Native Plants

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A: There are those who suspect Wildflower Center volunteers are the culpable and capable culprits. Yet, others think staff members play some, albeit small, role. You can torture us with your plant questions, but we will never reveal the Green Guru's secret identity.
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Friday - April 19, 2013
From: Ione, WA
Region: Northeast
Topic: Pests, Deer Resistant
Title: Plants that animals won't eat from Ione WA
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
In Ione Washington and need to know what types of plants and flowers I can plant that animals in that area wont eat?ANSWER:
There are very few plants that some animals, like goats, will not eat, and very many plants that some animals, like deer, will eat. Animals in the wild and, to some extent, pets in the neighborhood will snack on whatever appeals to them. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, home of Mr. Smarty Plants, recommends plants native not only to North America but to the area in which those plants grow naturally; in your case, Pend Orielle County, Washington. However, our Native Plant Database does not include information on each plant as to what animals eat it. We do have a Deer-Resistant Plant List, which we will sort for you on the state of Washington. You can follow each plant link to the webpage on that list; the measure of deer resistance is down the page under Benefits, sometimes Highly Resistant, sometimes Minimal Resistance.
Online we found several other lists of plants animals don't eat; remember that these are not necessarily native, so our Native Plant Database would have no information on them.
Plants the Varmints Won't Eat (Usually)
Garden Plants That Animals Will Not Eat
More Deer Resistant Questions
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Is Smooth Sumac deer resistant
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December 23, 2008 - Hi, I was on a nature hike this past summer in Yosemite, and our Ranger guide told us about latex in the Milkweed and the Western Dogwood being a defense mechanism against browsing by deer. I'm a lan...
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