We enjoyed an incredibly informative talk last night from Natalie Carmolli about hard-working shrubs in the garden. These shrubs solve various problems such as deer nibbling, water use, poor soil, heat and cold. As well, many of these plants have been bred to be disease resistant, non-invasive, a compact size, have strong stems to support blooms, have a longer boom time, are self cleaning (no deadheading required), have greater vigor and better foliage.
A few of the hardy shrubs discussed were:
Native Aronia melanocarpa
Native Cephalanthus
Native Diervilla
Native Hypericum
Native Itea
Native Clethra
Caryopteris x clandonensis
Hibiscus syriacus
Spiraea japonica
Many Hydrangea varietals (even singular plants that bloom on old AND new wood so there’s no pruning mishaps)
Some ‘deer proof’ shrubs that were discussed include:
NORTH STAR ® Buxus
SPRINTER ® Buxus
SISTER ® Series Cytisus
JOLENE JOLENE TM Kolkwitzia
CELTIC PRIDE® Microbiota
HAPPY FACE ® Series Potentilla
PROUD BERRY ® Symphoricarpos
For a good list of deer resistant plants, courtesy of the Proven Winners website, click here: https://www.provenwinners.com/learn/deer-resistant-shrubs
Many thanks to Natalie for this wonderful talk! A copy of her presentation will be shared on our Forum when it’s received. Note from a member: many of these plants are available at Home Depot. For photos of some of these plants, please see our Facebook page here: