Deer Resistant Plants and Shrubs

I am a cheap and lazy gardener. My soilplay consists of planting, watering, minimal pruning and weeding and keeping my fingers crossed. I have ordered plants with varying degrees of success through mail order, so I wanted to document my experiences here.

Since I originally put up these gardening pages I've moved to a slightly colder climate (Zone 5 from Zone 6) infested with herds of deer. They eat almost everything, even the plants that are labelled "Deer Resistant" at the nursery.

Here's a list of plants the deer HAVE eaten:

Black Eyed Susans, Coneflower, Crape Myrtle, Dappled Willow, Dogwoods (trees and shrubs), Forsythia, Fruit Trees, Heuchera, Hibiscus, Hosta, Hydrangea, Japanese Maple, Lilies, Monarda, Patio Peach, Redbud, Rhododendron, Sandcherry, Spirea, Stoke's Aster, Viburnum, Weigela.

Some people spray their flowers and shrubs with deer repellent which does work, but you must reapply every couple of weeks or after it rains. I've gone the route of purchasing larger shrubs and trees and protecting them with wire cages. Not an aesthetically pleasant solution, but it's temporary until the shrubs grow out of reach of grazing vermin. I've given up on growing flowers and small perennials for the time being. Following are the shrubs that have been left to their own defenses.

If you've discovered a deer proof shrub or deer resistant plant not listed here, email me: tips [at] directgardeningtips [dot] com or visit the Contact Page.

Deer-Proof: the deer find these unpalatable.

Deer-Resistant: deer will largely ignore these shrubs until it gets harder to forage.

All of my plants were obtained locally, but I have ordered through DirectGardening.com in the past. They were the least expensive online gardening site (click on the banner above to be taken directly to their site) and they also offer the standard one year guarantee. If your plant doesn't survive they will send you a replacement if you request it within one year from date of purchase.

Year planted follows description in parenthesis.

For reference, these shrubs were planted in zone 5 in rocky, clay soil.

Updated 07/20/2011.