Deer Resistant Plants

If you live in an area frequented by deer, gardening can be a challenge. Planting deer resistant plants may help discourage them from taking a free breakfast from your yard.

Anytime you see the phrase resistant attached to garden plants it means less likely. It doesn't mean a plant won't be attacked or eaten just that the chances are reduced. The plants listed here are less appealing to deer, however if they are starving they may still decide to eat them.

---

Deer Resistant Plants

Annuals	Ferns
Ageratum	Japanese Painted Fern
Allyssum	Wood Fern
Cleome	Ostrich Fern
Dusty Miller	Sensitive Fern
Lantana	Cinnamon Fern
Nicotiana	Royal Fern
Snapdragon	Christmas Fern

Bulbs	Ground Cover
Allium (flowering onion)	Ajuga
Chionodoxa	Convallaria (lily of the valley)
Colchicum (autumn crocus)	Galium (sweet woodruff)
Daffodil (narcissus)	Lamiastrum
Galanthus (snowdrops)	Lamium
Grape Hyacinth	Vinca minor
Pushkinia	Pachysandra

Deer resistant bulb collection
A collection of 42 bulbs including: 5 Arum Italicum, 5 Sparkler Allium Mixture, 15 Gladiolus byzantinus, 17 Double Poppy Anemone Mixture. Blooms: Late Spring to Early Summer

Ornamental Grasses	Vines
Calamagrostis x acutiflora (feather reed grass)	Campsis radicans (trumpet vine)
Chasmanthium latifolium (northern sea oats)	Celastrus scandens (american bittersweet)
Festuca glauca (blue fescue)	Fallopia baldschuanica (silver lace vine)
Miscanthus sinensis (japanese silver grass)	Parthenocissus (boston ivy, virginia creeper)
Miscanthus sinensis 'purpurascens' (flame grass)	Vitis (grape)

Evergreen Shrubs	Evergreen Trees
Boxwood	Magnolia grandiflora
Ilex glabra (inkberry holly)	Picea abies
Mugho pine	Picea ungens
Juniper (low growing types)	Psuedotsuga mensiesii

Deer Resistant Perennials	Shrubs
Achillea (yarrow)	Berberis (barberry)
Aconitum (monkshood)	Ceanothus americanus (new jersey tea)
Aquilegia (columbine)	Chaenomeles (flowering quince)
Artemisia (mugwort, sweet annie, wormwood)	Cornus kousa (kousa dogwood)
Asclepias tuberosa (butterfly weed)	Cornus stolonifera (redtwig dogwood)
Astilbe (false spirea)	Cotoneaster
Cimicifuga racemosa (black snakeroot)	Forsythia
Coreopsis (tickseed)	Hamamelis (witch hazel)
Dianthus (pinks)	Kerria japonica (japanese rose)
Digitalis purpurea (foxglove)	Ligustrum (privet)
Echinacea purpurea (purple coneflower)	Sambucus (elderberry)
Echinops (globe thistle)	Viburnum
Geranium (cranesbill)	Weigela florida
Helleborus (lenten rose, Christmas rose)	Trees
Kniphofia (red-hot-poker)	Betula (birch)
Lavandula (lavender)	Catalpa
Liatris spicata (spike gayfeather)	Cotinus coggygria (smoke tree)
Monarda didyma (bee balm)	Faxinus (ash)
Nepeta (catmint)	Ginkgo biloba (maidenhair tree)
Paeonia (peony)	Gledistia triacanthos (honey locust)
Perovskia atriplicifolia (russian sage)	Juniperus (juniper)
Pulmonaria (lungwort)	Larix (larch)
Saponaria ocymoides (soapwort)	Liquidambar styraciflua (sweet gum)
Sedum	Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Solidago (goldenrod)	Ostrya virginiana (ironwood)
Stachys (lamb's ears, betony)	Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Tanacetum vulgare (tansy)	Syringa (lilac)
Teucrium (germander)	Taxodium distichum (bald cyprus)
Thymus (thyme)	Tsuga canadensis (canada hemlock)

About Deer Resistant Plants

The plants in this deer resistant list are known to be poisonous, and therefore less appealing. Deer may ignore certain plants one year and munch away on them the following year regardless of their being in a deer resistant list.

Deer Repellents

There are some commercial sprays such as Deer Away - 1 gallon or you can use to keep deer from foraging in your yard.

Deer Fencing

Fencing if used should be at least 7 foot tall. A 4 foot chain link fence won't stop deer from entering your yard even if you used all deer resistant plants in your yard.
is an easy to install material that is 7' x 100'.

Return to Home Page From Deer Resistant Plants