Carrie12345 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) Our backyard gently(ish) slopes toward the house, meets the opposite graded ground *from the house, and then there’s a steeper sloped front yard. The opposite slopes meet just in front of where our back patio/deck/something will someday go. (Currently just tampered stone.) When there’s a lot of water, much of it flows down the channel it’s created, away from the house, and down the greater slope in the woods. But a good deal still sits in the channel until it eventually gets absorbed. Which it does relatively quickly, but not quickly enough. We’re still in and out of the backyard when it’s warm but wet, and we’ve got dogs. Are there deer-resistant, mostly-shade, water-loving plants I can put in to help control that water? It gets some morning sun, but nothing after that, and we have tons of hungry wildlife. Forgot to add, I’m on the zone 5/6 border. Edited March 3 by Carrie12345 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I'm not much of a gardener myself, so I cannot comment on plants. I will say, though, that I wonder if you should consider a French drain? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I am new to all the green thumb things but I do know that host as are water loving and do not mind shade. There are several varieties, many with very pretty flowers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livetoread Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Ferns might do well, especially ostrich fern. Liriope does well almost anywhere. Red twig dogwood is a shrub that would like it there, but it is less deer resistant. Sweetspire and summersweet are also shrub options. Our voracious deer nibble those but don't destroy them, preferring the roses next to them in my yard. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 I haven’t found anything the deer won’t eat if they are hungry enough or curious enough. Even the deer-resistant plants get eaten eventually. ☹️ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 3 Author Share Posted March 3 55 minutes ago, Faith-manor said: I am new to all the green thumb things but I do know that host as are water loving and do not mind shade. There are several varieties, many with very pretty flowers. Our deer LOVE hostas. 😞 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 are you in a state covered by Sunset Western Garden book? Or does your state have a "plant finder" website? (my county has one for natives. - this is an example) The Missouri Botanical Garden has one that works for the midwest. There are other plant finder websites. you should be able to input search criteria for "erosion control, shade loving, thirsty" and get some hits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 3 minutes ago, Carrie12345 said: Our deer LOVE hostas. 😞 Oops. Didn't think about that. My mother in law and mother have them planted closer to their driveways. My bad! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 Deer eat what they will eat, some will eat things deer are supposed to hate, and others will avoid things deer supposedly go after. You need to talk to people in your own area to find out what deer will eat and what they will avoid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 (edited) Look up rain gardens for your area. Often native plants are easier to manage, and some of them might possibly be able to withstand the deer. This list includes several that might work, depending on what you want: shrubs, trees, perennials, etc. Look at the inkberries, pussy willows, Joe Pye weed, blue flag iris, Hibiscus moscheutos, and there might be others. Cardinal flowers would like the partial shade. https://www.thespruce.com/plants-that-can-live-in-wet-areas-4767394 Edited March 3 by Innisfree 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted March 3 Share Posted March 3 For perennials, you can do a pretty nice mix of heights/colors/textures just with ferns, heucheras and liriopes (which come large and small, black to green to golden, with later blooms that the heuchera fronds), all of which are shade tolerant and relatively deer resistant. Around here, deer don't much go for astilbe either, and though their bloom cycle is short I think the ferny foliage is nice unto itself. I puffy heart LOVE the look of hakone on sloping bed sections, and it's shade-tolerant enough, but slow and thus somewhat $$ to get going. But if you're really hoping for a **drainage** benefit then you'll likely need some larger anchor shrubs and trees with more root structure. Pussy (or any willow really) would be good to try. In my area, spirea (a rather dull but indestructible shrub) is extremely tolerant of virtually all drainage/drought conditions and I think the golden versions look good next to tall dark green ostrich or cinnamon ferns. Hydrangea flourishes in pretty-wet soil but it's deer bait in many areas particularly when it's young and succulent (I've found that the older the bushes get the more the deer leave it to other things). And I've never grown river birch myself but you do *see* it growing apparently natively along rivers and streams out in the woods, so it must be relatively easy. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Your county cooperative extension office may be a good resource to look up and perhaps even contact. Where I live the cooperative extension will come to your house and make recommendations Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 7 hours ago, mum said: Where I live the cooperative extension will come to your house and make recommendations Wow! I don’t know if they do here, but I’ll do some digging! Thank you all for the ideas. Lots to marinate in my brain. @Pam in CT I don’t know why ferns hadn’t even crossed my mind. I’m not the biggest fan of them, but I know from the natural ones at our old house that they hold up very well even to a little nibbling. