Golden currant - Photo by Jim Cummins

Can landscape plants survive winter deer browsing?

This winter’s snowy conditions, especially in eastern Washington, have hungry deer helping themselves to landscape plants on our homefronts even more than ever.

It’s too late now to fence them out or replace tasty plants with less palatable ones. So the question becomes is there anything a gardener can do to save that forsythia or golden current now?

The short answer is “yes.” Wrap that forsythia with burlap or plastic for the duration of the winter season. And don’t worry about the golden current – as a native plant species, it’s used to being browsed by deer in the winter and is likely to recover just fine.

According to a Utah study of mule deer use of ornamental plants, many plants that are heavily browsed recover vigorously during spring and summer, especially when regularly watered, fertilized and weeded. Many native plants are ecologically adapted to annual moderate or heavy browsing, which stimulates
new vegetative growth in spring, even on dry rangelands.

The study showed that although re-growth of many ornamental plants may increase if browsed during the growing season, some do not recover from heavy winter use and others may require two or more growing seasons to recover. Two growing seasons are often required to replace the vegetative and fruiting buds of apple trees browsed during the winter. Evergreen conifers, junipers, pines, firs and spruces are most susceptible to permanent damage by deer. In addition to direct browsing damage, occasionally heavy use exposes plant tissues and can lead to frost damage.

Ornamental plants that usually receive heavy use by deer – like forsythia -- are often permanently damaged and should not be planted in deer country unless they are completely protected. These plants, although generally highly preferred by and useful to deer, are less likely to survive and more likely to acquire an unattractive appearance due to browsing.

The study found deer will eat most ornamental plants, many of which can recover from moderate use during the spring and summer. These include aspen, cherry, cotoneaster, honeysuckle, pussy willow, and rose.

The study also found that some plants, both native and non-native, are seldom browsed by deer except during very harsh weather when other forage is not available. These include birch, Douglas fir, red-osier dogwood, English holly, daisy and buttercup.

In addition, many native shrubs provide forage for mule deer on winter ranges, generally recover from that winter browsing during the growing season, and are attractive for landscaping. These include serviceberry, sagebrush, rabbitbrush, chokecherry, sumac, golden current, wild rose, and snowberry.

For a summary of this study and complete lists of plants to avoid or use in deer country, see http://www.wildlife.utah.gov/habitat/deer-browse.php.