Your Home, Garden and Travel

The last rays of the sun shine on the willow at the end of lower path. There is order to the path edging plants, but there are"wild" flower pairings mixed in the rest of the deer resistant meadow garden.

1. Around 8:00 pm on a June evening in the deer resistant meadow garden.

Iris ensata. June 2012

Ratibida columnifera (Mexican hat, upright prairie coneflower, thimbleflower) with Santolina pinnata (green Lavender cotton) in the background. June 2012

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Superstitious? Maybe. There's a lovely wildflower growing in my meadow garden. I've been afraid to write about it. I planted just one (on July 4) as an experiment. The small nursery pot quickly grew to four feet high. The blooms have started and I'm totally smitten. White, frilly blooms and lovely green foliage. The perfect wildflower for middle of the border.

Eupatorium altissimum (Tall Boneset). August 2011 photo in my meadow garden.

Eupatorium altissimum (Tall Boneset) is native to many states from the Midwest to the East; from as far south as Texas and Florida and as far north as Canada. That's a pretty good track record that covers multiple growing zones from 4 to 9. I'm growing mine in full sun and the plant is tolerant of a variety of soil conditions and moisture.

This native is sometimes called 'white joe pye weed' or 'prairie jewel' and flowers from August until frost. Seeds can be sown in the fall in most areas, so I'll be sure to let this one self-sow. Colder zones may try winter sowing or stem cuttings to propagate.

So why I'm I so afraid to mention this wonderful, white wildflower? The deer. I could find little information on whether or not this plant is deer resistant. So far, they've left this one alone. I rush out every morning to check to see if there has been any damage. I've planted the boneset with asclepias incarnata (native swamp milkweed for the Monarch butterflies), solidago, stipa and a tall garden mum (don't ask why a mum). I hope to show you more photos of eupatorium altissimum as the fall season approaches!

If you are interested in reading more about wildflowers, be sure to check out the blog, Clay and Limestone and join her Wildflower Wednesdays series.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

Hemaris thysbe (clearwing hummingbird moth) visits the Liatris ligulistylis (Rocky Mountain blazing star). June 17, 2011. (If this photo is too large for your browser, click on it to view in a separate window.)

There's a Hemaris thysbe on the Liatris ligulistylis. I can't say that three times unless I've had three cups of coffee. It also helps to be wide awake so I can tell the difference between a hummingbird and a hummingbird moth.

Hemaris thysbe is better known as a clearwing hummingbird moth. Liatris ligulistylis is better known as Rocky Mountain or meadow blazing star. Both are natives, though the blazing star is typically found west of Missouri.

Host plants for the moth include honeysuckle (lonicera), hawthorn, cherry and plum (prunus) trees. The moth enjoys the nectar of blazing star and other garden favorites such as bee balm and phlox. Just like a butterfly, this moth starts as a caterpillar and undergoes metamorphosis.

Blazing star grows 4-6 feet in cultivated gardens. I provide supplemental water, but it survived the 2010 summer of 90 days over 90°F like a trooper. This blazing star can be grown from seeds and is suitable for zones 4a-9b. I have good, strong blooms this year, so I hope to gather seeds before the Goldfinch.

Blazing star is not rabbit resistant. I have to spray the base of this plant with repellent to keep the lumberjacks from chopping it down. This is the second year for my plant and the bunnies munched it quite a bit when it was first planted. It grows rapidly if you can keep the rabbits away during the growth spurt in spring.

I cannot say for sure if the liatris is deer resistant. If the rabbits eat it, then there is a possibility that the deer will go for it when other food is scarce (or, when they are particularly lazy about finding food in the wild).

What about companion flowers?

Monarch butterflies are particularly fond of this nectar plant, so I have it growing just up the slope behind the swamp milkweed (asclepias incarnata).

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' and 'Blue Stockings' and Echinacea 'Ruby Star' are the companions in bloom right now. I just cut back the rose campion as the blooms on that one were fading and it was time to collect seeds. The garden surrounds this plant, so I also have a chocolate joe-pye (dark leaves, will bloom white), milkweed and bog sage on the lower side. Russian sage is starting to bloom up on the same level beside the coneflowers. In other words, I grow about anything I want with this versatile perennial wildflower.

No matter how difficult to spell, type and pronounce and protect from rabbits, liatris ligulistylis has a permanent home in my garden.

Left front: liatris ligulstylis (meadow blazing star). Right front: echinacea 'Ruby Star' (coneflower). Back: monarda 'Raspberry Wine' (bee balm).

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

The last day of June 2010 brings an end to twenty-one straight days of temperatures in excess of 90°F. I don't have accurate information on the number of days over 100° or the days where the heat index was in the triple digits. During those twenty-one days, the rainfall went north, south, east and west of my garden. Finally, in the middle of the night, I heard the rain. Relief.

Now, I can reflect on all the beautiful flowers in the garden, captured in photos but unable to fully enjoy in the unbearable heat.

The "other" blooms in my garden often take a backseat to grand-stand performances of agastache, bee balm, coneflowers, coreopsis, nepeta and salvia. While the blooms of these "other" plants are more limited, they fill significant niches in my garden.

The "Emerald Isle" (photo below) beside my stone walk is still a work in progress. The ground covering hardy ice plant (delopserma cooperii) is a good match for the mounding betony (stachys hummelo).

Over the last four years, the two perennials have been filling in the space between the stone walk and the dry stream, beneath the high canopy of a crepe myrtle 'Tuscarora'. In spite of the tree, this spot receives a pounding by the sun on the southwest side of the house. Zones 5-9 can grow the ice plant in xeric conditions; Zones 4-8 can grow the betony; full sun. Both are deer and rabbit resistant, although there is the occasional sampling of a betony bloom.


Balloon flower (platycodon grandiflorus; photo below) is an edger along a section of cottage garden path,  adding color when the azaleas fade. I've long lost the label for the exact variety of the perennial balloon flower! This is an "out of sight, out of mind" perennial that has been under-appreciated until recently. I am determined to collect seeds this year to sow with shasta daisies, so I've not deadheaded for rebloom. Zones 3-8; part sun; doesn't like to be transplanted after established.




I have a love-hate relationship with the unknown variety of chaste tree (vitex agnus-castus; photo below was shot in the evening light, making the blooms appear more blue).

I love the flowers, color, form factor and the fact that bees and butterflies are drawn to it. Therefore, I will not be without this tree. The chaste tree grows in my butterfly garden with St. John's Wort 'Sun Pat' (hypericum), bee balm 'Jacob Cline' (monarda didyma) lantana 'Miss Huff', bronze fennel, milkweed (asclepias tuberosa and incarnata), agastache, salvia, verbena and coreopsis.

What I hate are the hundreds of seedlings that sprout below since I can no longer reach the top to deadhead or cut back the tree. I also planted a 'Shoal's Creek' variety in my meadow above the butterfly garden. This variety has an even more lovely bloom and I've not had a seedling problem. However, that one isn't planted in rich garden soil!

I have trained the unknown chaste tree so that there is a trimmed-up trunk, but it can also be treated like butterfly bush with a late winter shaping. Zones 6-9; full sun; drought-tolerant and can be used for xeriscapes; deer resistant.


Last, but not least, are my daylilies. Once upon a time, I had quite a daylily (hemerocallis) collection at a previous home. Here, with limited space inside the cottage garden fence, I grow two re-blooming varieties, the lovely yellow 'Happy Returns' and the pale yellow-white 'Joan Senior'.

I had grouped these daylilies together for a yellow garden bed. However, hot summer droughts were parching the foliage. I am in the process of moving the daylilies to another location with more moisture and less sun.

The yellow blooms look great with perennial heliotrope 'Azure Skies' and the cobalt blue blooms of Brazilian sage.

Daylily foliage is eaten by rabbits in early spring and the blooms are eaten by deer in the summer. So, I won't invest the money or the effort in growing any exotic varieties. Zones 4-10; sun to partial shade.

Although these plants haven't been given much attention, I would be hard-pressed to garden without their presence.

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer and rabbit resistance varies based upon the animal population and availability of food. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks, copyrights, or patents owned by those respective companies or persons.

There's no mistake—the deer are here. The herd grazes and sleeps in the meadow, only a few feet above the garden. Several fawns have been born in the last few weeks. But, the deer haven't been in the garden in months.

Can it be that the deer are convinced there's actually nothing good to eat in the deer resistant garden?

The deer resistant garden includes all plants outside the cottage garden fence.

The flower garden wraps around the front and one side of the house and includes a large section of cool colors, a hot colors butterfly garden and a fragrance garden.

The fragrance garden includes sweet bay magnolia, gardenia, ginger, jasmine and pulmonaria. Then, there are deer resistant plantings along the front walk and driveway that include crape myrtle, coreopsis, ice plant, stachys hummelo, nepeta, buddleia, monarda, Japanese irises and nepeta.

Not a nibble anywhere. Not a hoof print among the flowers or the garden paths. What's going on? Is there no scarcity of food in the wild, or are they munching somewhere else?

The garden is edged with a French drain consisting of round rock and concrete edgers. However, the drain is only one foot wide, so they can easily step over it.


The first plants the deer encounter are reliably deer resistant—agastache, buddleia, coreopsis, lavender cotton, gaillardia, nepeta, perennial heliotrope and salvia—for example.

