Deer? They'll eat anything - even hellebores.

So… deer are not supposed to eat hellebores. Right? Wrong.

Visiting Seneca Hill Perennials on Sunday. Ellen hornig pointed out to me two clumps of the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, in the garden with the leaves eaten off by deer. It's often said hellebores are deer resistant; this proves they're not - deer will eat them.

I have to say, however, that there are many other clumps of hellebores in the garden, mostly forms of H. x hybridus, and most of those are untouched… with the foliage mostly looking green and healthy as the snow melts and with fat clusters flower buds starting to stretch

In my experience, deer will eat just about anything if they’re hungry enough. We have a lot of deer in our woods, and outside the fence the only two things they never ever seem to eat are Pieris and hay-scented fern (Dennstaedtia punctilobula). I’ve seen them eat the flowers off daffodils, they eat skunk cabbage foliage, they munch through the startling spiky needles of the blue spruces in the depths of a snowy winter.

And now it seems they eat hellebores – though I wonder how they felt afterwards.

Oh - and there were some wonderful Arum italicum forms from Ellen Hornig’s own breeding work at Seneca Hill, masses of sparkling cyclamen (like those on the right) and some very very pretty hepaticas – and a whole nursery coming to life after the winter. Check it out here.

Comments

[Mr. McGregor's Daughter]

Ah, the difference a few letters make. Hellebores may be deer-resistant, but they are not deer-proof. You're right, if deer are hungry enough, they'll eat just about anything. The only truly deer-proof things in my garden are Daffodils & Aconitum.

[Kim]

You're right, of course. They will eat about anything, if they're hungry enough. But... wow!

By the way, they must not have felt very good after eating them... or else they would have started in on the hybrids, right?! :)

[Graham Rice]

Yes... deer resistant but not deer proof. Quite right - and I'm sure they felt rotten after their meal. Aconitum is even more poisonous (to people, anyway) than hellebores but I've seen our deer bite the flowers off daffodils though only once. Pieris, hay-scented fern and lambkill (Kalmia angustifolia) never eaten here.

[Layanee]

I have a severe deer problem and they have never eaten Helleborus foetidus. Not yet anyway!

[Graham Rice]

Yes, that's on most deer-resistant lists; the foliage has a strong smell and deer prefer something bland. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be hardy here in zone 5b, the ones I tried never made it through their first winter.