Native Plants

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Monday - March 29, 2010

From: Lake Cypress Springs, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Deer Resistant
Title: Deer Resistant Plants for East Texas
Answered by: Nina Hawkins

QUESTION:

We have a lake house at Lake Cypress Springs, between Mt Vernon and Winnsboro, in East Texas. Can you suggest some deer-resistant plants/shrubs that have the potential to last? I understand deer will eat anything when very hungry. Thank you.

ANSWER:

You are dead-on when you say that deer will eat ANYTHING when they are very hungry. Nonetheless, the plants below are listed in our database as highly deer resistant and are also on the Recommended Species list for East Texas. All of them make attractive garden plants and you can read about their specific growing conditions by clicking on the links below. You may want to browse the recommended species for East Texas and give some of the plants that are listed as moderately deer resistant a try too. If we have information on deer resistance for a specific plant, it is listed under the 'Benefits' category of the plant information page.

Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly milkweed)

Chasmanthium latifolium (Inland sea oats)

Eustoma exaltatum ssp. russellianum (showy prairie gentian)

Glandularia bipinnatifida (Dakota mock vervain)

Hymenocallis liriosme (spring spiderlily)

Iris brevicaulis (zigzag iris)

Lantana urticoides (West Indian shrubverbena)

Salvia coccinea (blood sage)

Ratibida columnifera (upright prairie coneflower)

Salvia farinacea (mealycup sage)