Hi
I read that coneflower are deer resistant - especially purple.
Our landscaper included some in the original plan a few years ago..... I told him I tried them several years before that and the plants were eaten (before the flower emerged) - He said 'nah,' it was rabbits....
But, I stuck to my guns and told him to substitute. A year later I thought "I love coneflower....he's a professional.... I'll give it a try..."
A few weeks ago the coneflower were big and beautiful..... several feet high..nodding their pretty heads in the breeze.... one morning they were there...and the next....gone!! Every head but one....stems all naked and looking embarrased.... Anybody having similar problems?
Oh Deer Oh Deer Where can my Coneflower Be?
I've had woodchucks do that. I stood right there and watched them. We had a mother and 4 babies last year under our storage shed and they were not very scared of us unless we were within a few feet. I guess they realized my screaming was the worst thing I would do to them. Eleanor
I think the deer have to be the culprits...the coneflower were just too tall for anything else.
I realize that living in a rural area, surrounded by woods, etc., etc., but I do my homework and try to plant deer resistant plants...(understanding that nothing is 100 percent) but uniformly everything is eaten. ..except the lavender and lantana. - that is the only thing that has survived the buffet. So discouraging...thank goodness for bottle trees and yard art!
Don't under estimate the woodchucks. I had one prune the tops off nearly every coneflower in a large bed earlier this summer. A large woodchuck standing upright can reach pretty high.
early_bloomer
A squirrel tried a taste of my Sunrise echinacea. He started at the bottom of the stem and inched along it to pull the stem down to check out the flower. Eventually broke the stem and in the end didn't like the flower either. :( The monster bunny got all the first round of buds on Ruby Giant and Coconut Lime, but they were much shorter plants with nice tender new foliage and buds.
I have lots of deer and never lost any Echinacea.
You know..the coneflower are so tall...I bet at least 3 feet --- I automatically blamed the deer. It never occured to me that another critter might pull the stem down and then get the flower. And, there were a few broken stems. I am not happy about the loss, but I almost feel better!
I don't think we have woodchucks in NC. We do have plenty of squirrels and possums. If a woodchuck is part of the beaver tribe...I guess we do have them too....but the stream where I have seen dams, etc. is quite a distance away.
Thank you all for your input. Tells me maybe I shouldn't jump to conclusions. This morning I really had a rant...the red-tipped dogwood, the kousa dogwood, the boltonia, were chewed pretty well and the leaves of every coral bell - gone! Anyway, thank you for taking the time to enlighten me. Somehow I don't feel as frustrated.
Oh, yeah, the case of the missing coneflowers....grrrrrr, something has bit several of their heads off. And some nasty bug is chewing up the rest! It's a conspiracy, I tell ya!
I thought it was the deer as well until I read this thread on Friday and then saw the woodchuck stand up on his hind legs and chew my flowers off on Saturday morning.
I screamed at him too! My husband thought I was crazy.
Any thoughts on what to do to discourage this feeding frenzy?
Unless I want to stay up all night looking out the window to see who the culprits are, I will never know! We have deer, rabbits, and a very large resident groundhog - I also heard coneflower is deer resistant, but someone sure does find them tasty! I grew mine indoors a few years back from seed, so it is very annoying to see them get to a certain point and then just disappear!
So far my coneflowers seem to not be tasty to the bunny that lives here, but other flowers had to go into small cages to protect them from being eaten to nothing. I was surprised to see an aster that had been left alone all spring and summer until two weeks ago done to the ground.
Groudhogs--never thought of that! I saw my first one out here a couple weeks ago, sitting in a field across the street. Didn't know we had 'em until then. Frustrating, having to put flowers in cages, huh...
I had the same experience with my aster. I thought "well, I'll be.... the aster is still around." (that is not typically the case) and then two weeks ago...it went missing...
The bunnies seem to like coneflowers when still in the bud.
I just have to get that deer spray that works so well. I am not very good at follow-up maintenance (sray and respray) but I think if I want anything out in that garden besides my bottle trees and metal..I'd better get moving.
The pest I have had the worst trouble with has been the vole.....eats the root. One day nice and proud flower, the next tipping over. Chewed off below ground....no more roots! VERY ANNOYING> I am quite gratified when my kitty goes out on a prowl..
Aw, but esw, does your kitty bring them back alive like mine does?
no I find them littering the lawn unfortunately...they look well played with and peacefully intact.
The deer eat my coneflowers and have every year, but this year I changed that when I found Plantskydd. I know they aren't suppose to like them, but we have a heard of 13 or more that need to eat and forgot to read the part in the glossy magazines, saying that they don't like to eat coneflowers. Lol!
I know what you mean, missingrosie, it's hard to remember to keep up the spraying schedule. And the one I have that says it's good for a whole month is a liar! LOL
Magnolialover--that's it! We have to start Deer Literacy classes immediately!
