7 Best Deer Resistant Plants For Your Garden

by John Griffith
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Deer are beautiful animals. And while they don’t pose a threat to humans, they do pose a threat to our gardens. Since deer are herbivores, they are very attracted by the abundance of plants, shrubs, flowers, and vegetables you have on your property. For them, it’s like an all-you-can-eat buffet. However, for your garden this means catastrophic damage. They will eat all your prized plants and put quite the dent in your landscaping. So, if you live in a deer prevalent area, you need to get creative. While you can put up a fence, it needs to be really tall, so that they can’t jump over it. But this isn’t always possible. Instead, you can invest in deer resistant plants. This way you will have a beautiful garden full of plants deer don’t like eating!

For deer your garden is an all-you-can-eat buffet

deer resistant plants deer strolling in garden

Best Deer Resistant Plants

Oh, deer! Nobody wants their prized garden to become the feeding ground for deer. That’s why you have to find ways to keep these cute herbivores away from your property. There are a variety of methods you can try, but growing plants they don’t eating is quite effective. Well, unless they are practically starving, then they will eat pretty much anything they can get their hooves on. But in general, these deer resistant plants won’t look appetizing to them, so they will move on to a better buffet.

Nobody wants their prized garden to become the feeding ground for deer

deer in the garden near plants

#Lavender

We absolutely love lavender. It’s aromatic, it’s beautiful, it’s pollinator friendly and deer stay far away from it! This makes it an ideal choice for your garden. It’s beautiful purple flowers will add color to your property and they are also super useful. You can dry out lavender to make aroma sachets or tea! This plant does need full-sun and well-draining soil to thrive, so keep that in mind. It does not require a lot of maintenance and makes a great border plant.

It’s aromatic, it’s beautiful, it’s pollinator friendly

laveder plant in field

#Bleeding heart

This flower is a real beauty. It is perfect is you have moister soil in your garden and require something that will thrive in it. This perennial gets its name from its stunning heart shaped flowers. The bleeding heart is definitely not a favorite for the deer, so they will most likely skip out on eating it. This flower blooms in spring and adds a beautiful pop of color to the garden. The bleeding heart needs a sunny spot to thrive, but will also so fine in light shade.

This perennial gets its name from its stunning heart shaped flowers

bleeding heart plant flowers

#Panicle hydrangea

This hydrangea variety will bring joy to your soul every time you see it in your garden. This shrub is absolutely stunning with its leafy foliage and big clusters of small flowers. The panicle hydrangea is a fast grower and is not loved by deer. But even if one does decide to take a bite from it, this shrub quickly recovers. They bloom during the summer, but have a long blooming period, so you will also be enjoying them in the fall. This shrub likes full-sun to light shade conditions.

This shrub is absolutely stunning with its leafy foliage and big clusters of small flowers

panicle hydrangea in pink

#Coneflower

Coneflower, or also known as echinacea, is a great plant if you want to keep deer away. This beautiful purple daisy-like flower has an amazing fragrance and a spiny center that turns deer away. It is a perennial that like well-draining moist soil, but is pretty hardy once it has established. Pollinators love this plant’s seed heads, so you can expect to see a lot of visitors.

This beautiful purple daisy-like flower has an amazing fragrance and a spiny center

pink echinacea coneflower

#Daffodil

While daffodils may look attractive to us, deer do not like them. Rabbits and squirrels as well. This makes them a superb addition to any garden. These glowers looking stunning and bring joy with their bright colors. And unlike tulips, they tend to multiple over the years rather than dwindle in numbers. These flowers like to get their full-sun, but also do okay in partial shade. Keep their soil moist and well-drained.

While daffodils may look attractive to us, deer do not like them

daffodils in the garden

#Butterfly bush

Butterfly bushes are beautiful and smell absolutely divine. So, it’s no surprise that they attract a ton of pollinators, like butterflies. However, while we may love them for their aroma and flowers, deer do not. This makes them a great choice for your garden. Butterfly bushes are considered shrubs, but they do act similar to woody perennials. This means that in cold areas they tend to die back during the winter and regrow the next season. They come in a variety of colors from purple, pink, red, blue, to white. Butterfly bushes do need full sun to thrive.

Butterfly bushes are beautiful and smell absolutely divine

butterfly on a butterfly bush flower

#Lantana

Lantana is a summer annual with beautiful bright cluster of small flowers. This wonderful flower has a potent aroma and a rough texture. Two things deer do not like. So, they will avoid this plant as much as possible. On the other hand it is very pollinator friendly, so you can expect a lot of visits from hummingbirds! This plant has no problem in warmer climates as it loves to sun bathe. It’s a great choice if you are looking to bring some color to your garden without worrying that the deer may eat it.

Lantana is a summer annual with beautiful bright cluster of small flowers

deer resistant plants multicolored lantana flowers

These were some of the best deer resistant plants you can add to your garden. We hope you found this article useful. Now you can upgrade your landscape without worrying about the pesky deer.

These were some of the best deer resistant plants you can add to your garden

deer trying to eat garden plants

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John Griffith

John Griffith is a young, passionate journalist. Writing has been John’s hobby ever since he was a boy. He has worked in some of the UK’s most successful news portals over the course of his professional career but found his forever home at Archzine.