These Easy-to-Grow Plants Are The KEY To a Deer-Resistant Garden
House Beautiful May 18, 2025
Lifestyle
House Beautiful May 18, 2025
Lifestyle
Being outside and enjoying nature is one of the best parts of having a garden. But when your beloved greenery is being nibbled at and eaten by adorable, Bambi-like deer, you’ll be searching for any viable solution to keep critters at bay. While there’s no such thing as a deer-proof plant, especially if Bambi is feeling particularly hungry (they're even known to eat plants sprayed with deer-repellant), utilizing a variety of deer-resistant plants can serve as a protective measure that can help your garden survive mealtimes.
Deer definitely have favorite foods, but the truth is they’ll eat almost anything—just like humans, they’ll try anything once, according to Dimitri Gatanas, owner of Urban Garden Center in New York. In general, they don’t like plants that are highly fragrant, fuzzy, or have an otherwise unpleasant texture. “The best way to keep deer from eating your plants is to create a sort of barrier around your favorable plants with a variety they may not like as much,” Gatanas explains. “For example, I have my hydrangeas planted behind a border of low boxwoods.” He also recommends blocking deer out as much as you can, either with spiky varieties like barberry or holly bushes or with a thick row of arborvitae. Deer fencing is okay, Gatanas says, and it definitely works, but it’s not his personal preference because it distracts from the beautiful garden you’ve spent so much time on.
Many home gardeners try deer-repellent sprays or fencing, but these are often flimsy and only temporary defenses—you’ll have to respray every time it rains, and deer are known to navigate around barriers. If deer are common neighborhood friends (or pests), they’ve likely established routes and pathways through your gardens. It’s just nature! So do your best to plant deer-resistant types of plants and protect your favorites with a natural barrier.
Ideal for adding both privacy and height to your garden, pampas grass won’t get gobbled up by pesky deer this spring and summer. It looks great as it dries out and dies back when the weather gets cold—just be sure to cut the dead stalks ahead of every new growing season.
Like many fragrant herbs, sage is a plant deer won’t go near. That makes it a great addition to any garden or vegetable patch. We recommend planting sage near other plants that deer love to try and deter them.
Dainty and sweet, forget-me-not flowers introduce a bold hue to your flower beds. In addition to being one of the only true blue flowers, these plants are among the first to bloom each spring, giving your garden some new life after winter. Luckily, deer don’t like the taste of the foliage, so they tend to leave these alone.
Despite their alluring name, deer can’t stand buttercups. These are a great wildflower for natural and rewilding landscapes. Plant them in the fall for a gorgeous yellow wash come spring.
Homegrown herbs are one of the easiest ways to upgrade your cooking, but deer are often attracted to edible plants. However, fragrant thyme is an exception. Plant it in and around your vegetable patches to deter curious critters.
Highly poisonous to all creatures (including humans), these flowers will keep deer far away from your beloved garden. Available in both light and dark hues ranging from sky blue to rich purple, plant larkspur in groups for an eye-catching landscape.
Tall and striking, meadow rue plants are a part of the buttercup family, so deer won’t snack on them either. These plants are great if your garden needs some height—plus, they offer a sweet, buttery yellow hue.
Also known as aconite or wolfsbane, monkshood is a highly toxic and poisonous plant to all humans and animals. What it lacks in friendliness, it makes up for with its vibrant purple coloring. Because it’s so harmful to animals, it should be used sparingly.
A beautiful ornamental grass, blue fescue is great for adding depth and visual interest to your ground cover. Its silvery blue fronds thrive best in full sun.
Often associated with Christmastime, holly bushes are evergreens with striking red berries (they’re harmful for humans, so don’t eat them) all winter long. The spiky leaves deter deer, which makes them ideal for landscaping and outdoor holiday decorating.
This flowering plant produces the captivating spice star anise. Anise flowers are small and quaint with bulbous heads, and they’re great for breaking up groups of larger flowers. Because of their spicy taste, deer don’t like snacking on them.
This adorable perennial is not a favorite of deer, so it's a great option for your shade garden. Its heart-shaped blooms appear in early to late spring.
This shrub has a somewhat fuzzy texture that doesn't usually appeal to deer. It comes in white-, pink-, or yellow-flowered varieties and blooms all season long.
