Sun or Shade? Deer or No Deer?

My daughter and I went to a couple local garden centers on Mother’s Day—she had staked out a sunny spot for a new garden bed, all her own, and was keen to get some of the plants on her list. It was pretty crowded—like the whole world had just left Mother’s Day brunch and was now out plant shopping.

I said no annuals, but… look at that face!

I gave her a few guidelines: Only full or part-sun plants, and only perennials. It’s not that I’m against annuals—if properly fed and watered, they’ll give you season-long blooms, which is quite satisfying. But it feels like a bit of a waste to spend money on something that will drop dead at the first freeze. She picked out some pretty pansies, though, which are more tolerant of cold snaps and tied so nicely into her color scheme that it was hard to say no.

I have a bad habit of offering unsolicited advice at garden centers. It breaks one of the cardinal rules of our household: Advice is only welcome when asked for. But I hate to see plants die and unhappy gardeners lose money. A man was looking for some native plants and wasn’t sure about black-eyed Susans. Yup, they’re native, but the garden center didn’t have any. Garden centers tend to stock perennials that are blooming now, or will be blooming in a few weeks if already established in your garden, since most nursery plants have a head start on those in the landscape. The simple reason is that folliage usually doesn’t sell, especially when it comes to plants that have showy flowers. Gallon pots full of yellow blooms will fly off the benches, but a mass of basal foliage with no hint of the flowers to come? Not so much.

I offered to help him find an alternative. First question: Sun or shade? Second question: Got deer?

The second is easiest to answer: Most people know if their garden is a deer buffet. They see deer in the yard, or obvious signs of browsing—like entire pots of mums with their blooms snipped off in the night, or a new chokeberry that looks great the day you plant it but is a mass of twiggy stubs the next morning. A lot of plants are deer resistant, meaning it’s not their favorite food. But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, is deer proof. Any individual doe or buck will try anything once if bored and/or desperate. That deer may come away with a belly ache and know better the next time. Problem is, that one time may be enough to destroy your plant, or at least leave it looking sad and pathetic for a season. Also, there’s more than one deer out there, and each is willing to try anything once.

Now, some folks are lucky and end up well away from deer highways. Your chances are better, but as soon as you start planting new things, I guarantee some deer out there will want to take a look. Read the labels, and don’t plant deer food unless you have a proper deer fence because you’ve reached that point in your gardening life where you’re sick and tired of fighting a loosing battle. I don’t care how vigilent you are with the deer spray. It’s not going to end well.

Avoid hostas, hydrangeas, rhododendrons, mums, hardy geraniums and even black-eyed Susans. Safer bets are things in the mint family—salvias, catmit and hyssop, for example—or anything with hairy leaves. To a deer, it’s as appealing as eating a cotton ball. One bite and they’ve had enough. Unfortunately, deer are not deterred by thorns—yes, they will eat roses. Other than the labels of the plants themselves, a good resource is Rutgers University’s “Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance.” Just remember, even a plant that is “seldom” severely damaged can be, well… severely damaged.

The first question—sun or shade?—is trickier but just as important. The maxim in gardening is, “Right plant, right place.” Put a shade-loving coral bell in the sun and it will fry. Put a sun loving butterfly bush in the shade and it won’t flower. But what qualifies as sun, exactly, and what qualifies as shade? My new friend at the garden center told me the location he was shopping for was sunny, but then he started talking about what else would look good “under that tree,” so I probed further. Best case we were probably talking about “dappled shade”, which is definitely not full sun. Through trial and error, you can learn where to push the sun/shade envelope, but you have to be willing to lose quite a few plants along the way. And not all sun is created equal! One of my mentors from the New York Botanical Garden, the living legend Michael—”I’ve killed more plants than you ever will, but I’ve only done it the same way once!”—Ruggiero offers this advice: If the period of sun is in the middle of the day, consider it full sun. If the spot is sunny only in the morning or afternoon, consider it part sun/part shade.

I first learned to garden through trial and error. For me, the fun outweighed the frustration. But I hate to see people spend good money on plants that will die. Set yourself up for success by knowing where a plant is going before you buy it, and reading the tags and labels to make sure it’s the right plant for that place. You could also give me a call—I’d love to help you out!