If by some some fluke you have escaped the notice of the Dutch bulbmongers and no one has sent you a catalog, you can always go on-line and check out Brent and Becky’s, White Flower Farm, Colorblends, John Scheepers or any of the other nurseries that offer a vast array of spring-flowering bulbs to choose from. There are so many, in fact, that it can be difficult to make a decision, but don’t wait too long to put in your order. I’ve noticed that some of the more popular tulips and daffodils are already sold out.

Think how overjoyed the deer who visit your yard will be next spring when they stumble, half famished, out of the underbrush and see the colorful display of delicious blooms you have provided for them!

But how do you know which flowers they will enjoy most? This is where making careful choices on your part pays off. Why go to all of the trouble and expense of pre-ordering bulbs and planting them in the fall only to find that the deer, after trampling the plants and biting off a flower bud or two, find them distasteful, or boring at best?

Off they go, ambling over to your neighbor’s garden, where they feast on blossoms more to their liking, as you just stand there watching them out your window, dejected and feeling like a fool. You waited and waited for the deer to show up and find the nice surprise you prepared for them, and then they didn’t even seem to appreciate it. It wasn’t gratitude you were after, not really. You just wanted to see that look on their faces, their eyes shining with awe and delight. Maybe next year I’ll get it right, you think.

Maybe or maybe not. This isn’t a hit or miss operation. You can’t just leaf through whatever catalog you happened to find in your mailbox and say, “Oh, this looks pretty!” or “Aunt Tilda used to grow these next to her porch!” and then order whatever catches your fancy and expect to be successful.

I know, I know, there are always people who will tell you that deer will eat anything you plant.

“Deer aren’t supposed to like tomatoes,” they say, “But they took a bite out of every last one of my heirloom Cherokees,” or whatever. Saying that deer like everything is nonsense. Like everyone else, they have their favorites, nor are deer all alike in their preferences, any more than humans are.

It’s true, however, some plants you can feel pretty safe with. Hostas, while not bulb plants, are very popular, and you can’t go wrong with Triumph or Darwin tulips. While some people say deer won’t eat crocuses, every spring they happily chomp my friend Genny’s crocus patch down to the ground. Don’t be overconfident when it comes to tulips and crocus, however; read the fine print. The early species crocus Tommasinianus, the little flowers nicknamed Tommies, may be eschewed by even the hungriest whitetails, and apparently many deer will turn up their noses at species tulips, also called wild tulips, like clusiana and bakeri.

Daffodils?

Forget it. I’m not saying deer won’t touch them — they may bite off a stalk or two, just to be polite — but they don’t really like them.

Sometimes deer will surprise even the experienced gardener. My neighbor was showing me a great clump of trailing morning glories in her garden recently. “They’re volunteers!” she said. “They reseeded from last year.” While morning glory seeds are reputed to have psychedelic properties, I have read that every part of the plant is toxic. The next day my neighbor told me that a deer had come in the night and demolished the morning glories, leaving only a few scraps. I expected to come across it lying dead in the echinacea, but no.

Apparently deer can enjoy morning glories with impunity. You just never can tell.

Other spring-flowering bulbs you might as well not bother with if you are trying to appeal to the palate of finicky whitetails are allium, an ornamental onion, Siberian squill, galanthus snowdrop, glory-of-the-snow, fritillaria, hyacinth and muscari.

All in all, for the deer lover it is best to stick with the tried and true standard tulips and crocus, always excepting tommies, for spring-flowering bulbs and, for a special treat, hosta plants. Do your homework, and have a good week.

(Martha Allen lives in Keene Valley. She has been writing for the News for more than 20 years.)