Do Deer Eat Blue Rug Juniper

Excellent when used as a large scale groundcover or cascading over walls.

Do deer eat blue rug juniper.

Deer use juniper as a meal of last resort. I planted them specifically because i was told by local nursery staff that the deer won t eat juniper. The female berries were used by native americans to brew a tonic tea and may be eaten by grouse wood rats and deer. Blue rug juniper shrubs are one of the best groundcover junipers.

Blue rug juniper is a hardy evergreen plant with silvery blue foliage that can take on a purple tone in the winter months. Blue star juniper juniperus squamata blue star. Blue rug juniper can be grown in planting zones 3 to 9. Notably drought tolerant and loves hot dry locations.

They will creep in a leggier manner if suck in the shade. The following list represents plants that deer and rabbits usually will not eat. Juniper generally is low maintenance simply requiring some pruning to control its growth. However in certain instances deer have been.

Deer have a sensitive sense of smell and do not like plants with a heavy fragrance which juniper has. Like other junipers these shrubs prefer full sun and well drained soil with an acidic ph. Blue rug juniper thrives in poor soils in full sun. Over the winter a small herd of deer took up residence in my yard in northeastern oregon zone 4.

For the past several years i have had about a dozen blue star junipers in my shrub garden and the deer have never touched them. As these animals cannot read and don t know any better sometimes they just can t resist sampling a different. Blue rug juniper juniperus horizontalis wiltonii is a drought tolerant ground cover that craves good soil drainage this juniper is a practical solution for sunny slopes where water runs off so quickly that plants are apt to go thirsty. A recommended list of deer resistant plants.

The sharp needles of the juniper will discourage them after one bite and the bitter taste of the bark will also stop them from browsing the plant. If damage is limited to the new shoots in spring it pays to take a wait and see attitude. Deer often cause damage to trees shrubs and other landscape plants causing avid gardeners and tree planters to spend money on deer repellents or deer tubes. And because deer have a sensitive sense of smell they tend to dislike any plants with a strong odor.

Depending on the species and cultivar junipers can grow as a hedging ground cover and privacy hedge and are seldom deer s first choice for food. No tree or shrub is completely deer proof but some are more deer resistant than others.