When we moved to a new property with lawn covered backyard and no fence, it felt like a gardener’s paradise. The backyard was an empty canvas waiting to be filled. The first fall season, I installed all the plants I had carried with me from the previous house, discovering along the way that there is a easy way to smother the lawn instead of ripping it out (more here:Planting perennial garden on existing turf).
Over the winter, I saw a small herd of white-tailed deer snacking in the common area and was really excited to have them this close to the yard (silly me!). Over time, we spotted raccoons, opossums , skunk and even a fox wandering close to the yard! It was only a matter of time, when these animals would wander into my garden.
Thankfully most of the plants in my collection were reported to be deer-resistant, except for Daylily. I would have to come up with a plan for the vegetables that I was planning to plant in the spring (but that is for later). Around mid-may, when all my existing perennials had managed to survive the winter and were putting up new green shoots, I noticed something kept chomping them back to ground. All the young leaves and buds on Rudbeckia, Coneflowers would disappear leaving behind bare stalks with clean cuts. I was certain it was a rabbit with a rare affinity to coneflowers. Who could relish a coneflower with their spiky flowers? Deer tear the plant when eating and don’t leave behind clean cuts.
I immediately got to work to protect what was left of my Rudbeckia and Coneflowers. A quick online search showed the easiest is to install a small fence around each plant. I put up a 2 feet high fence with bamboo stakes and deer netting, but that didn’t seem to work. One evening while I was in the kitchen, I saw the culprit munching on peas on the raised deck. It had climbed 5 flights of stairs just to get to the peas. It was a huge groundhog (aka woodchuck). I had not seen one this close and I was torn between just watching it eat and chasing it away. It was a happy-sad day.
When I had started with a handful of plants for my garden, husband and I had agreed to have a wildlife friendly space with no use of pesticide, herbicides or any inhumane trap. That wasn’t a hard decision in a fenced tiny suburban backyard. But now my decision was going to be challenged by a very determined groundhog, the ever hungry deer and adorable rabbits,squirrels, not to forget the box turtles that move through my strawberry patch at surprisingly high speeds. There is a lot of information about deer and rabbit resistant plants, but very little information about groundhog resistant or tolerant plants. So down below is my list of plants that are chomped by a groundhog for readers with similar issues and plants that I have in my garden that have never been eaten by any 4 legged animal (based on experiences in zone 7b, suburban garden).
One thing I constantly remind myself is to enjoy these animals and make them work for you. I have learnt to let groundhogs and rabbits prune my plants early in the season. By end of May, I install fencing around the most snacked-on plants. I have realized that the best way to save the plants is to fence them with bamboo stakes and deer netting, as well as to cover the tops so the tall groundhogs can’t reach over. I also had the luxury of seeing the groundhog with 6 of its pup waddling in our bird bath (adorable!!!!). That was something, a fenced yard would not allow you to experience.
PS: Avoid using bird netting for fencing. They are very fine and we have had birds, rat snake and box turtles get entangled in them. I now completely avoid them in my garden.
Groundhog favorites:
- Wild geranium (Geranium maculatum) – leaves only
- Geranium Johnson’s Blue (Geranium himalayense x pratense)- full plant
- Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) – leaves and blooms. Doesn’t recover from the early season chomping.
- Black-eyed susan (Rudbeckia hirta)- leaves and blooms. Unlike coneflower, this recovers quickly if fenced and protected.
- Purple poppy mallow (Callirhoe involucrata)
- Sunflowers- buds and blooms only (loved by squirrels too)
- Asters
- Borage
- Tomatoes, Green bell peppers (intermingled with basil)
- Beans and Peas (their favorites)
- Strawberries
- Scarlet runner bean (Phaseolus coccineus)- loved by deer too
- Pansy
Fauna safe (not been munched by any 4 legged animal yet):
- Allium ‘purple sensation’
- Golden alexander
- Swamp Milkweed
- Common Milkweed
- Pleurisy root/Orange Milkweed (A.tuberosa)
- Tropical milkweed (A.currasavica)
- Bordeaux Yaupon holly dwarf
- Artimisia ‘Silver Mound’
- Joe pye weed ‘BabyJoe’
- Helenium ‘Dancing flame’
- Helenium ‘Red jewel’
- Gayfeather, Blazing Star
- Goldenrod ‘Little Lemon’
- Coreopsis ‘Route 66’
- Yarrow
- Fern, japanese painted
- Fan scarlet cardinal
- Arrowwood viburnum “all that glows”
- Arrowwood viburnum “all that glitters”
- Summersweet Clethra
- Sedum Stonecrop
- Blue false indigo
- Lemon meringue false indigo
- Cinnamon fern
- Crocosmia
- Lavender Hyssop
- Caryopteris ‘Lil Miss Sunshine’
- Bluebeard variegated
- Bee Balm, Bergamot, Oswego Tea
- Bergamot
- Russian Sage, ‘Lacey Blue’
- Obedient plant
- Butterfly bush
- Wild Bleeding Heart
- Speedwell ‘Purpleicious’
- Speedwell ‘Charlotte’
- Culver’s Root
- Pink muhly grass (Muhlenbergia capillaris)
- Switchgrass
- Prairie Dropseed
- Columbine
- New jersey tea
- Astillbe
- Coral Bells
- Lantana
- Labrador Violet
- Japanese Painted Fern
- Sweet william (Dianthus)
- Red Hot Poker (Kniphofia uvaria ‘Border Ballet’)
- Coral honeysuckle
- Hydrangea
- Penstemon white
- Red tip photinia
- Mexican hat Coneflower
- Celandine poppy
- Lilac
- Tiarella foamflower
- Verbena
- Periwinkle
- Helianthus ‘Table Mountain’
Terrafirmanatura 