If you have spirea in your garden, you can enjoy two different flower colors. One is pink, and the other one is white because the spirea has these two colors of flowers. It will help you decorate the entire garden and become an additional rose family member.
It has a sweet and strong smell which can deter wild animals. Still, it would be best if you took some precautions to save these plants and let them bloom naturally. Otherwise, the insects or the wild and pet animals might damage these plants.
Do deer eat spirea?
Since the spirea is a woody flowering plant, deer don’t eat spirea because of its strong smell and taste. If you plan to grow deer-resistant flowers, consider planting more spirea than the other flowers. It’s an excellent choice to make the garden deer-proof. Deer won’t come near this plant.
Although no plant is 100% deer-proof until it contains the thorn or the cuisine smell, you can’t rely on the spirea’s smell. You should fence around the garden or take proper steps to save your spirea from the deer damage.
It would be an excellent idea to plant some onion or ginger plants around the garden to deter deer.
When the deer feel hungry and get easy access to your garden, they will devour the spirea or other flowers. Here, the situation depends on the deer mode and your precautions. If you put a fence around the garden, it will easily deter the deer from the surrounding area.
You will get a list of spirea plants. Let’s see if they all are deer-resistant plants or not.
Goldmund spirea:
Deer don’t eat the gold mound spirea because of its smell and inedible leaves. You will notice that the deer are no longer coming to fill up their stomachs and ruin the garden. It will be an excellent deer-resistant plant in your garden.
Japanese spirea:
Since it has the sweet and strong smell that deer and other wild animals avoid, the deer don’t eat the Japanese spirea.
If the deer starve and lose their natural food, they will try to eat the Japanese spirea; otherwise, these plants will remain a sound deer-resistant plant.
Vanhoutte spirea:
Deer also don’t eat the Vanhoutte spirea since they also spread the smell in the air. That smell works against wild animals to deter them and increase the garden’s beauty.
If you want to plant flowers of different colors in your garden, you should include the Vanhoutte spirea in the list.
Gold flame spirea:
The deer don’t eat the gold flame spirea since they also have the same smell and taste. These plants remain inedible to most wild animals.
If they eat, they will get sick for a long time; they avoid eating gold flame spirea, although they get easy access to these flowers.
Bridal wreath spirea:
If you want to add a white color to your garden, the bridal wreath spirea might be a wise choice.
It also helps to deter the deer from the garden by its strong smell and inedible flowers, which means the deer can’t eat the bridal wreath spirea willingly.
Do deer like spirea bushes?
Deer do not like spirea bushes because they always like to take odor-free and straightforward flowers or herbs like Hostas, Daylilies, etc. It is recognized as resistance to deer staying away from those species worldwide.
Deer always stay away from fragrant, baneful, thistly plants. And spirea bushes have that type of character that immensely irritates the deer.
Apart from this, spirea bushes are deer resistant and formally acknowledged as sometimes seriously harmed by deer as deer will largely stay away from anything with an incredibly impressive smell.
Spirea bushes are somewhat of a puzzler among all of the deer-safe growth out there. But if you see any abnormal activities in a deer-like chewing spirea bushes, that is probably a tiny plant of this species or the deer can lose its sensation to avoid it.
Above all, we can say it is not genuinely deer-proof. It is deer resistant.
Do deer eat false spirea?
Deer can eat false spirea, but it is not the ideal statement that deer always eat false spirea because sometimes they do not identify what they should eat and what they should not. But most of the time, they avoid these types of plants as their daily needs.
False spirea is a deciduous bush with leaves that look like a quill. It has bunches of swelling white blooms which move like ballet performers in the breeze and disturbs the deer’s sense of smell. So when deer stay near these plants, they feel discomfort and certainly leave there.
These are the common practices among them. Besides, it’s anything but a bush for little gardens. Nor is it for the deer who need minimized bushes that stay on their best possible behavior.
It works partially as a consumable thing to the deer when they don’t have enough existing things that exist in nature. Generally, they do not eat false spirea.
2 reasons why deer will not eat spirea
You will mostly find three reasons why deer will not eat spirea. Let’s get the reasons and the explanations.
Strong Smell:
You know that wild animals can’t bear the strong sweet smell of deer since they can’t eat these smelly leaves or flowers. So, the first reason why deer will not eat the spirea is because of the strong sweet smell of these flowers.
If the deer eats these flowers, it will face different health difficulties that ruin its good stomach.
It’s good to plant some smelly or thorny flower plants in the garden to work against wild animals like deer. These plants are highly recommended since they don’t need anything else to protect them from deer strikes.
Bitter Taste:
Deer cannot bear the bitter taste or the pungent odor of flowers. The deer’s eating habits will find grass, odorless or less smelly leaves, flowers, and other natural foods. But they don’t eat the spirea because of the bitter taste.
When they chew the spirea flowers, they get weird feelings and leave the flowers without eating them.
This taste also ruins the deer’s stomach, which is why the deer will not eat the spirea. Since deer look for something easy to digest, they will not come and eat the intricate spirea flowers and face health problems for a long time.
Is spirea deer resistant?
Spirea is deer resistant. Although no plant is entirely impenetrable by deer, spirea is resistant to deer and is officially recognized as rarely being severely damaged by deer.
This is because deer will typically steer clear of anything with a particularly potent odor or taste, thorns, or thick, tough leaves.
Spirea is something of a mystery when compared to the other types of deer-resistant shrubs that are available. Spirea is known to excrete salicylic acid.
Since salicylic acid is an ingredient used to make wintergreen oil, there is a possibility that the faint scent of wintergreen oil produced by the acid could discourage deer.
Your garden will continue to exude an air of vitality and freshness despite the deer’s best efforts to avoid it.
How to stop deer from eating spirea?
You can stop the deer from eating spirea by following some easy tips that we will cover here.
Geranium:
You can place plants that emit aromas around your garden; fragrant geraniums are particularly useful. Keep the geraniums that have faded and dried in the ground.
Even after being covered in frost and becoming black, the scented geraniums maintain their potency, sufficient to keep deer away throughout the winter.
Disk:
You may also use old disks of the CD type and hang them with a thick fishing line around your garden. The reflections from the spinning CDs are enough to frighten the deer away.
Motion Detectors:
Another option is putting in motion detectors and sensors specifically designed to detect deer. A fence in your home might force you to think that you are being confined there. You may end up shutting yourself in rather than preventing the deer from entering.
If you determine that erecting a fence is not an option for you, then an outdoor motion-activated system can be the best way to solve the problem of deer trespassing on your property.
You will be notified through the motion-sensing system each time the motion sensor goes off. This occurs whenever the sensor detects motion. After that, you can go outside and use your body to scare the deer away.
Final Thoughts
Because of the strong smell and the bitter taste, the deer don’t eat the spirea plants or flowers from your garden. These plants are entirely deer-resistant. So, you can plant them in different corners and the middle of the garden to spread the smell in the air. It will resist the deer from coming.