;0) Yeah, that's it! Classes will be held where? My deer will be right over ;)
I'm missing some coneflower blossoms also!! I know I have a resident woodchuck and I saw three deer passing through last week. Who done it? I also found some blossoms on my deck - do squirrels eat them cause that's the only wildlife I have ever seen on my deck besides birds? Eleanor
Yes squirrels will have a taste but I don't think they like them. They pull the stems down, have a bite and spit them out. They also have broken some stems trying to take a taste. If you are finding any broken stems and buds left behind it's probably squirrels.
Yes, the stems are broken and I have been finding the buds and blossoms all over that look they have been chewed on. Thanks ngam. Eleanor
Hello everyone. Update needed. I would like to know if your coneflowers grew back after they have been eaten by animals. I just found that two of my magnus have been chewed all the way down. This is a new perennial bed that I just started planting. I think that it was a cute little bunny rabbit that I saw in the area this week. I have never seen a rabbit near the house before.
The coneflowers didn't have buds yet, and were only a foot high, but they were in perfect condition. I'm wondering if I will see any blooms from these plants this year.
So far, ours have come back ok, but they were never "chewed all the way down" like yours. Yikes! Good luck, I hope they come back for you. Last year, all that got eaten were the flowers on ours, not the plants.
Mine came back and looked great until yesterday - some of the leaves have been chewed off. They are still small so I think they will grow back. My plants were never completely chewed back to the ground. I had one coneflower last year that was chewed up pretty bad and it did flower late in the season. Eleanor
Penne
I have had mine come back when chewed to the ground (I thought the deer but froom what I read --the rabbits are more likely responsible.) Anyway, yes they did come back but got chewed again. Don't know what I'd rather have happen --very frustrating. But at least I know can be sprayed.
Missingrosie,
What are you spraying yours with?
Nothing. What I meant to say was that when and if I wanted to take a chance on planting again (there are bunnies all over) I could at least spray. I hear there is good choice on repellent sprays. Different modes of action and so two different types seem to do the job when alternated. (Keeps the beasties on their toes.) Mostly Penne I have resorted to planting what works and not trying to do battle when I know it can't be won without constant vigilence. I planted those tall (TALL!) rubeckia with the long brown noses and they look good and so far so good although I know the shorter ones get chomped. Bee balm, walking stick, sage, boltonia, shasta, etc. fill in the beds. Not ideal when you want coneflower ....but... less heartache.
I sat down to dinner and was looking out at my poor coneflowers. Since I have never seen a rabbit in the backyard near the house before, I was thinking that this was probably a one time incident. The salvia, monarda, daylillies, and lillies had not been touched. The roses were still in good condition. I decided that I would just wait and see what happened. Because it is so early in the season, and based upon what I am reading, they will probably grow back.
Then I turned around and noticed that the bunny was at the back door, staring toward the new garden bed. Son of a gun! I tried to get up quietly from the table and let the dog out, but the rabbit was too fast. It looks like I am going to have to take some actions if I want to grow coneflowers in this area.
The interesting thing is that I have a couple of dozen different coneflowers in the front of the house that have never been bothered. Maybe bunnies don't like lights.
Mine get eaten also. I saw a thread over at Gardenweb about woodchucks/groundhogs and echinacea and rudbeckia were on everyone's list of eaten plants.
Mine have been nibbled all spring, where they were just little stubs with maybe 1 leaf. They are finally growing back, just much smaller than they should be.
I have also seen squirrels eat the echinacea flower heads. Last year I kept seeing chunks missing from the flowers while they were still on the stalk, and LOTS of broken stems. Then finally I looked out the window one day and saw a squirrel sitting in the tree with a flower, eating it from underneath.
I'm going to keep the plants I have for all to eat, but I'm not going to buy anymore :)
Squirrels?! Wow, thanks for that report, Evie! Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought of that. Glad you caught the l'il booger red-pawed!
Speak of the groundhog devil. Someone decided it had been too long and it was time to visit.
Being a consistent bugger, it went right for the rudbeckia seedlings and the echinecea that had started to finally get above 1 foot and begin budding.
I got some pictures, though some are through the screen, sorry.
In this one, my guess is this is the echinecea, as that is the only plant that has that many leaves. That is basically the top of a plant he has there.
Here's another shot, a bit more clear hopefully.
Here he is standing to get the top of the plant.
Here's the aftermath. Notice he didn't eat it to the ground. Just enough to make it pathetic looking!
Yikes! Good you caught him in the act--sheesh, never thought it might be groundhogs! I've seen one across the street in a field--what's to stop him from crossing and coming up our hill, though....one more critter to do gardening battle with!
I planted a few new perennials to fill in the holes left by these eaten plants, and it looks like the groundhog went right by them. I'm so glad!
This is the forum I found, and I made a list of all the plants that was on everyone's "did not eat" list. These new plants are from that list. So far it has worked.
Good luck!
forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/peren/msg0310575312886.html
Evie, I just tried to find that site by putting "www." in front of it, and it didn't work.
Edit: Hmm, it appears that you don't need the "www." I found it!
This message was edited Jun 25, 2008 2:27 PM
ROFL at this post on that site: "I tried spraying cayenne pepper on my phlox last year and after the groundhogs ate it I was waiting for them to knock on the door asking for salsa, beer, and chips to go with it!"