The deer-resistant plant range concept ‘Deer-Leerious’ is gaining prominence across the United States.
This innovative concept introduces plants with informational signage useful for consumers having problems with deer eating their gardens.
“Deer are a big problem in many areas in the US and the lists with deer-resistant plant varieties that are provided by garden centres are often confusing and we even discovered some are highly inaccurate,”
says Ed Kiley, General Manager of The Perennial Farm who devised the concept. During a 6-month period the developer consulted with landscapers, mapped their own experiences, and refined a grouping of plants and their characteristics. This group became the nucleus for the Deer-Leerious Plants Program, and it is reviewed each year with plants added and removed.
On the list in 2017 are approximately 350 deer-resistant varieties that are firstly distinguished by sun or shade requirements with yellow and green tag backgrounds. These are further divided into three categories from ‘highest deer resistance’ to ‘high deer resistance’ to ‘medium-high deer resistance’. Each pot is a distinctive lime-green colour, and has a Deer-Leerious plant tag attached to the side of the pot showing a picture of the plant along with plant care instructions.