Deer-resistant plants

Deer-resistant means less-preferred, not inedible. Under enough pressure deer eat almost anything, so planting is a layer that reduces damage rather than a barrier that prevents it. Use extension-service lists for your region, and put less-preferred species on the boundary where pressure lands first.

Every source that publishes a resistant-plant list attaches the same caveat, and it is worth taking seriously rather than treating as legal boilerplate: nothing is deer-proof under enough pressure. A hard winter with deep snow will get you browsed on plants that were untouched for five years.

What resistance actually buys

Not immunity. What it buys is a change in the order deer eat things in your garden, which matters more than it sounds:

• It lowers the reward for visiting at all. A garden of less-preferred plants is a poorer feeding stop, and deer are efficient about where they spend time.
• It buys time for every other measure. A repellent that is a week overdue matters less on a plant deer were not keen on anyway.
• It costs nothing to maintain. Unlike a repellent, planting does not wash off. This is the only measure on this site with no ongoing cost, and it is why it belongs in the plan even though it is not sufficient alone.
• It concentrates the damage where you can accept it. If something is going to get browsed, better it is the boundary hedge than the specimen you planted for the front garden.

Get the list from an extension service, not from us

We are not going to publish a plant list. Deer preference varies by region, by season, by local population density and by what else is available, and a generic list written for a national audience is exactly the kind of unsourced content this site exists to avoid.

Cooperative extension services publish lists for their own regions, which is the level at which the question is answerable. Colorado State University Extension publishes one covering rabbit, ground squirrel and deer-resistant plants. Your own state's extension service will have the equivalent, and that is the one to use — it is written for your climate and your deer.

Where planting sits in the plan

It is the fourth layer, not the first. Michigan State University Extension puts effective deer perimeters at 8 to 10 ft, and a fence is still the only method whose effectiveness does not decay. Planting supports that; it does not replace it.

Two practical rules that are not about species

Protect new plantings regardless of the list. Anything just planted is more attractive and more vulnerable than the same species established, and a browsed sapling may not recover. New plants get a guard or netting for the first season whatever the tier says.

Watch what happens rather than trusting the label. Local deer populations have local habits. A plant listed as rarely damaged that is being eaten in your garden is being eaten in your garden, and the list does not overrule the evidence in front of you.

Trees are a separate problem

Plant choice does nothing about buck rub, because rubbing is territorial rather than feeding — a deer stripping bark from a sapling is not tasting it. No amount of resistant planting protects a trunk. That needs a physical guard, and protecting trees from deer covers it properly.

For everything else, keeping deer out of the garden puts the whole sequence together.