia, Leucanthemum (shasta daisy), Rudebekia (coneflower or black-eyed Susan), Santolina, Senecio, Solidago (golden rod), Zinnia.

When you are picking out one of these genera, it’s a good idea to keep it simple, staying away from the hybrids. Hybrids are marvelous, but they can make things murky because too often the process of being hybridized weakens the genetic strength of the plant. That’s not a hard-and-fast rule but one to keep in mind. If you try a hybrid and get away with it, great. But if you try a hybrid and get frustrated, rather than throwing out the hybrid, go back to the straight genus and species. My experience is that those plants are more resilient and have more staying power.

Catmint.

Second, deer don’t care for anything in the Labiatae family. When I say Labiatae, think herbs: rosemary, lavender, mint, nepeta (catmint), oregano, thyme. Not quite as herby but also in the Labiatae family are Monarda (bee balm), Perovskia (Russsian sage), Stachys (lambs ear), Phlomis, Lamium.

Those genera don’t include all of my favorite plants, but they include ENOUGH of them. Add to that the worthwhile outliers—plants the deer don’t prefer that aren’t in the Asteracea or Labiatae family: Miscanthus sinsensis, Symphorocarpus, Euphorbia amygdaloides robbiae (wood spurge), Euphorbia martini, Euphorbia chariacus wulfenii, Lonicera nitida ‘Baggesen’s Gold’, Epimedium (species), Convularia (lily of the valley), Vancouveria, Iris siberica, Helleborus foetidus, Helleborus orientalis, Crocosmia, Linaria (toad flax), Lunaria (money plant), Aegopodium (bishops weed), Alchemilla mollis (lady’s mantle), Ajuga reptans, Narcissus.

That’s a list long enough to make a garden out of. It’s a list long enough to make a LOVELY garden out of.

For more information about Carina’s landscape design firm, Langstraat-Wood Inc., visit their website: www.langstraatwood.com.

Photos courtesy of Tyler Karaszewski, T. Klya, Julie Hall, H. C. Williams.