Deer-resistant plants that actually get left alone

The plants deer most reliably leave alone are ones with strong scent, fuzzy or tough leaves, or toxic sap: think lavender, catmint, salvia, Russian sage, yarrow, lamb's ears, ornamental grasses, ferns, boxwood and daffodils. No plant is deer-proof, though. "Deer-resistant" means "rarely damaged", and that depends on how many deer you have and how hungry they are. The best results come from choosing plants deer dislike, planting fewer of the ones they love, and protecting everything new for its first season.

What "resistant" means

Deer-resistance ratings are based on how often a plant gets browsed in practice, compiled from observation by nurseries, extension services and gardeners. One of the most widely used is the Rutgers Cooperative Extension list from New Jersey, which ranks plants from "rarely damaged" to "frequently severely damaged". Your own state extension service may have a regional version, which is worth finding: deer in different places develop different tastes.

Three things change how much damage you see:

• Hunger. Late winter, early spring and drought years push deer to eat plants they would normally skip.
• Herd size. Where deer are dense, nothing is safe for long.
• Habit. Deer that have learned your yard is a safe place to feed will keep testing it.

Traits deer tend to avoid

Note the overlap with pet safety: several deer-resistant plants (foxglove, daffodils, hellebores, boxwood) are toxic to dogs and cats which is part of why deer avoid them. If you have both pets and deer, see dog-safe plants for full-sun beds and check each plant.

Choices by role

These plants are usually rated as rarely or seldom damaged in published lists. Check each one for your zone and your state's invasive list; Japanese barberry, for example, is deer-resistant but invasive in many eastern states and banned in some.

Plants deer usually love

If your yard gets regular visits, skip these or protect them: hostas, daylilies, tulips, hydrangeas, roses, arborvitae, azaleas, impatiens and most fruit trees. Arborvitae in particular is often stripped as high as a deer can reach, leaving a hedge with a bare "browse line".

The first year

This is when most deer-resistant plantings fail. Nursery plants are fed and watered for fast, soft, tender growth, and deer will often take a bite of anything new just to see. A plant that loses all its leaves in its first summer may not recover. For the first growing season:

1. Use repellents from day one. Spray or granular repellents based on egg, garlic or capsaicin work by taste or smell. Reapply after heavy rain and as new growth appears, following the label. Deer get used to one product, so switching between two types every few weeks often helps.
2. Cover the most valuable plants with lightweight netting or a wire cage, especially young shrubs.
3. Plant tasty things behind tough ones. A front row of catmint or lavender won't stop a determined deer, but it can discourage casual grazing.
4. Fence if you have high pressure. A fence of around 8 ft is the usual recommendation for keeping deer out of a yard. Small enclosed beds can often get away with less, because deer are reluctant to jump into a space they can't see out of.
5. Don't overfeed. Heavy nitrogen fertilizer makes soft, lush growth that deer prefer.

After a season or two, established plants harden off and deer usually lose interest in the ones they dislike.

Damage that has nothing to do with taste

Even plants deer never eat can be hurt in two ways:

• Antler rubbing. In late summer and fall, bucks rub their antlers on young, smooth-barked trees and shrubs, often 1 to 3 ft off the ground. A sapling can be stripped of bark and killed. Wrap the trunks of young trees with a plastic guard or a ring of wire mesh through fall and winter.
• Trampling and bedding. Deer that bed down in a quiet corner flatten whatever is there. Grasses and low groundcovers in a sheltered spot near woods are the usual victims.

Deer also sometimes nip the flower buds of plants whose leaves they ignore, so a plant can survive with its leaves intact but never bloom. If that happens to one plant every year, move it closer to the house or replace it.

How to tell what is eating your plants

Deer have no upper front teeth, so they tear leaves and stems, leaving ragged ends. Rabbits leave clean, angled cuts low to the ground, usually under about 2 ft. Damage well above that, up to 5 or 6 ft, is almost always deer. Knowing the difference matters, because a fence that stops deer won't stop rabbits.

When you tell FloraVista that deer visit, it keeps only plants rated highly deer-resistant in its plant table, and tells you if it had to fall back to moderately resistant ones: start with a photo.