Native Plants

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Tuesday - May 25, 2010

From: Reedville, VA
Region: Mid-Atlantic
Topic: Deer Resistant
Title: Deer resistant wildflowers for Virginia
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

Looking for deer-resistant native wild flowers for full-sun location in the Northern Neck of Virginia. We want to replace large area now grass lawn.

ANSWER:

On our Recommended Species page you will find a list of Deer Resistant Species. You can use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option in the side bar to limit the results to Virginia and you can also select 'Herb' from GENERAL APPEARANCE and 'Sun...' from LIGHT REQUIREMENT to find a list that is customized for your requirements. Here are a few from that list that I would recommend, but you can scan the list for more:

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)

Callirhoe involucrata (purple poppymallow)

Coreopsis tinctoria (golden tickseed)

Gaillardia pulchella (firewheel)

Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)

Oenothera speciosa (pinkladies)

Rudbeckia hirta (blackeyed Susan)

Solidago nemoralis (gray goldenrod)

It sounds as if you are going to create a meadow (or, at least, a mini-meadow) out of part of your lawn. You might like to read our "How to Article", Meadow Gardening. In this article you will read that native grasses are an important part of a meadow and grasses are very deer resistant. Here are a few attractive native grasses that you might like to consider adding to your mix of wild flowers:

Bouteloua curtipendula (sideoats grama)

Elymus canadensis (Canada wildrye)

Muhlenbergia capillaris (hairawn muhly)

Schizachyrium scoparium (little bluestem)

Here are photos from our Image Gallery: