The Stunning Deer-Resistant Flowering Shrub That Provides Season-Long Color

When you've painstakingly mapped out your landscape to include plants, ground cover, and flowering shrubs that thrive in the shade and sun to bring beauty and whimsy to your space, it can be devastating to wake up and find that deer have eaten your creation to the ground. Adding deer-resistant shrubs to your landscape, like shrubby cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa), can minimize the chances that these graceful creatures treat your yard as a breakfast buffet. At the same time, shrubby cinquefoil will attract pollinators like bees and butterflies to your yard.

Keep in mind that no plant is completely deer-proof, as desperation can make any foliage look tasty. Still, this hardy flowering shrub has textured blue-green oblong leaves that deer tend to avoid. Shrubby cinquefoil also produces lovely five-petaled yellow flowers that bloom throughout the summer and early fall, when the leaves turn a seasonal gold. But if you're not looking to add yellow flowers to your yard, don't worry! Breeders have cultivated many species of cinquefoil that bloom in other colors like white, red, pink, and orange.

This deer-resistant flowering shrub isn't fond of the heat but still prefers at least 6 hours of full sun, thriving in zones 2 through 7. While you want to provide moist soil that drains well, the shrubby cinquefoil will tolerate a variety of growing mediums, including clay, silt, and sand. It's even a drought-resistant plant that will thrive in less-than-ideal conditions. This versatility makes the shrub a great choice for gardeners in various parts of the United States.

Be sure to leave about 3 to 6 feet of elbow room between plantings, as these shrubs can grow up to 6 feet wide and 5 feet tall. Given their height and breadth, consider using shrubby cinquefoil plants to create a perimeter or hedge around other flowers and shrubs that may be more susceptible to deer damage. That's a great way to add beautiful pops of color to your landscape while strategically keeping deer at bay.

This plant doesn't require much care, although Stephen Love from the University of Idaho suggests light trimming in the spring to remove any injured branches or seeds left behind from the previous season. You can also lightly fertilize this flowering shrub to encourage growth and blooms. Although not invasive, the shrubby cinquefoil can produce the occasional offspring from seed, so beware of any unwanted spread. And be on the lookout for spider mites who, unlike deer, might find the leaves appealing.