The worst feeling any gardener can experience is stepping outside in the morning to take a look at your newly sprouting plants only to discover that they’ve been ravaged by slugs and snails in the night.
“It’s so dispiriting,” says British gardening royalty Alan Titchmarsh on the latest episode of the Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast. In the bite-sized episode, the gardener and broadcaster reveals five types of plants that slugs and snails “don’t seem to bother with at all,” which means that the sight of your beloved plants being full of holes can become a thing of the past.
Ferns
While ferns may not be the most glamorous plant to include in your garden, Titchmarsh explains that “they just won’t get nibbled at all, in my experience.”
“They’re brilliant for shady spots,” he says. “[There are] so many different forms that are crested or frilly or feathery. They are really useful.”
A variety of fern called Dryopteris is a particular favorite of Alan’s as he says the hardy plant is “great in dry spots, and also damp because ferns tend to enjoy damp, not waterlogged, ground.
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Geraniums
One of the most popular plants among gardeners are geraniums as they are “one of the most brilliant, reliable, hardy garden plants,” explains Titchmarsh.
“Geraniums are brilliant for not being eaten,” he adds. “It happens mostly with plants which have downy leaves. If you look very closely, [they have] small hairs on their leaves.”
“Slugs and snails don’t seem to like eating hairy-leaf plants,” he says. “So the geraniums are brilliant.”
Alchemilla (aka Lady’s Mantle)
Another plant with slug-repelling hairy leaves is Alchemilla, also known as lady’s mantle.
As well as having hairy leaves, this plant also boasts “frothy flowers of acid yellow, green or lime green,” according to Alan, and “it has these scarlet-edged leaves which hold on to droplets of water like quicksilver, [or] like mercury.”
“And the reason, if you look closely at the leaf surface, is it’s coated in very fine down,” he explains. “And that down, as well as allowing the surface tension of the water droplet not to be broken, it puts slugs and snails off eating them.”
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Penstemons
“You want spectacular flowers? You want elegant flowers? Well, penstemons, for me, tick both boxes,” explains Titchmarsh.
“They’re rather like an elegant foxglove. Leaves not hairy surprisingly in this case,” he says. “But somehow, there must be something in them that slugs and snails tend not to like.”
These elegant plants come in several colors depending on the variety, including “white, pale pink or even deep, crimson plumb in a variety called Blackbird,” Titchmarsh says. “There’s one called Sour Grapes which is sort of blue and green mixed together. Really good for giving summer color.”
Fuchsias
And the final variety of slug-proof plants that Alan Titchmarsh recommends are the ever-popular and incredibly hardy fuchsias.
“Fuchsias have been around since time immemorial,” he says. “[They] get everywhere.”
“Ferns, geraniums, lady’s mantle, penstemons and fuchsias will never give you cause for complaint,” says Titchmarsh in summary. “Or a slug or snail a hearty meal, serves ‘em right.”
The Gardener’s World Magazine Podcast is available on podcast platforms including Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Audible among others.
