Bulbs deer (and other critters) don’t like

A helpful AP article by Dean Fosdick reminds me as I prepare my fall bulb order that my garden is plagued by deer, chipmunks, voles and other critters. So while I may leave the fancy tulips to those not-so-blessed with wildlife, I have no shortage of flower-bulb choices.

The Chicago Botanical Garden has this helpful list of wildlife resistant bulbs. Pictures of some of my favorites follow.

  • Allium
  • Anemone
  • Arum italicum
  • Bulbocodium vernum
  • Chionodoxa
  • Colchicum
  • Dichelostemma
  • Fritillaria
  • Galanthus
  • Geranium tuberosum
  • Hyacinthoides
  • Ipheion
  • Leucojum
  • Muscari
  • Nectaroscordum siculum (pictured)
  • Narcissus
  • Ornithogalum
  • Scilla

Nectaroscordum
Nectaroscordum

Narcissus of all kinds. (I’m partial to these thalia daffs)
thalia daffs

Scilla
Scilla

Colchicum (fall flowering)
Colchicum

Leucojum
Leucojum

Fritillaria
Fritillaria

Galanthus
Galanthus

Allium (with euphorbia)
allium

Chionodoxa
Chionodoxa

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3 thoughts on “Bulbs deer (and other critters) don’t like”

  1. Beautiful flowers! Although I’ve discovered that when deer are hungry enough, they eat anything.

    We live out in the middle of nowhere, and the deer eat us alive. I got my husband to make me a homemade deer deterrent after every single veggie I owned got chomped on last year (and we tried all of the usual solutions to no avail.)

    I’m not sure how suburban you are — probably wouldn’t work in suburbia — but if you’re desperate and not too close to your neighbors, you might give it a shot. We scrounged around and made ours for pennies and it’s 100% effective!

  2. After I put in (and water) tulips bulbs in the fall I coat the ground over the bulbs in chili powder. Not the McCormick stuff though… I buy pound bags of killer hot powder from and Indian grocery store at a much better price. It also takes a ton of powder so grocery store bought quantities wouldnt be practical. It generally keeps the squirrels away unless it rains immediately after planting.

    You can also sprinkly chili on suet cakes to deter the squirrels so they dont steal it all from the woodpeckers. Now if I could only figure out how to keep squirrels from chewing through the roof of our house and nesting themselves in the kitchen ceiling……….

  3. Thanks for the reminder about how many bulbs don’t interest the various rodents. The way I look at it there are so many types and forms of narcissus one hardly needs anything else, but I do have snowdrops and muscari. Alliums are on the list for planting this fall.

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