Native Plants

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Saturday - April 27, 2013

From: Urbandale, IA
Region: Midwest
Topic: Deer Resistant, Drought Tolerant, Grasses or Grass-like, Herbs/Forbs
Title: Deer resistant native plants for Eagle Scout project in Urbandale IA
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Mr. Smarty Plants, My son is planning his Eagle Scout Project doing some landscaping for the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary. The facility has asked him to use only plants native to Iowa. Can you suggest some native Iowa plants that can take all day sun, are drought tolerant, deer resisitant and will provide all season color? We are looking for mostly plants about 2 feet and under. Thanks.

ANSWER:

We are honored to participate in a small way in this project. As you may know, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, home of Mr. Smarty Plants, is committed to the growth, propagation and propagation of plants native not only to North America but to the area in which they are being grown; in your case, Polk and Dallas Counties, Iowa.

There are two ways we can choose Iowa native plants for your son's project. The first is to go to our Native Plant Database and, scrolling down the page to the Combination Search, select Iowa for State, "all" for Habits, "sun" for Light Requirements, "dry" for Soil Moisture and 1-3 ft. for Height. When we ran this search, we got 104 results which, because of the height restriction, gave us mostly "herbs" (herbaceous blooming plants) and a few shrubs and grasses. This, however, is no measure of deer resistance. We do have a Deer Resistant Species List, for all of North America. Please read this disclaimer at the top of that list:

"Deer Resistant Species

Few plants are completely deer resistant. Several factors influence deer browsing including the density of the deer population, environmental conditions such as drought, and plant palatability. Deer tend to avoid plants with aromatic foliage, tough leathery and/or hairy or prickly leaves or plants with milky latex or sap. Try using some of the plants listed here to minimize deer damage to your landscape."

We are going to go back to that list and sort it exactly as we did on the Combination Search. This list has only 15 results, which is pretty disappointing, but we're not finished yet. We still need to follow the links on that list to our webpage on each plant to determine if they are highly deer resistant or only minimally resistant. AND we need to check the USDA Plant Profile Map on each plant to see if it is native to your part of Iowa. Plus, we are pretty sure you don't want Opuntia macrorhiza (Common prickly-pear) on the property. Also, Linum rigidum (Stiffstem flax) and Penstemon cobaea (Wild foxglove) are listed as having "minimal" deer resistance. Below is a list of the other 12 with their level of deer resistance and the area in Iowa where they are native. Pictures from our Image Gallery are at the bottom of the page.

Aristida purpurea (Purple threeawn) - highly resistant, native to northwest Iowa

Asclepias tuberosa (Butterflyweed) highly resistant, close to Dallas Co.

Bouteloua curtipendula (Sideoats grama) highly resistant, Polk Co.

Carex blanda (Eastern woodland sedge) highly resistant, near Polk Co.

Croton monanthogynus (Prairie tea) highly resistant, native only in Monona Co.

Gaillardia pulchella (Firewheel) moderately resistant, no info from USDA

Monarda fistulosa (Wild bergamot) highly resistant, close to Dallas Co.

Oenothera speciosa (Pink evening primrose) highly resistant, no info from USDA

Ratibida columnifera (Mexican hat) highly resistant, Polk Co.

Rudbeckia hirta (Black-eyed susan) highly resistant, close to Polk Co.

Solidago nemoralis (Gray goldenrod) highly resistant, close to Dallas Co.

Verbesina encelioides (Cowpen daisy) highly resistant, no info from USDA

Of course, if you want to broaden your list, you must decide which characteristic desired could be eliminated. You could go back to the complete list of Iowa native plants and rerun it after eliminating the "deer resistance" or "dry soil" or even height of 1-3 ft. to locate more species. Only your son can make those decisions, together with the owners of the property he is working on.

There could be other plants, particularly grasses, that are native to Iowa but have not yet made it into our database. Grasses are largely avoided by deer, although they will eat nearly anything when times are hard. We suggest you contact the Extension Office for either Polk or Dallas County, whichever is most convenient, for help on grasses.