Native Plants

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Tuesday - April 05, 2011

From: Austin, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Deer Resistant
Title: Is non-native Chinese fringe flower deer resistant from Austin
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Is Chinese fringe flower (chinense var. rubrum) considered to be deer resistant?

ANSWER:

From the U. S. National Arboretum we found this article on Loropetalum chinense var. rubrum. It makes no mention of deer resistance. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is dedicated to the growth, propagation and protection of plants native not only to North America but to the areas in which those plants grow natively. Chinese fringe flower was brought to the United States in the 1980's from Japan and therefore falls out of our area of expertise. We do have a list of native Deer Resistant Plants, but the fringe flower will not appear on it, of course. The Loropetalum is a member of the witch hazel family so, just on a chance, we checked on the native Hamamelis virginiana (Witch hazel) and learned that it is heavily browsed by deer. That's about the only information we could find for you.