This sturdy perennial has silvery-green leaves with a somewhat fuzzy texture. It also has a pungent spicy-minty fragrance that makes most deer avoid it.
These evergreen shrubs make great foundation plantings, and they're not particularly appealing to deer. You can leave them natural or shear them into shape.
Daphne is a beautiful evergreen shrub with glossy green leaves that bloom lovely, fragrant pink flowers from mid-winter to late spring. Its strong scent and toxic berries tend to keep deer away.
This attractive, silvery annual makes a stunning accent for containers or beds. Deer don't enjoy its velvety texture.
This mounding ornamental grass looks amazing when planted in groups, and deer aren't fans of its sharp texture.
Hellebore, or Lenten rose, is an outstanding perennial for a part-shade garden. With waxy, evergreen foliage and exquisite blooms during late winter into early spring (around the time of Lent), this is a must-have for any garden that deer visit.
Alliums, or ornamental onions, have pretty, round flowers atop long stems in late spring. (Plant the bulbs in fall for spring flowers.) Their onion-y scent keeps deer at bay.
Like many other pungent garden herbs, rosemary—which is grown as an annual but is a perennial in warm climates—is too strongly scented for deer to nibble. This is a great culinary herb, but it also has pretty purple blooms once the plant matures in warmer parts of the country.
This low-growing annual comes in white, pink, or purple, and its sweet scent is not appealing to deer. It blooms from spring to frost and looks great in mixed planters or as an edging plant.
If you're tired of gloom in late winter, these cute little flowers are the answer. Winter aconite pops up when there's still snow on the ground, and deer don't like the bright yellow blooms. Plant the bulbs in fall for early spring flowers.
The lovely spikes of these annuals come in every shade from pale pink to deep red. They're amazing in planters and borders, and deer tend to avoid their ruffled blooms.
This handsome annual is easy to grow from seed, and it blooms all season long until a hard frost. The bitter taste of these cheerful flowers keeps deer away.
If you're looking for a handsome shade garden option, this pretty fern unfurls in shades of purple and green. It's a sturdy perennial plant that deer typically avoid due to its unpalatable texture.
These bell-shaped white flowers are beautiful, but plant them somewhere they can be contained, such as up against a sidewalk. They can become invasive if given free rein. They're also toxic, which deters deer.
Butterfly bush blooms all season long, from early summer to fall. It attracts bees and butterflies, of course, but it doesn't attract deer, and new hybrids are not invasive.
A great addition to the late fall garden, aster often blooms when everything else has already faded. Deer don't like their texture, but beware that rabbits do!
These tall cottage garden favorites look smashing at the back of borders. They're a short-lived perennial, but they're well worth planting because deer avoid these toxic plants.
This old-fashioned favorite is a delightful annual for containers, so you can enjoy the scent. Deer don't enjoy the fragrance or the sandpaper-like texture of its foliage.
You know it's spring when the daffodils appear! These cheerful flowers are toxic, so deer won't touch them. Plant the bulbs in fall for spring flowers.
Lavender is a beautiful perennial with silvery foliage and strongly-scented purple flower spikes. It makes a lovely cut or dried flower too, and deer steer clear of its potent scent.
These reliable annuals come in every color imaginable. Their sturdy blooms attract tons of pollinators, but deer don't appreciate the texture of their leaves.
Peonies are gorgeous perennials that can live for decades. Their strong fragrance is a deterrent to munching deer.
These handsome perennials have mounds of silvery-green foliage topped with beautiful purple spikes. Their strong scent keeps deer away.
This ground cover plant has a touchable texture and spikes of flowers in mid-summer, but the velvety-soft feel of these leaves is not appetizing to deer.
Irises come in an array of colors and heights, and they're truly low-maintenance perennials. Deer tend to leave them alone because of their texture and light scent.
Also called echinacea, coneflowers are sturdy perennials that thrive in a variety of garden soils. They come in an amazing array of colors, including pink, white, cream, orange, and every shade in between. Deer say "no thank you" to the texture.
These perennial types of poppies have beautiful papery blooms atop long, graceful stems. Deer avoid them due to their toxicity.
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