Deer ate my Cedar bushes

[Down Deep]

I have some appox. 25 year old cedar bushes that border my house. Over the winter the deer ate all the green off the bottom 6 feet. Will these bushes regenerate the green? This is the first time this has happened.

[LwnmwnMan2]

I have 3 words for you.

One Cut Prune.

Sorry.

Either that, or try to trim them up somehow, reshape them into a cedar "tree".

[Boogaard]

ITs very common for deer to eat cedar branches as far as they can reach! Id have to agree maybe thank the deer for trimming them for you? Get a GUN!

[Powerstroke]

This is very common and it creates an amazing site up north. All the cedars that hang over the lake are all at the same height cause thats as high as they can reach from the ice.

If they are big enough, I would say trim them up and try to find a way to protect them in the future. I've had pretty good luck with some of the deer rodent repellents.

[Quetico]

The arboretum in Chanhassan has this same issue. I dont know what they do about it if anything.

[boatfixer]

In the future, hang the 'ol ladies nylons with moth balls inside the trees. We have'nt had problems since.

[Steve Foss]

To answer your question, Down Deep, they won't regenerate. It's deciduous shrubs and trees that regenerate. The conifers don't.

Not sure how much room you have or if your cedars are tight against the house, but if they are pretty much against the house and you have a good amount of room in front of them, you can deepen your garden and plant a mix of medium shrubs and some tall perennials directly in front of the cedars. That'll cover up the eaten spots over time, and if you add even more flowers with lower growing habits in front of your new shrubs, you'll have a classically layered garden.

Tall in back, mid range in the middle, short in front. That's how I designed a lot of house/business foundation plantings (gardens backed by the house/foundation) when I was a landscaper. That seems like a long time ago now, but some principles stand the test of time.

What are the conditions in front of your cedars? Do you have room for more garden? What direction do they face?

[Down Deep]

The cedars are tight against the house and were planted to form an end border on either side of the house. I was looking at them today and surfing the net for ideas on what to plant around them. I might also just give them a yank. I am also looking for some deer proof plants and bushes, and any suggestions about deer proof plants and bushes would be appreciated. The deer in Duluth have reached phenomenal numbers. It is incredible how much they have cleared the under brush of the woods around my house.

[Steve Foss]

I'm afraid I don't know of any deer proof flowers and shrubs. Sorry.

[Powerstroke]

Quetico posted some "deer-proof" plants earlier this spring. Hopefully he'll see this and help you out.

[Steve Foss]

I've yet to see a shrub/flower that's actually deer-proof. Here's a list of common garden flowers and shrubs that are deer resistant. In other words, deer get to them last because they like the taste the least. You'll still likely get fawns nibbling on them because young deer will experiment to see what does and does not taste good. And in really harsh winters the deer will eat them anyway.

The bridal wreath spirea, with its cascading branches filled with white flowers in June, would be an excellent planting right in front of your cedars. The shrubs grow to about six feet or more and are very handsome even when not in bloom. There also are a number of dwarf lilac cultivars on the market that bloom longer than traditional lilacs and don't grow as tall. They'd make a good shrub for you, too. So you'd have the lilacs bloom in May and the bridal wreath in June, and if you do perennials and annuals in front, you'd have a variety of flowers all summer.

Since the deer are only eating your cedars in winter, any annuals and perennials you plant will have died or gone dormant by then and will be covered with snow, so the deer won't get them. So since your problem is a winter problem you don't need to limit your choices to perennials/annuals on this list. Any annual will work, as will any perennial that'll grow in Zone 3 and potentially Zone 4, depending on where you live in Duluth and how sheltered your yard is.

The bridal wreath, lilac and potentilla are all shrubs that are hardy in Zone 3.

Missing from this list are roses. There are a number of very hardy shrub roses that work in Zone 3, like the Morden series, which were developed at the Morden Research Station in Manitoba and are widely available at nurseries. For obvious reasons, deer will not do much damage by winter browsing on thorny rose branches.

PERENNIALS

Ajuga

Basket of Gold

Campanula

Sedums

Soap Wort

Sweet Woodriff

Wooly Thyme

Autumn Joy Sedum

Black-Eyed Susan

Bleeding Heart

California Poppies

Campanula

Chives

Columbine

Cone Flower

Coral Bells

Coreopsis

Daffodil

Euphorbia

Ferns

Flax

Foxglove

Galardia

Iris

Ladies Mantle

Laitris

Lambs ear

Lavendar

Lupine

Mint

Peonies

Poppies - Iceland/Oriental

Rudbeckia

Rue

Russian Sage

Salvia

Sedum

Shasta Daisy

Thyme

SHRUBS

Lilac

Potentilla

Spirea (Bridal Wreath)

Tamarix

VINES

Honeysuckle

Morning Glory

ANNUALS

Allysum

Cosmos

Geranium

*Herbs

Lobelia

Marigolds

Snapdragons

Verbena

Zinnia