Do Deer Eat Blue Rug Juniper

Deer use juniper as a meal of last resort.

Do deer eat blue rug juniper.

Blue star juniper juniperus squamata blue star. The female berries were used by native americans to brew a tonic tea and may be eaten by grouse wood rats and deer. 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. It has a uniform full dense growth habit with intensely wonderful silver blue evergreen foliage.

If damage is limited to the new shoots in spring it pays to take a wait and see attitude. They will creep in a leggier manner if suck in the shade. However in certain instances deer have been. Blue rug juniper is a hardy evergreen plant with silvery blue foliage that can take on a purple tone in the winter months.

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. Excellent when used as a large scale groundcover or cascading over walls. And because deer have a sensitive sense of smell they tend to dislike any plants with a strong odor. As these animals cannot read and don t know any better sometimes they just can t resist sampling a different.

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. A recommended list of deer resistant plants. Over the winter a small herd of deer took up residence in my yard in northeastern oregon zone 4. Blue rug juniper can be grown in planting zones 3 to 9.

Blue rug juniper thrives in poor soils in full sun. Deer have a sensitive sense of smell and do not like plants with a heavy fragrance which juniper has. 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. 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.

Notably drought tolerant and loves hot dry locations. Like other junipers these shrubs prefer full sun and well drained soil with an acidic ph. Wiltoni blue rug juniper juniperus horizontalis wiltonii. Blue rug juniper shrubs are one of the best groundcover junipers.

I planted them specifically because i was told by local nursery staff that the deer won t eat juniper. Juniper generally is low maintenance simply requiring some pruning to control its growth.