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Michigan Gardener | September/October 2021 | MichiganGardener.com
Protect landscape plants for the winter
For larger plants, attach burlap to posts set at 2 to 3 feet from the plant. This provides both wind and deer protection.
W
inters in Michigan are a time for gardeners to rest from the busyness of the growing season and dream of the coming year. Sitting back while gray skies linger, one longingly contemplates new projects, starts seeds indoors, and fusses over houseplants. But before gardeners can finally put their feet up, they must come to grips with how much to protect new and existing plant material from the ravages of hungry deer, blowing wind, and damaging ice.
Deer How big is the deer population in your area? Michigan gardens that never experience deer during the growing season may see arborvitaes, yews, and rhododendrons ravaged by deer during the winter. Content with nibbling in the woods and hedgerows in the
warmer months, deer become hungry from lack of tender fodder and brazenly move into populated areas in the cold weather. If deer are rampant year-round, it is best to help prevent losses and plant species known to be deer resistant. The Michigan State University Extension has compiled a list of deer-resistant plants that is worth reviewing when making your selections. Many beautiful plants are available on this list, and with some ingenuity, a gardener can have a captivating continued on page 16 Right: To protect them from deer damage, these rhododendrons are carefully wrapped with twine, protecting next spring’s buds from breaking off. Then they are neatly wrapped with burlap and another length of twine.
Theresa Ziolkowski
Neil Atzinger
