The Fast-Growing Ground Cover That Deer And Rabbits Won't Touch In Your Yard

Imagine this: You've just spent the entire weekend in your yard, lovingly planting a variety of gorgeous flowering annuals and a few attractive shrubs. To add to the aesthetics, you also decided to pop in a few nice ground covers that will help with weed prevention and make your yard look beautiful. But, when you go out to admire your work later, you're stopped in your tracks by a scene of pure destruction. Visiting deer, or rabbits, or both, have found your lush paradise and had an absolute feast! As you slowly recover from this nightmare, you start looking for suitable plant varieties those annoying but endearing creatures won't touch. And you come across a pretty ground cover species that's both deer and rabbit resistant: the Madagascar periwinkle (Catharanthus roseus).

Madagascar periwinkle, also known as "annual vinca," is a fast-spreading ground cover with lovely dark green leaves and dainty pink flowers all summer long. Better still, because the blooms are fragrant, visiting deer and rabbits usually won't go near this plant. The reason these animals don't like munching on Madagascar periwinkle very much is because they resist any plants with a strong scent. Thanks to this quality, Madagascar periwinkle is particularly good for planting as a border right around your garden. To get even more protection, learn about other natural ways to repel deer from your yard and garden. 

If you live in USDA hardiness zones 10 through 11, you can grow this species as a perennial. In colder zones, gardeners normally use it as an annual and plant it after the danger of frost has passed. Madagascar periwinkle can thrive in both full sun or part shade and will adapt to a range of different soil types, as long as it has good drainage. It's one of the best late season groundcover plants for a colorful landscape because it will continue blooming until the first frost.

You'll love the way this plant will form relatively compact mounds that come alive with floral color right through the hottest weather in summer. What's even more impressive is that this species is drought-tolerant, and you only have to water it a couple of times following planting. After that, it should thrive on rainfall alone. In fact, if the plant receives too much moisture, it can easily develop root rot. While this variety is known to be rabbit and deer resistant, if the animals are hungry, they're likely to taste test any plants that are readily available. But don't worry if this happens, because your Madagascar periwinkle will recover quickly with lots of new growth. Now that you're on a mission to save your plants from browsing deer, you might also like to investigate some deer-resistant shrubs to landscape your yard and protect your garden.