Year after year Gerri Hamby, owner of Planters Paradise Greenhouse & Landscape, LLC, has customers ask for plants that the deer don’t eat that are also low maintenance and drought tolerant.
“The hottest items for the year for Eureka Springs are all going to be things that deer don’t eat,” Hamby said. “Ornamental grasses are always a good bet if you have full sun. They are drought tolerant, and the deer do not eat them.
“Then there are other evergreens the deer don’t eat. Echinacea is a beautiful plant that deer don’t eat. Deer will usually leave Monarda, bee balm, alone, and it is a great plant for pollinators like butterflies and hummingbirds. A native plant that is deer resistant is Asclepias tuberosa, also known as butterfly weed. Russian sage and lavender are other good choices.”
As far as annuals, Hamby said you can’t seem to go wrong here with lantana, marigolds and annual periwinkle vinca (not to be confused with perennial vinca, a non-native invasive plant). Deer don’t eat them, and they are easy care. She recommends planting marigolds and garlic between veggies like tomatoes and peppers.
“Marigolds will absolutely ward off nematodes,” Hamby said. “Garlic is super beneficial. It helps to keep the pests away.”
Roses are a perennial favorite, and some varieties are long blooming. Hamby considers roses one of the very toughest plants; they can withstand a colder temperature and not show signs of damage. But other plants that are more tender can get burned back or even killed. Hamby said that’s why she doesn’t even open her garden center next to Hart’s Family Center until April 10. All her tender plants, like Japanese maples are under cover until they open the garden center.
A lot of people will buy tropical hibiscus at large retailer garden centers, but those won’t overwinter. Hamby recommends a perennial hibiscus called Midnight Marvel that has a burgundy cast to the leaves and red blossoms the size of dinner plates.
“It does wonderfully here,” Hamby said. “We put one at Rusty Windle’s CPA office three to five years ago, and it seems to increase in size every year. The burgundy cast of the leaves sets off those beautiful blooms.”
The longest blooming perennial she grows is a variety of coreopsis called Daybreak. It will bloom all season non-stop, although it helps if the dead blossoms are removed.
Before even considering what plants to grow, make sure you pay attention to good soil preparation.
“That is where it all starts,” Hamby said. “You need the right amount of sunlight, good soil prep and a reasonable amount of watering. It is wonderful to feed with organic compost, bone meal, blood meal or, for acid loving plants like blueberries, I plant in a heavy peat mix and add acid plant fertilizer. If you have a magnolia or other evergreen that is looking yellow or rusty, they are lacking acid. It is beneficial to not only fertilize the soil but also, if
you can, the foliage.”
Spring was a couple weeks early this year with unusually warm weather, yet some recent nights dipped below freezing. But Hamby thinks in areas where it didn’t get below 28 degrees for several hours, most plants should be okay.
Bear Creek Nursery, at Hwys. 23 and 187, has had a sign out saying, “This is not Spring, Don’t Fall for It!” Co-owner Heather Cross said she would be surprised if we don’t have another freeze/hard frost this spring.
“We’ve had freezing temperatures in April every year since we took over Bear Creek Nursery in 2019,” Cross said. “I expect and plan for April freezes. February was exceptionally warm. Consequently, many flowering trees, shrubs and perennials are blooming earlier than usual, even several weeks early. The good news is it seems that the blooms are lasting a bit longer too. We dipped into the twenties a week or two ago and most plants blooming at the time did not seem impacted.”
Cross said it is safe to plant most perennials, trees, and shrubs at this point. Even if we do have a frost or freeze, the plants will survive and just might show a bit of damage that will fade.
It is definitely too early for two favorites of home gardeners, tomatoes and peppers; there is still potential for a freeze and really no benefit to planting now. Cross said there won’t be any growth until overnight temperatures are consistently warmer. In our area, May is usually the best time for summer vegetable planting.
But it isn’t too early to start prepping beds for the vegetable season by weeding and adding soil amendments. For new beds, she recommends a combination of mixed soil and compost.
Interest in pollinator-attracting plants grows every year. “More and more of our customers are becoming aware of the threats to pollinators and hoping to do what they can to reverse the decline,” Cross said. “Native plants, especially trees, have already been popular this year, especially from people new to the area who want to get to know what grows well in our area. We get a lot of requests for low-maintenance plants. Many of our customers do not live here year-‘round, but still want to enjoy a nice garden or landscape.”
It could be time to give up on plants that were badly damaged or killed by extreme cold in recent winters. Many evergreen shrubs have struggled with the extreme cold. Although our area’s plant hardiness zone increased from 6b to 7a in the most recent update by the USDA, Cross doesn’t agree. Zone 7a minimum winter temperature is 0-5 degrees Fahrenheit. “We have had sub-zero temperatures every winter for the last four years,” she said. “Plants categorized as Zone 7 likely will not survive the winters we’ve had if this pattern continues.”