Keep Deer Out Of Your Garden With An Easy To Grow Flower They Can't Stand

If you want to brighten your shady garden beds but are bored with impatiens and begonias, you're in luck. There's a whole world of less-common shade-loving annual flowers out there. And when it comes to flowers that check all the boxes, the purple wishbone flower (Torenia fournieri) should be near the top of your list. Wishbone flowers thrive in part to full shade, and can be planted in USDA hardiness zones 2-11 (perennial in 10-11). Their compact shape makes the colorful flowers versatile enough to brighten up both garden borders and window boxes. Best of all, they're among the deer-resistant plants that will bring color to your yard.

These flowers are thought to be deer-resistant because of the bitter taste of their foliage. This means you can enjoy how striking trailing wishbone cultivars look in hanging baskets without needing to hoist them out of reach if deer are a constant menace to your patio and garden. Although deer-resistant is not the same thing as deer-proof, plants like wishbone flowers usually suffer very little damage at the hands of grazing animals.

The classic wishbone flower boasts snapdragon-like blooms in a bicolor design of violet and deeper purple. As an annual, it grows about 6 to 12 inches tall and wide. Cultivars come in a range of colors including pink, white, and deep burgundy. All feature the same trumpet-shaped flowers, and the stamens in the middle that bend toward one another to form the wishbone shape that gives them their whimsical name.

The colorful wishbone flower is a deer-resistant plant that stands up to a little nibbling, but its charms don't end there. It's also not difficult to care for, providing you give the plants the shade and regular watering they need. As high-value container annuals, wishbone flowers can either blend into window boxes and large containers, or stand out on their own. Look for young seedlings in garden centers or grow wishbone flowers from seed, either indoors or directly in the garden on or just before your region's last frost date.

Like many shade or part-shade flowers, how much sun the wishbone flower can tolerate depends largely on how hot your summers get. The higher the temperatures, the more the flowers will need protection from the sun. In cooler climes, a little bit of sun is more tolerable. Beyond siting issues, the flowers don't "wish" for much more than a regular watering schedule that leaves the surrounding soil moist but not sodden. Wet conditions can lead to plant diseases in wishbone flowers such as powdery mildew and root rot.

To further protect wishbone flowers in warmer climates, make sure to mulch the container or garden bed in which it is growing. Annuals planted in containers need more frequent watering than those established in garden beds. Because they're annuals, they don't need much in the way of pruning, but will grow more lushly if you pinch their ends while still young.