Native Plants

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Monday - December 07, 2009

From: Morgans Point Resort, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Deer Resistant
Title: Deer resistant vines for trellis
Answered by: Nan Hampton

QUESTION:

We would love to have a blooming vine on our trellis, but the deer devour ever attempt. Please recommend something! Thank you.

ANSWER:

If you go to our Recommended Species page, under Special Collections you will find a file for Deer Resistant native plants. You can use the NARROW YOUR SEARCH option to choose 'Vine' from the General Appearance option and find 20 vines listed. Of course, not all those vines are going to be native to Bell County, but here are a few that are native to the county or in its general area. Please understand that these plants are listed as 'Deer Resistant'—they aren't 'Deer Proof'. Many factors can enter into whether a deer will browse a plant—for instance, food shortage during a drought will result in deer eating plants that they would normally avoid. The observations for these plants, however, is that deer NORMALLY avoid them.

Clematis drummondii (Drummond's clematis)

Cocculus carolinus (Carolina coralbead)—the blossoms are not showy, but the berries are.

Ibervillea lindheimeri (Lindheimer's globeberry)—again, the blossoms are not as showy as the fruits.

Ipomoea cordatotriloba var. cordatotriloba (tievine)

Maurandella antirrhiniflora (roving sailor)

Matelea reticulata (netted milkvine)

Merremia dissecta (noyau vine)

Passiflora affinis (bracted passionflower)

Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)—once again the berries are showier than the blossoms.

You might be interested in reading "Gardening in Deer Country" from the the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. It has some very good suggestions for dealing with deer that are eating your landscaping.

Here are some photos of the above plants from our Image Gallery.