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faith-manor Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 Carrie, I saw the 4H horticultural expert yesterday at TSC and asked. He said, bleeding heart and wild ginger. Deer tend to totally avoid them, they like shade, and will be fine with fairly wet soil so long as they are not drowned. Now that said, this is advice for Michigan, zone 6, nearly Lake Huron. I can't say for sure if that would work for you. But, you can email your county extension office and ask. They should have a horticulturalist or master gardener who can help. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 5 minutes ago, Faith-manor said: Carrie, I saw the 4H horticultural expert yesterday at TSC and asked. He said, bleeding heart and wild ginger. Deer tend to totally avoid them, they like shade, and will be fine with fairly wet soil so long as they are not drowned. Now that said, this is advice for Michigan, zone 6, nearly Lake Huron. I can't say for sure if that would work for you. But, you can email your county extension office and ask. They should have a horticulturalist or master gardener who can help. Yeah, I forgot bleeding heart ` They do quite well here wrt deer. The big bushy pink classic type blooms early; and there are white and upright versions that come in later. All of them have the quite`cherishable virtue of, once they're finished blooming, the foliage turns a nice golden color and thereafter recedes back into the earth so there are no cleanup chores. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livetoread Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 I have a bleeding heart in my front yard that is a division from my 100 yo mil's plant. She got a division a very long time ago from her grandmother's farm. I have no idea how old the original plant is, but I'm honored to keep it going. Funny story. Mil asked me about fifteen years ago if I wanted a division and I, of course, said yes, but since it was peak July heat, I told her I'd dig it out and divide it when things got cooler in maybe Sept. The very next day she shows up with a division that she had dug out (yes, in her 80s). It looked terrible, as they already do that time of year, and had only a little bit of root, but she was pleased with herself. I gulped, planted it, and watered religiously but didn't have high hopes. Next spring it grew up happy as could be. They are tough plants! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted March 4 Share Posted March 4 flowering bushes: viburnum, chokecherry, elderberry, swamp azalea, sweetspire perennial plants: bee balm, false spirea, blue lobelia trees: I'd go red maple, personally, but Canadian yew is kind of a bush/tree thing that loves swampy ground Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted March 4 Author Share Posted March 4 47 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: flowering bushes: viburnum, chokecherry, elderberry, swamp azalea, sweetspire perennial plants: bee balm, false spirea, blue lobelia trees: I'd go red maple, personally, but Canadian yew is kind of a bush/tree thing that loves swampy ground We have tons of red maple all around, and I love them. But I think this is my punishment for cutting down so many! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 (edited) On 3/3/2024 at 6:50 PM, Pam in CT said: But if you're really hoping for a **drainage** benefit then you'll likely need some larger anchor shrubs and trees with more root structure. Pussy (or any willow really) would be good to try. A timely article on willows, below. I’d emphasize that the special pruning techniques and unusual varieties are interesting but far from essential. ETA Just make sure you don’t have underground water pipes close to the planting area. Quote “We had a little wet patch on our four acres, and it was like, ‘What can we grow there?’” she recalled. “That’s what really got us interested in willows.” …. Five years ago, Ms. Carper and Mr. Vanselous weren’t on a first-name basis with these plants, and if not for that wet spot in their New Jersey backyard, they might not have started down the willow path. As it happens, water is sort of a theme for them, so maybe it fits that they are now caretakers of a collection of Salix, which generally like soil with at least even moisture. For more than 15 years, Ms. Carper and Mr. Vanselous both worked in the Water Resources Mission Area of the United States Geological Survey, where she remains a hydrologist. In those jobs, they witnessed willows’ impressive role in stream-bank restoration and erosion control. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/realestate/willows-garden-fence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aU0.Yveb.KV3ZZ_OifWL1&smid=url-share (gifted) Edited March 5 by Innisfree 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pam in CT Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 re water lovin' willows 14 hours ago, Innisfree said: A timely article on willows, below. I’d emphasize that the special pruning techniques and unusual varieties are interesting but far from essential. ETA Just make sure you don’t have underground water pipes close to the planting area. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/21/realestate/willows-garden-fence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.aU0.Yveb.KV3ZZ_OifWL1&smid=url-share (gifted) Yes, essential point re underground pipes. I absolutely ADORE hakone nishiki willow, either clipped into formal shapes or flopping along profligately; and it is deer resistant. But IME it doesn't really like shade, whatever the suppliers allege. In my shade, it just sort of limps along greenly surviving, but its variegated tri-color glories only emerge in decent sun. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Innisfree Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 3 minutes ago, Pam in CT said: I absolutely ADORE hakone nishiki willow, That’s gorgeous. I spent a good while browsing on the willow suppliers’ website after coming across it in that article. I love being able to buy a handful of cuttings, since rooting them is ridiculously easy, and I’m pondering whether I have a suitable spot for some at our new house. After years of heavy clay and poor drainage, though, we’re moving to a sharply drained hillside, and I’m not yet sure where all the drains are, so willows will have to wait a while. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.