Is Bigleaf Hydrangea deer resistant?

Frequently browsed, and one of the most-searched deer problems there is.

The part that catches people out is timing. Bigleaf hydrangea sets next summer's flower buds in late summer and carries them on bare stems all winter. Deer browsing those stems in January remove next year's flowers rather than this year's growth, and the plant leafs out perfectly in spring with no blooms at all. Every year the owner concludes they pruned it wrong.

If that is happening, the answer is winter protection specifically: cage or wrap the stems from leaf drop until spring, when the plant is dormant and nobody is watching it.

Panicle and smooth hydrangeas flower on new wood, so winter browsing costs them nothing. In real deer pressure they are the sensible substitute.

Do deer eat hydrangeas?

Yes. Rutgers rates bigleaf hydrangea Occasionally Severely Damaged, the third tier of four, and NC State Extension's entry for Hydrangea macrophylla says plainly that "it is susceptible to damage by deer." What deer take is the soft material: the new shoots as they extend in spring and, on this species, the flower buds, because it blooms "on the previous year's growth, often described as 'old wood.'" The three relatives on this site, oakleaf, panicle and smooth, carry the same tier.

What time of year do deer eat hydrangeas?

Two windows. Late winter, when the bare stems carrying next summer's buds are browsed and the plant leafs out in May with nothing to show for it; and the spring flush, when the new growth is at its softest. Summer browsing on a hydrangea in leaf happens, but it is the winter damage that removes the flowers, and it is invisible until June.

How do you keep deer from eating hydrangeas?

For the winter buds, a barrier: a cylinder of welded wire or a wrap of deer netting from leaf drop until the buds break, on a plant that is dormant and does not care what it looks like. For the spring flush, a spray of 20 percent whole egg in water, which Colorado State Extension rates High and says must be reapplied in about thirty days; start at bud break rather than after the first bite. Placement counts too. The advice on the tier page for this whole band is to site the plant close to the house, where traffic discourages browsing, and a hydrangea at the woodland edge is the one that gets stripped. None of that is a guarantee. The third tier is the band where local pressure decides.

Will a browsed hydrangea come back?

The plant, yes; that season's flowers, not on this species. A bigleaf hydrangea browsed in winter regrows perfectly and blooms the following year if it is left alone through the next winter. Where the buds go every year, the panicle and smooth types flower on new wood and lose nothing to winter browsing. NC State's pruning note for bigleaf, "do any pruning before August 1," is the same calendar the deer are working to.