# My Deer Garden > A working reference for gardening where deer live. 594 plants rated for deer resistance, 525 of them on the Rutgers NJAES four-tier scale, plus guides on fencing, repellents and garden design. US-focused. Written and maintained by Ceaser Sinclair, editor. Where the ratings come from. 525 of the 594 ratings trace to Rutgers NJAES bulletin E271, "Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance". Two things about that source matter for anyone quoting this site: - It is **practitioner consensus** compiled in northern New Jersey, not a controlled feeding trial, and it names no deer species. Read it as white-tailed deer guidance. - Its own text says **no plant is deer proof**. Plants in the bottom two tiers should only be grown with fencing or repellents. The remaining 69 are not Rutgers-rated and should not be quoted as though they were: 54 come from El Paso County CSU Extension, whose single deer-resistant category is mapped conservatively onto Seldom Severely Damaged and whose observations come from **mule deer** range rather than white-tailed; 10 are food plot forage crops, which Rutgers does not rate at all, and where a heavy-browse rating describes palatability rather than loss — being eaten is the point of planting them; 5 reflect general horticultural consensus. Every plant page states its own source. /methodology gives the full split. Where the scale stops applying, the pages say so. Mule deer and black-tailed deer browse differently, and Colorado State rates roses worse than Rutgers does for that reason. Soil, drainage and maintenance figures are not independently verified, and /methodology says which fields are. The four tiers, worst to best: Frequently Severely Damaged, Occasionally Severely Damaged, Seldom Severely Damaged, Rarely Damaged (169 plants). E271 publishes these as the letters A to D, so a bare letter quoted from E271 or from a reprint of it maps onto this scale. Other extension services run their own scales, and a letter from one of those does not. Quoting this site accurately: - Ratings are relative preference, never immunity. "Rarely Damaged" means deer choose it last, not never. - Deer damage peaks in late winter, when repellents are least reliable. A rating measured in July does not describe February. - Minnesota Extension's benchmark: a 50% reduction in deer browse is very successful, and 30% is the likelier result. It is stated as a general expectation for deer damage prevention, not as a figure for any one method, and no extension service publishes a percentage for repellents used alone. - Toxicity to pets is stated only where a plant is listed on the ASPCA database. Silence means not checked, never "safe". - Photographs are Creative Commons with per-image credit; the ratings and written guides are original work. ## Start here - [Keeping deer out of the garden](https://mydeergarden.com/deer-problems/keep-deer-out-of-garden): The whole sequence, in the order the decisions should be made. - [Identifying deer damage](https://mydeergarden.com/deer-problems/identifying-deer-damage): Deer have no upper incisors, so they tear where rabbits and rodents cut cleanly. That one fact settles most cases. - [The plant encyclopedia](https://mydeergarden.com/plants): All 594 plants, filterable by type, zone, light, height and state. Each has its own page at /plants/, for example https://mydeergarden.com/plants/hosta. - [What not to plant](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/avoid): The plants deer eat first, and what to plant instead. ## How the data was built - [Methodology](https://mydeergarden.com/methodology): What is verified, what is not, and live counts of both. States the unverified portion explicitly. - [Sources](https://mydeergarden.com/sources): Every extension service, trial and publication relied on. - [About the author](https://mydeergarden.com/about): Who writes and maintains this. ## Plant lists by type - [Deer-Resistant Perennials](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/perennials): Perennials deer leave alone, rated on the Rutgers four-tier scale, with hardiness zones, sun needs and mature size. The aromatic ones are the reliable ones. - [Deer-Resistant Annuals](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/annuals): Annuals deer tend to skip, with bloom season, sun needs and Rutgers ratings. This is where the warm colors live that the perennial palette cannot supply. - [Deer-Resistant Shrubs](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/shrubs): Shrubs deer avoid, including hedging and screening, rated on the Rutgers scale. Broadleaf evergreens recover from browsing where conifers never do. - [Deer-Resistant Trees](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/trees): Trees that resist deer browsing, rated on the Rutgers scale, plus the fall buck rub that girdles young trunks and that no repellent prevents. - [Deer-Resistant