Deer Rabbit resistant plants

Is the wildlife feasting on your prize perennials? Do your plants disappear over night?

There are few permanent solutions. But there are plants which are less attractive to these critters. Many plants are not attractive to deer and rabbits. These include plants with milky sap, thorns, thick heavy leaves, furry or rough leaves, most succulents (like Sedum), most silver plants, and most “stinky” or strong flavored plants (i.e., most herbs). Below is a list to get you started. However, we make no promises! If pest populations are high, they may eat relatively unpalatable foods. NONE of these plants will protect nearby plants! Try not to plant “deer magnets” such as red beets and hostas, or “rabbit magnets” such as tulips. The best deer repellants are stinky bar soaps, human hair, and human urine (applied daily)... For rabbits we use dried hot chili peppers ground in a blender with warm water and drizzled on the plants. This must be refreshed after a rain. Also try trapping bunnies in the spring before they start breeding.

X means the plant is tolerant or not attractive to deer or rabbits
Latin name	Common name	Deer	Rabbit
Achillea	Yarrow	X	X
Aconitum	Monkshood	X
Agastache	Anise hyssop	X	X
Alchemilla	Lady’s Mantle	X	X
Allium	Onion family, including chives & leeks	X
Anemone	Wind Flower	X	X
Aquilegia	Columbine	X	X
Artemesia	Wormwoods, inc. French tarragon & sweet Annie	X	X
Asclepias tuberosa	Butterfly weed (and other milkweeds)	X
Baptisia	False indigo	X
Bergenia	Saxifrage	X	X
Latin name	Common name	Deer	Rabbit
Brunnera	Siberian bugloss	X	X
Calamintha	Calamint	X
Campsis radicans	Trumpet vine	X
Centaurea	Perennial bachelor’s button		X
Centranthus	Jupiter’s Beard	X	X
Chelone	Turtlehead	X
Cimicifugia	Cohosh, snakeroot, bugbane	X	X
Clematis	clematis	X
Delphinium	Perennial larkspur	X
Dianthus gratian.	Cheddar pinks	X
Dicentra	Bleeding heart	X	X
Digitalis	Foxglove	X	X
Echinacea	Coneflower	X
Eupatorium	Joe-Pye-Weed	X	X
Euphorbia	Spurges with milky sap	X	X
Latin name	Common name	Deer	Rabbit
Ferns, most	Jap. painted, lady, sensitive, ostrich, etc	X
Gaillardia	Blanket flower	X
Galium	Sweet woodruff	X	X
Geranium	Cranesbills	X	X
Grasses, most ornamentals	Calamagrostis, miscanthus, panicum, etc	X	miscanthus
Hedera	English ivy	X
Heuchera	Coral Bells	X	X
Hosta	Hosta		X
Lamiastrum	Yellow archangel	X
Lamium	Dead nettle	X	X
Lavandula	Lavender	X
Liatris	Blazing star	X
Ligularia	Golden ray	X
Mentha	Mints,incl. peppermint, spearmint, applemint	X
Monarda	Beebalm	X
Latin name	Common name	Deer	Rabbit
Nepeta	Catmint and other nepetas	X	X
Oenothera	Evening primrose	X
Pachysandra	Creeping spurge	X
Penstemon	Beardtongue		X
Perovskia	Russian sage	X
Rudbeckia	Black-eyed Susan & gloriosa daisies	X
Salvia	Sages (perennial)	X
Santolina	Lavender cotton	X
Sedum	Stonecrop	X
Solidago	Goldenrod	X
Stachys	Lambs ears	X
Stokesia	Stokes aster	X
Tanacetum	Tansy	X
Thymus	Thymes, incl. culinary and creeping ones	X
Veronica	Speedwell	X