50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants: The Prettiest Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Shrubs that Deer Don't Eat [Paperback]

Ruth Rogers Clausen (Author), Alan L. Detrick (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 2011

What’s the biggest problem facing gardeners? Drought, lack of sun, or the ever-present threat of disease? Nope, it’s deer. The beautiful animals immortalized in Disney’s Bambi are also the garden’s biggest pests. Increased hunting regulations have caused the deer population to swell to more than 30 million. At the same time, suburban expansion has led to a loss of natural habitat. The result? Deer are looking for food and finding it in gardens all across the country.

50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants makes keeping deer away as simple as choosing the appropriate plant. Instead of the typical barriers and fencing, expert plantswoman Ruth Rogers Clausen has chosen the 50 most beautiful (and least palatable) annuals, bulbs, ferns, grasses, herbs, perennials, and shrubs. Whether it’s the charming snow crocuses that bloom each spring or the vibrant, long-blooming Texas Sage, these 50 plants provide gardeners a chance to design a deer-proof garden without sacrificing style. Each plant profile includes a deer-resistance scale, tips on growth and care, zone recommendations, and gorgeous color photos showing the plant up close and in the garden setting. Also includes dozens of companion planting ideas.

With the helpful and trusted advice in 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants, gardeners can finally garden without fear of deer.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Beautifully illustrated with full-page color plates. A terrific guide.” (Reference and Research Book News )

Even apart from its gorgeous photography, which will make you want to eat the plants, the book has much to offer. (Jim McCausland Sunset Magazine Fresh Dirt Blog )

If you think deer are dear, but not necessarily in your garden, you may want to consult Ruth Clausen's new book. (Katherine Pacchiana The Daily Cortlandt )

Ruth Rogers Clausen's book "50 Beautiful Deer Resistant Plants" is simply the best book I have read on this subject. (Bruce Zimmerman Open-Line Gardening Show )

I loved all the great suggestions in this book. Clausen includes plants for all landscape areas and the selections provide for varied and interesting plantings. (Kathryn Brown East Oregonian )

I especially like… Clausen’s deer-resistance ratings. (Jan Riggenbach Omaha World-Herald )

As an experienced plantswoman, Ruth Rogers Clausen understands the balance between keeping deer out of gardens and fencing gardeners in. (Jodi Torpey The Denver Post )

Using Clausen’s hand-picked varieties, it would be hard to fail at creating a cohesively designed deer-resistant garden that is a pleasure to spend time in. (Genevieve Schmidt Christian Science Monitor )

An exceedingly helpful resource, expertly researched and written by the respected writer Ruth Rogers Clausen (Susan Harris Garden Rant )

I highly recommend 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants for every gardener who battles bambi on a regular basis. (Deborah Roberts Garden of Possibilities blog )

"This visually appealing. practical, authoratative book is highly recommended for gardeners in deer country who would like to have a beautiful garden without fencing as their only solution." (Sue O'Brien Library Journal )

About the Author

Noted garden, nature, and landscape photographer Alan L. Detrick resides with his wife and business partner, Linda, in Glen Rock, New Jersey. His award-winning work has appeared worldwide in major publications including Audubon, Garden Design, Horticulture, Modern Maturity, Natural History, Reader's Digest, The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and Sunset.

An experienced instructor, Alan has lectured and led photography workshops for professional organizations and public gardens including the American Horticultural Society, the Garden Club of America, the Garden Writers Association, The New York Botanical Garden, Chanticleer Garden, Brookside Gardens, and Longwood Gardens. In addition to owning a stock photography agency, Alan and Linda also provide photographic services for landscape architects and garden designers. In 2005 they were honored as Fellows of the Garden Writers Association. Their Web site address is www.alandetrick.com.


Ruth Rogers Clausen’s Perennials for American Gardens (Random House, 1989, with coauthor Nicolas H. Ekstrom) received the Quill & Trowel Award for 1990 from the Garden Writers Association. She has also written for the American Garden Guides series: Perennial Gardening with The New York Botanical Garden, Annual Gardening with Missouri Botanical Garden, and Trees with Chicago Botanic Garden. Her Dreamscaping was published by Hearst Books.

