Deer are adaptable and eat a wide variety of plants. They tend to avoid plants that have hairy leaves, thorns, or strong smells. However, deer will eat anything when they get hungry enough.
The Shaw Nature Reserve conducted a three-year study to identify Missouri Native plants that deer tend to avoid. A list of these plants can be found on their website.
Photo Credit: “Deer in the Garden” by nekosoft is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
Grow Native! provides extensive information on their website dedicated to encouraging pollinators. Their top ten outstanding native plants for pollinators, all of which are perennials, include:
- Symphyotrichum [Aster] oblongifolium “Aromatic Aster”
- Brunichia ovata “Ladies Eardrops”
- Asclepias incarnata “Marsh Milkweed”
- Liatris scariosa “Eastern Blazingstar”
- Erigeron pulchellus “Robin’s Plaintain”
- Pycnanthemum tenuifolium “Slender Mountain Mint”
- Penstemon digitalis “Foxglove Beardtongue”
- Monarda fistulosa “Wild Bergamot”
- Hydrangea arborescens “Wild Hydrangea”
- Solidago drummondii “Cliff Goldenrod”
Photo Credit: “Pollinator on Sunflower” by dmoon10751 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Bush Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), also known as Amur Honeysuckle, is one of the most destructive invasive species in the St. Louis region. No bugs eat it and no diseases plague it. It leafs out earlier than our native plants, so it shades out the bushes, flowers and young trees that should be sprouting here at that time. It also holds its leaves longest in fall, competing for resources with the plants that naturally occur here. The Missouri Botanical Garden provides extensive information about Bush Honeysuckle identification, control, and removal.
Photo Credit: Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), aka Bush Honeysuckle – Chain O’Lakes State Park, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Lake County, IL – 29 October 2011 by JanetandPhil is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Bush Honeysuckle provides a thick visual screen, so when it is removed alternatives must often be considered. Many native bush and small tree species will provide an excellent property screen, while contributing to the healthy balance of the land you own and tend. Specific choices will depend on whether you have sun or shade, wet or dry soil conditions, and other site-specific factors. Some great bushes to consider are:
- Corylus americana “American Hazelnut”
- Physocarpus opulifolius “Ninebark”
- Viburnum dentatum “Arrowwood”
Phyllostachys varieties, such as “Bamboo,” is not a good alternative to bush honeysuckle, because it is also an invasive non-native plant.
The St. Louis Audubon Society’s Bring Conservation Home Program provides on-site assistance to small, private landowners in the greater St. Louis area for the restoration of native plant and animal habitat on their grounds. The program includes advice in landscaping with environmentally healthy and sustainable native plant species, the removal of invasive plant species such as bush honeysuckle, water conservation on the urban landscape, and other stewardship practices that promote healthy habitat for birds, native wildlife and people.
Photo Credit: Amur Honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii), aka Bush Honeysuckle – Chain O’Lakes State Park, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Lake County, IL – 29 October 2011 by JanetandPhil is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Consider native plants! They have incredible root systems that support the plants in times of drought. Compared with the roots of most non-native plants, warm-season grasses and flowers have a deep, extensive root system that helps absorb moisture and prevent erosion. Many species of prairie plants have roots that extend four to eight feet into the soil, while cool-season non-native grasses, such as Kentucky blue grass and smooth brome extend only a few inches into the soil. Deep roots allow native plants to withstand long periods of dry weather and so they require little or no watering after they are established.
The Missouri Botanical Garden provides information about “rainscaping” with native plants to manage stormwater as close as possible to where it falls, rather than moving it someplace else.
Photo Credit: “Residential Rain Garden – Kanode” by stormwateroutreach is licensed under CC PDM 1.0.