Deer Resistant Plants

Unfortunately no plant is impervious to deer browsing, but the more resistant species possess distinctive traits that make them less palatable to the deer. When you are shopping for deer resistant plants look for sharp, prickly, or fuzzy foliage or stems, flowers with strong, perhaps smelly fragrance, and aromatic foliage.

Deer are habitual creatures; they will return to good feeding areas, and teach their offspring of these areas also. In combination with good plant selection, breaking deer of their browsing habitat may require physical barriers like fencing or screening.

Severe browsing damage is worst in freezing cold weather with lasting, accumulative snowfall. In the case of long and heavy snowfall winters, no plant is safe from deer. Heavy deer damage also occurs in early spring as new, tender plant growth is produced.

During the Fall, Male Bucks can cause a lot of damage to small trees (3” caliper or less) from their rutting behaviors. You can prevent them from rubbing your trees with the use of plastic tree guards, burlap or mesh screening.

The following list of plants is categorized as good resistance (rarely eaten), medium resistance (occasionally eaten), and poor resistance (often eaten/damaged).