Ruth has contributed articles to several of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s handbooks. Former horticulture editor for Country Living Gardener magazine, she often serves as a judge at flower shows. She gardens in Westchester County, New York, where deer abound.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press; Original edition (May 31, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604691956
• ISBN-13: 978-1604691955
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 0.5 x 9.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #62,803 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #28 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Ornamental Plants
  • #50 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Gardening & Landscape Design > Flowers

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A superior resource for homeowners on the east coast June 9, 2011

By Gen of North Coast Gardening TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This book is a one-stop, simple resource for east coast homeowners who need hardy, easy-to-grow, deer-resistant plants that won't let them down. I love that the author has selected a wide variety of plants which all go together fairly well. It would be very hard to screw up a design scheme using the plants in this book. Most have a cottage garden appearance, with lots of flowers and color, but of course style is largely in the layout and design, so you could create a variety of differently-styled gardens using only the plants she suggests.

I love that for each plant, she gives a detailed set of companion plants that flower harmoniously or have great foliage contrast. This makes it easy for more experienced gardeners to use a wider palette of plants, since for each plant, she gives around 10 suggestions for other plants to use alongside it. This means that the book features many more than 50 plants.

I'm a professional landscaper in the coastal Pacific Northwest, and the author is an east coast gardener, so a few of the plant suggestions did miss the mark for my climate. Some don't grow well with the rain, fog, or lack of frost on the coast (peony, basil, lily of the valley), and others become thuggish in my generally hospitable climate (ostrich fern, bigroot geranium).

That said, no gardening book will have plants to suit every microclimate, even those that are specifically for your state or region. I'm a big proponent of using books like this as a starting point for getting ideas, then going to your local nursery, talking with friends or your local garden club, or having a consultation with a landscape designer/ garden coach to weed out any plants likely to be underwhelming or problematic in your climate.

Overall, I'd give this book an enthusiastic 5 stars for east coast gardeners, and 4 stars for people on the coast or in the rainy Pacific Northwest. The encouraging tone and creative design suggestions for each plant make this a standout book for homeowners looking for effective "what do I plant?" advice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Is Your Garden a Cafeteria for Deer? November 30, 2011

By allanbecker-gardenguru

Format:Paperback

50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants: The Prettiest Annuals, Perennials, Bulbs, and Shrubs that Deer Don't Eat
Gardeners who live in deer country have a serious layer of complexity to work through when planning their landscapes: - Hungry deer will ultimately eat much of what they plant. Some are prepared to invest in fences that protect their plants from becoming Bambi brunch, while many prefer not to spend funds on such structures, or to invest in the necessary time to install them. As well, applying environmentally friendly products with deer-deterring odors can be both costly and labor-intensive because rain will wash away such products thus requiring repeated applications.

From time to time, many garden writers will publish articles about plants that deer avoid, however that information is usually insufficient. Knowing what deer will or will not eat, might ensure that a garden will not become a cafeteria, but that knowledge is incomplete when it does not address beauty and the elements of garden design.

It's no secret that planning a beautiful deer-resistant garden is tedious work. Every time we select a plant or include our favorite perennial, we are obliged first to do research to determine if it is deer-candy. How exciting that now we have a list of beautiful, deer-resistant plants, conveniently tucked into a sumptuously illustrated handbook, [Mr. Detrick's photographs are awesome]. As the subtitle suggests, this publication is about the prettiest annuals, perennials, bulbs, and shrubs. That list also includes herbs, ferns, and ornamental grasses. Think of all of the time liberated by not having to research our preferences before we plan our garden.

Some of the very wise suggestions that the author has also incorporated into this book are

- the planting of natural barriers that are unpalatable to deer,

- how berms and terraces create a physically unwelcome-to-deer environment ,

- cultural techniques that make otherwise tasty deer food unappetizing,

- a list of plants that deer love that must be excluded from the garden .

Since this is a book essentially about beauty, the author supplies design tips that enhance the appearance of the recommended plants. That is precisely the information we need to create attractive gardens with a restricted collection of perennials, shrubs and trees. This knowledge helps us to distinguish between the planting of a perfunctory landscape and the creation of a beautiful garden.

Again, because this is a book about beauty, it is worth mentioning that the graphic design for this publication is a work of art that reinforces the tactile and visual pleasures associated with handling the hard copy of a "real" book. Thanks, Timber Press. You've done it again.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I hate deer April 26, 2012

By Christopher Busch

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I bought this book due to the frustration of having deer going to town on various plants in my yard. Its only been a few weeks, so I cannot fully attest to the accuracy of the recommendations, but there have been no deer eating (yet) the recommended plants Ive chosen so far.

The book is well-written and the photographs are great, so its been a pleasure to read.