Re: Deer resistant iris

 

 
 
Deer will eat almost anything if they get desperate enough, and what they don't eat they will walk all over.
 
That said, both Ii. cristata and verna are dormant in winter so that at the time of worst deer desperation, they are leafless. At other times of year, there are other, lusher, things to eat. That fact is no gurantee that deer won't eat the irises in summer, however.
 
The stuff with persistent foliage is what really gets hit hard, in more ways than one.
 
The only evergreen Iris I've observed being left alone by deer is I. foetidissima.
 
The thing that really destroys I. cristata is slugs.
 
Cordially,
 
AMW
 

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