A Guide to Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds | Deer and Hummingbird Gardens

A recent comment by a reader in the Basics of Attracting and Feeding Hummingbirds inspired this post. Monte lives in an area which enjoys a large native deer population and wants to know if there are hummingbird friendly plants deer will ignore. While beautiful creatures in their own right, many gardners will be quick to warn that Bambi isn’t the most garden-friendly critter in the world.

I elected to write a post rather than answer Monte’s question in the comments because there’s are some questions when it comes to your personal preferences for protecting your hummingbird garden. Do you enjoy having the deer around but want to protect your hummingbird attracting flowers? Would you be content to never see a deer in your garden again (the sound of gardeners applauding this one is almost deafening)? Would you still like them to show up but just graze on the periphery of your garden?

If you would be content to keep deer away entirely, a high fence is your best bet. If you want to maintain an open garden, there are several commercially available deer repellents as well as some sworn-by home solutions. Many gardeners swear by soap (Dial and Zest get good reviews). Deer apparently don’t like the smell. Plant these around the perimeter of your garden. Heavily scented fabric softeners or nylon stocking stuffed with human hair clippings are also reported to keep deer at bay.

If you are content to have deer at the periphery of your garden but not feeding in your garden, consider giving them what they want. Clover and alfalfa at the edges of your yard (peferably near cover so the deer feel safe) will give deer a tempting meal to nibble on which will hopefully deter them from feeling the need to venture further in. Additionally, you can use the soap idea from above but place the bars near your hummingbird flowers but away from other plants you don’t mind the deer grazing on.

To answer your question specifically, though, there are flowers ideal for hummingbird feeding that are considered deer tolerant (more on that term in a minute). You could consider using any of these in combination with the strategy of planting deer-prefered plants closer to the edge of your garden in an effort to keep hummingbirds, deer and nature loving home owner happy.

Perenials

• Bee Balm
• Cardinal Flower
• Dahlia

Annuals

• Flowering Tobacco

Vines 

• Cardinal Climber

Now to address the term “deer tolerant.” Regardless what you plant or don’t plant, deer stressed by over population, habitat loss or hunger will bypass just about anything and eat just about anything. Ultimately, a fence is the only assured solution for keeping deer at bay. Please let me know if you try any of these suggestions and how they work out.