Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel: Deer Resistant Plants

UPDATED April 2012 - the lists change as I add more plants.

Winter 2011 was mild and therefore the deer didn't browse evergreens (yucca tips, hollies) that they have sampled in the past during colder winters.

The plants in the lists below were tested for deer resistance in my garden. Each year, I add more plants so this list will change as I experiment. If a plant is nibbled some, but still blooms or is full of foliage for most of the time, I consider the plant deer resistant. In other words, a few nibbles will not destroy my enjoyment of the plant.

Please browse my blog articles about my deer resistant gardening experience.

PLEASE NOTE: Your results may vary, depending upon availability of food for the deer, herd size and browsing habits. Deer will eat most anything if desperate during long periods of drought.

Additions in 2010 and 2011:

Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe' (joe pye weed) no damage in 2010, added more Joe Pye in 2011 and the deer ate the blooms!
Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' no damage
Vernonia fasciculata (smooth ironweed, a native) no damage
persicaria amplexicaulis 'Firetail' nibbled heavily in AUGUST 2010 DURING DROUGHT
liatris ligustylis (blazing star, a native) 2011, no damage, wonderful blooms!
Eryngium yuccifolium (rattlesnake master, native) new 2011, no damage so far
Centranthus ruber (Jupiter's beard) new 2011, no damage so far
Cleome, an annual; no damage
Echinacea 'Pow Wow Wild Berry' new 2011; no blooms yet, no damage to leaves

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If you'd like to read more about my garden in print—here's a note from The Grumpy Gardener at Southern Living Magazine:

There's a great story about your garden in the July 2010 issue of Southern Living! I don't know who wrote it, but obviously the guy's a genius! Everybody should pick up a copy.

(You'll find the story, Not Tonight Deer! on page 52 of the July 2010 issue.)

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MY FAVORITE DEER RESISTANT PLANTS (annuals, perennials, shrubs, et.)

Agastache 'Cotton Candy' from Terra Nova Nurseries

Favorite Perennials

Agastache
'Salmon & Pink'
'Blue Fortune'
'Coronado'
'Cotton Candy' Terra Nova
'Purple Haze'
'Purple Pygmy'
'Heather Queen'
'Summer Love' Terra Nova
'Summer Sky'
'Summer Glow'
'Golden Jubilee'
'Navajo Sunset'

Coreopsis
'Creme Brulee'
'Red Shift'
'Autumn Blush' Terra Nova
'Mango Punch' Terra Nova
'Rum Punch' Terra Nova
verticillata 'Zagreb'

Echinacea
'Fire Bird' (2010) Terra Nova
'Prairie Splendor'
'Ruby Star'
'Sundown'
'Tangerine Dream' (2010) Terra Nova
'White Swan'

Monarda
'Raspberry Wine'
'Jacob Cline'
'Blue Stocking'

Nepeta
'Walkers Low'
'Six Hills Giant'

Salvia
chamaedryoides (2010)
guaranitica 'Black & Blue'
guaranitica 'Omaha Gold' (2010)
nemorosa 'Caradonna'
nemorosa 'Marcus'
'May Night' (2010)
pachyphylla (2010)
ulignosa (bog sage)
greggii

'Cherry Queen'
'Dark Dancer'
'Diane'
'Navajo Bright Red'
'Texas Wedding'

Other perennials

ageratum 'Wayside'
amsonia hubrichtii
anemone 'Margarette', 'Prince Henry'
baptisia
canna
caryopteris
colocasia (elephant ears)
crocosmia 'Lucifer'
delosperma cooperii
ginger 'White Butterfly'
gaillardia
heliotropium amplexicaule 'Azure Skies'
iris ensata (some nibbles)
leucanthemum x superbum 'Broadway Lights', 'Paladin', 'Alaska'
linum (flax)
rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' (some nibbles possible)
russian sage
stachys hummelo
verbena 'Homestead Purple'
verbena bonariensis

Favorite Shrubs and Trees

Buddleia 'Pink Delight', 'Royal Red', 'Adonis Blue', 'Honeycomb', 'Black Knight'
Crape Myrtle 'Tuscarora', 'Muskogee', 'White Chocolate'
Gardenia 'August Beauty'
Lantana (multiple varieties; some bloom nibbles may occur in late fall)
magnolia - Sweet Bay Magnolia and Southern (must protect trunk from antler rubbing, Winter Daphne
osmanthus fragrans
Pieris japonica 'Dorothy Wyckoff'
Spirea 'Neon Flash'
Vitex 'Shoal Creek'

Favorite Vines

Carolina Jasmine
Confederate (Star) Jasmine

Favorite Perennial Bulbs

allium 'Purple Sensation'
daffodils
Dutch iris
Spanish bluebells

Favorite Annuals

Angelonia
cleome
cornflowers
larkspur
marigolds
petunias
poppies (Eschscholzia californica and papaver)
snapdragons
zinnias (Benary's Giant; minor damage; increased nibbling in late August, especially during drought conditions when there is little to eat in the wild)

Favorite Foliage Plants

stachys 'Helen von Stein'
lysmachia nummularia Aurea
lavender (blooms)
rosemary
oregano
sages
thyme
chives
basil
miscanthus 'Cosmopolitan', 'Little Zebra'
carex (multiple varieties)
pink muhly
pampas grass
purple fountain grass (annual here)
chamaecyparis pisifera
wax myrtle
carex holly
oakleaf holly
osmanthus 'Goshiki'
osmanthus fragrans
clumping bamboo (fargesii?)
weeping willow, curly willow
river birch
cryptomeria
deodar cedar (antler rubbing)

Words and photos by Freda Cameron, Defining Your Home, Garden and Travel. Recommendations are based upon my own experience and your results with deer resistance may be different.