There are many more, but these perennials are used extensively in my garden where plants must also be drought and heat tolerant in full sun.

The long and wide garden slopes down toward the house with a garden path of flagstones at the bottom. When I created the garden in 2007, the deer still had their own paths down the slope. Now that the garden is more mature and heavily planted, I have erased their favorite access points.


I do not use deer repellents or netting. The deer have simply broken their habit of foraging for food in a garden that hasn't rewarded them with their favorite snacks. Along the path in the front garden are coneflowers, shasta daisies, spirea, perennial ageratum, monarda, Japanese irises, ginger, milkweed and many other perennials, annuals and shrubs.


Among the hot colors in the top of the butterfly garden are more coneflowers, coreopsis, gaillardia, verbena, nepeta and crocosmia. The coneflowers are easily reached by the deer, but as you can see in the photos, the blooms nearest the meadow edge are also untouched. Farther down this edge there are rudbeckia, lantana, salvia, bronze fennel, ornamental grass (miscanthus) and clumping bamboo.

Along the lower path below the butterfly garden, I planted a mish-mash of tall purple verbena, red monarda, red and orange cannas, orange cosmos, orange zinnias and orange gladiolus. I cut those beautiful, undamaged gladiolus today and brought them indoors to enjoy! I had no browsing of zinnias or cosmos in 2009, so I'm trying larger swaths of those annuals—grown inexpensively from seed, so if there is damage, it won't be a financial issue.

I've had a positive experience with my deer resistant garden for three years now. Of course, the food supply can change and the deer herd is growing larger. My deer are not hungry or desperate right now, but your local herd may be hungry enough to try anything.

For my deer garden—it has been a very good summer so far!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Deer resistance may vary in your garden. The information provided is based solely upon my experience with the deer herd and an unprotected garden where plants are either selected for known deer resistance, or I am conducting my own tests.

Flowers are randomly mixed and mingled with abandon to give the illusion of a wildflower meadow garden. There's no design per se, but there's a method to my meadow madness. Most of my perennials peak in midsummer and continue to bloom through fall. Until then, I have filled the garden gaps with early blooming favorites.

Perennials that bloom in May and June in my garden include achillea, creeping heliotrope, salvia greggii, Japanese irises, nepeta and gaillardia.

The delightful, new Agastache 'Cotton Candy' from Terra Nova Nurseries is an early blooming variety. The deep pink blooms began in April in my garden, planted in full sun and well-drained soil. This perennial agastache is rated for zones 6-9 and should continue blooming into late summer or fall. Planted as a small plug last September, it is already proving to be a hardy and beautiful performer.

Verbena bonariensis and rose campion, both perennials here, may be self-sowing annuals in colder zones. These two tall plants are easy to use between other perennials and may rebloom with deadheading. The verbena blooms almost nonstop for me, so I rarely have to deadhead it.

Annuals for simultaneous May blooms include cornflowers, larkspur, nigella and poppies—all grown from seed sown in November. These are all easy to weave among the perennials. When the annuals have faded, seeds can be collected or left to reseed. To clean up the garden, the foliage of the larkspur, cornflowers, nigella and poppies can be pulled.

	Cornflower 'Blue Boy' (left). I am also growing 'Red Ball' and 'Snowman'. The cornflowers, also known as bachelor's buttons (Centaurea cyanus) may be considered invasive in some areas, so check your state's agricultural information before planting.
	Larkspur 'Gailee Blue' and 'Lilac Spire' (shown left) are my favorites, but I added Blue Spire' and 'White King' this year. Can't have too many!
	Nigella damascena 'Miss Jekyll Blue' is proving to be a great addition this year. I'm using this annual in several different settings and combinations.
	Poppy 'Laurens Grape' (left) was difficult to find. I'm also growing an unknown white poppy in this meadow garden.
	Verbena bonariensis (perennial or annual) is a favorite with butterflies, bees and Goldfinches.

As for deer and rabbit resistance—all of these annuals and perennials are unprotected in my outer gardens. I've had no problem with damage, but your results may vary depending upon the availability of food and the size of the animal population. If Goldfinches visit your garden, they will be delighted if you grow the verbena and cornflowers as they love to eat the seeds!

Hidden among all of these flowers are more agastache as well as salvia, Russian sage, leucanthemum, caryopteris, bee balm, liatris, milkweed and sedum. The blooms from these perennials will get all the attention as the summer progresses.

With the results that I've gotten with this new strategy, my meadow madness added another season of peak color without sacrificing space!

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. All company or product or patented names mentioned are registered trademarks/copyrights/patents owned by those respective companies or persons. Agastache 'Cotton Candy' was provided as a trial plant by Terra Nova Nurseries.