Gardening in rural areas has its downsides. For many gardeners, one of those disadvantages can be a resident herd of hungry deer. Lists of “Deer Resistant Plants” are numerous and popular. Unfortunately, deer do not read these lists, and thus do not temper their appetites accordingly. As most gardeners find, there is no such thing as a completely deer-proof plant, and patterns of deer predation can vary dramatically from one area to another, and from one season to another. The gardener must also remember that deer are “browsers”. Deer will always want to taste anything new in the salad bar. A herd of 50 deer, each taking a sample bite, can do a lot of damage.
Deer resistance in plants is usually based on an assortment of characteristics such as taste, succulence (or lack thereof) and odor. Almost all of these characteristics can be altered by the habits of the gardener. If a plant relies upon aromatic resins to bestow resistance upon it, the gardener can unwittingly dilute the plants resistance by giving it lots of water. Plants grown hard are generally more resistant than plants with lots of new, soft, lush growth. New plantings are especially vulnerable, and new plants can literally ripped out of the ground by a curious deer on a taste test mission. Gardeners in deer prone areas may do well to protect new plantings with wire cages.
Plants that are generally considered to be deer resistant will be noted as such in our database. This code is meant only as guide to experimentation, and carries absolutely no guarantee that the deer will not munch your plant to the ground.
As a further guide to experimentation, many species of plants from the following genera have been found to be deer resistant by some gardeners.
Please do let us know your own experiences with deer tolerance and particular plants.
- Acantholimon
Achillea
Agastache
Cerastium
Digitalis
Erigeron
Eriogonum
Erodium
Heuchera
Hypericum
Iberis
Lamium
Lavendula
Limonium
Lupinus
Nepata
Oenethera
Origanum
Papaver
Pennisetum
Penstemon
Phlox
Rosmarinus
Salvia
Santolina
Scutellaria
Sideritis
Stachys
Tagetes
Tanacetum
Teucrium
Thymus
Verbascum
Veronica
Zauschneria
Zizaphora
Zinnias