39 Deer-Resistant Plants for Your Garden or Landscaping

Deer like to eat an assortment of plants, especially those with narrow, tender leaves, such as young evergreen, coniferous trees. If you don’t want deer to destroy your well-tended garden or landscaping, avoid planting trees such as firs (Abies), cedars (Cedrus), arborvitaes (Thuja), and pines (Pinus). Deer also like to nibble on hostas (Hostas), daylilies (Hemerocallis), and pansies (Viola x wittrockiana).

If you want to avoid deer damage in your yard or garden, you have numerous options when it comes to choosing deer-repellent plants, trees, and shrubs, including:

1. 1. American holly (Ilex opaca): Native to the eastern and southern United States, the American holly bush is a staple in the diet of many feral, foraging animals, but deer dislike it. Note that while the plant’s small red berries are attractive, they are poisonous to humans, dogs, and cats.
2. 2. Arrowwood viburnum (Viburnum dentatum): Arrowwood viburnum has glossy leaves that change from yellow to a reddish-purple toward the end of the year.
3. 3. Aster (Aster): There are many different varieties of aster, but they all are deer-resistant perennials, with flowers that bloom in blue, white, or purple.
4. 4. Autumn crocus (Colchicum): This highly toxic plant produces a beautiful, light purple flower that faces upward.
5. 5. Barberry (Berberis): This is a low-maintenance shrub that some landscapers use as hedging. However, be mindful that some varieties grow thorns.
6. 6. Bee balm (Monarda bradburiana): Bee balm has fuzzy purple flowers atop a thin stem and can grow two to four feet tall. If you buy a dwarf variety, it will only grow up to 10 inches.
7. 7. Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta): This is a yellow flower with a black center—similar to a sunflower in appearance. Black-eyed Susans can grow taller than three feet.
8. 8. Bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis): Bleeding heart flowers grow up to about three feet tall and look like a pink or red heart with a white tail on the bottom.
9. 9. Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii): Native to China and Japan, the butterfly bush produces mauve flowers that attract butterflies.
10. 10. Catmint (Nepeta × faassenii): Sometimes confused with catnip, catmint shares many of the same properties but is less attractive to cats and not at all attractive to deer. This plant produces a light purple or blue flower that is highly fragrant.
11. 11. Christmas rose (Helleborus niger): This poisonous plant is an evergreen perennial closely related to buttercups rather than actual roses. The blooms are generally white although can sometimes feature traces of pink.
12. 12. Columbine (Aquilegia): This perennial produces flowers with a bell shape, with each bloom also resembling a cluster of doves.
13. 13. Common boxwood (Buxus sempervirens): Boxwoods, which are small trees or tall shrubs, are native to more than half of the world’s continents. These slow growers have leathery leaves and work well as hedges or topiaries.
14. 14. Threadleaf coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata): With bright yellow blooms, these plants are related to sunflowers and attract butterflies.
15. 15. Daffodils (Narcissus): Daffodils—also called narcissus—are perennials that are native to Europe and Africa. They grow from bulbs, producing flowers that are usually white or yellow.
    
16. 16. Dusty miller (Centaurea cineraria): This shrub grows yellow flowers and has leaves that appear as though they’re dusted with a silvery gray powder.
17. 17. Flossflower (Ageratum houstonianum): Also known as bluemink or blueweed, this herbaceous annual has bushy flowers that are usually blue but can also be pink, purple, or white. While many gardeners use flossflower as an ornamental plant, the species is a vigorous grower and can become weed-like.
18. 18. French marigold (Tagetes patula): These tiny plants have vibrantly colored flowers with ruffled petals, usually in shades of yellow, gold, and orange.
    
19. 19. Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea): The foxglove has tall stems with purple flowers and can grow up to six feet in the right conditions.
20. 20. Hyssop (Hyssopus officinalis): Closely related to mint, hyssop has woody stems, dark green leaves, and pink or light purple flowers. These plants do best in gardens, but you can grow them in pots, too. They need full sun or partial shade to thrive.
    
21. 21. Japanese wisteria (Wisteria floribunda): The Japanese wisteria is a climbing plant that grows well on fences, pergolas, and arbors, and produces dark purple flowers.
22. 22. Lamb’s ear (Stachys byzantina): The shape of this fuzzy plant resembles the ear of a lamb. Related to plants in the mint family, lamb’s ear is a good option for a relatively high deer-proof ground cover, since it’s capable of growing about 15–30 inches tall.
23. 23. Lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis): The lily of the valley has white bell-shaped flowers that hang downward from the stem.
    
24. 24. Lungwort (Pulmonaria): The leaves of the lungwort have green with white spots, and it also has blue, white, or pink flowers that bloom in early spring.
25. 25. Monkshood (Aconitum): Monkshood produces purple flowers that hang downward from the stem and look like hooded figures. These plants are poisonous, including their sap.
26. 26. Onion (Allium cepa): If you like the idea of cooking using ingredients from your own yard, try planting onions—which deer will avoid—in your vegetable garden.
27. 27. Ornamental grasses: There are several types of ornamental grasses known for their deer resistance, including golden hakone grass (Hakonechloa macra), maiden grass (Miscanthus sinensis), black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus), and fountaingrasses (Pennisetum or Cenchrus).
28. 28. Pachysandra (Pachysandra): Pachysandra are herbaceous evergreen perennials with bright green foliage and work well as a ground cover.
29. 29. Peony (Paeonia): Peonies start to bloom in the late spring, although some varieties begin later in the year. Their fragrance repels deer, although many people find their scent attractive.
    
30. 30. Purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea): These perennials have purple flowers that hang downward, leaving the center open and exposed. They can grow up to five feet tall.
31. 31. Russian sage (Salvia yangii): These lavender-colored flowers grow in clusters and require full sun to thrive. The plants are capable of handling dry conditions.
32. 32. Salvia (Salvia): These plants have long inflorescences with clusters of small, delicate flowers that can be blue, purple, or red. The oil in their leaves gives them a distinct fragrance that many people find pleasing but deer find repellant. Hummingbirds and butterflies are also attracted to salvia.
33. 33. Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus): Snapdragons are perennials with white, red, or pink flowers that grow in spikes.
34. 34. Speedwell (Veronica): This low-maintenance plant produces purple flowers.
35. 35. Vinca (Vinca): Growers refer to flowers in the genuses Vinca and Catharanthus as periwinkles, so you will sometimes see the common names of vincas and periwinkles used to mean the same thing. These short ground cover plants have attractive flowers that are usually red, pink, blue, or purple.
36. 36. Yarrow (Achillea filipendulina): This low-maintenance plant has tiny yellow flowers that are attractive to pollinators like bees.
37. 37. Yew (Taxus): There are multiple varieties of this shrub, which has needle-like, narrow green leaves that extend in flat ranks from either side of a branch. Yews commonly produce red berries.
38. 38. Yucca (Yucca): There are more than 20 different varieties of yucca, all of which are deer-resistant, since the creatures don’t find the pointy-shaped fronds appetizing.
39. 39. Zinnia (Zinnia): Native to North America and South America, zinnias are shrubs that produce single-flowered, double-flowered, or semi-double-flowered blooms in such bright colors as red, orange, purple, pink, or yellow.

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