Looking for a hearty flowering plant or tree that might survive the winters up here?

[Zig]

I want something that will survive the winter, yet look beautiful during these warm months. Any ideas?

[Jenniffer]

On the mountain we have magnolia, lilacs, redbuds, rhododendron, dogwood, cherry, apple, forsythia, service berry, wisteria, mountain laurel, weeping cherries, tulip trees (another magnolia), hydrangea....

[toberah]

On the mountain we have magnolia, lilacs, redbuds, rhododendron, dogwood, cherry, apple, forsythia, service berry, wisteria, mountain laurel, weeping cherries, tulip trees (another magnolia), hydrangea....

Which ones are good with deer and shade too?

[MountainMoon22]

My weeping cherry is very pretty, and seems to be good with all of the above. Deer leave the azaleas and Rhododendrons alone.

[Jenniffer]

The deer have left all of those alone except the little apple we planted. They stripped it the first year, but it came back and they seem to have left it alone the past 3 years or so.

[sidhe]

Deer that leave azaleas and rhododendrens and apples trees alone! Humph!! Guess they're just not hungary enough!! My son just called a little while ago, deer stripped his little apple tree this am. I'm hoping that the two rhodys that they completly stripped this winter come back, next winter I'll put deer net over them. They always prune the azaleas, doesn't seem to hurt them too much. What trees? Hmmm, they've pretty much tried everything that I've planted. With the trees, I put chicken wire fences around them till they got big enough to fend for themselves, usually not more than a year or two. They've never messed with the deodor ceder or dawn redwood, don't remember them chomping on the birch either. I still have a fence around the red maple, should be able to take it down next spring. Come to think of it, I've never seen them mess with the redbuds or dogwoods. Both are quite hardy and flower nicely in the spring and can take a little shade.

[rooneymom]

The deer eat our azaleas as well. The don't normally bother the lilacs but this spring they ate the flower buds. I'm sure as they get bigger it won't be a problem. I've noticed peony's around that the deer don't seem to eat. Gotta get me some of them.

[katybelle]

I was happy the deer have left my azaleas alone this year and only ate my rhododendron. They used to eat the fire bushes down to the nub every year but have been nice to them this year. It sounds like maybe they just went next door to Sidhe's because her gardens are prettier :)

[June]

My flowering peach has done very well the 3 years that we've had it. And the deer leave it alone.

[MountainMoon22]

Wow, I've never had a problem with our azaleas or rhododendron, that's weird, I just thought they didn't like them- they seem to eat anything and everything else around here.

Jenniffer, what was the name of that beautiful yellow shrub in your yard? I want to put in one of those, if I can find the room and the light somewhere.

[Jenniffer]

Kerria (http://images.google.com/images?q=kerria&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi). Forgot about that one :) They're actually canes...not unline forsythia.

I was thinking location can have a lot to do with whether the deer decide to munch or not. Our neighbors have their rhododendron close to their house and the deer leave it alone (they're right up against their porch).

[newyacker]

Our deer don't seem to care about location! They come right up to the front porch to eat my Purple Heart...BAD DEER!

I've fixed them this year though...I planted curry all around the Purple Heart! ;) I usually just plant stinky herbs near stuff I don't want them to dine on. Lavender works too, but you really need sun for that.