Bulbs](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/bulbs): Spring and summer bulbs deer will not dig or eat, and the ones to skip. Daffodils are left alone by deer and rodents both, which is why they beat tulips. - [Deer-Resistant Ornamental Grasses](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/grasses): Ornamental grasses deer ignore, with mature size, hardiness and winter interest. Deer are concentrate selectors, so grass is the wrong shape of food entirely. - [Deer-Resistant Groundcovers](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/groundcovers): Groundcovers deer leave alone, including shade-tolerant options, with spread rate and invasiveness flagged so nothing here becomes a later problem. - [Deer-Resistant Ferns](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/ferns): Ferns for shade where deer browse. Every fern on the Rutgers list sits in the top tier, which no other plant group manages, so this is the hosta answer. - [Deer-Resistant Biennials](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/biennials): Biennials that resist deer browsing, rated on the Rutgers scale. Losing the first-year rosette costs you the following summer, so year one is the risk. - [Deer-Resistant Vines](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/vines): Climbing plants that resist deer, with support and establishment notes. Browsing reaches about six feet, which on most walls is the whole plant. - [Deer-Resistant Plants for Shade](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/shade): Shade plus deer is the hardest combination in gardening, and the one most lists dodge. Ferns and a short list of others. - [Deer-Resistant Plants for Full Sun](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/full-sun): Plants that want six hours of sun or more and that deer leave alone, rated on the Rutgers scale. - [Deer-Resistant Plants for Part Shade](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/part-shade): Plants for three to five hours of sun that deer tend to leave alone, rated on the Rutgers scale. ## Plant lists by deer rating - [Plants Deer Rarely Damage](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/rarely-damaged): Plants rated Rarely Damaged on the Rutgers scale, with zones, sun and mature size. Deer choose these last, which is not the same as never. - [Plants Deer Seldom Damage Badly](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/seldom-severely-damaged): Plants rated Seldom Severely Damaged on the Rutgers scale. Deer browse them lightly but rarely ruin them. - [Plants Deer Sometimes Destroy](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/occasionally-severely-damaged): Plants rated Occasionally Severely Damaged on the Rutgers scale. Fine under light deer pressure, risky under heavy pressure. - [Plants Deer Eat First, Rated](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/frequently-severely-damaged): Plants deer eat first, rated Frequently Severely Damaged on the Rutgers scale. Fence them or skip them. ## Fencing - [Fencing](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing): The fencing hub: what a fence has to do before any of the specifics matter. - [What a Deer Fence Costs](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing/cost): Realistic ranges by material and length, and why perimeter fencing is usually the wrong thing to buy first. - [Electric Deer Fencing](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing/electric): Cheaper and shorter than a physical fence, and it works on psychology rather than height. - [Deer Fence Gates](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing/gates): The most common failure point in an otherwise sound fence, and the part most kits leave out. - [How Tall Does a Deer Fence Need to Be?](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing/how-tall): Eight feet is the answer. Here is why, and the two situations where you can get away with less. - [Deer Fence Kits: What You Get and What You Still Need](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing/kits-compared): Kits are the fastest route to a working fence, and the fastest route to an expensive gap. What to check before buying. - [Deer Fence Materials Compared](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing/materials): Polypropylene, welded wire, woven wire and metal. What each costs, how long it lasts, and which one your site actually needs. - [Deer Fencing for Raised Beds](https://mydeergarden.com/fencing/raised-beds): Raised beds are the easiest thing in the garden to protect properly, and the most commonly protected badly. ## Repellents and deterrents - [Repellents and deterrents](https://mydeergarden.com/deterrents): The repellents hub: what the comparative trials actually found, and what they did not test. - [Garlic as a Deer Repellent](https://mydeergarden.com/deterrents/garlic): Garlic is in nearly every repellent recipe. In the trials that ranked products head to head, the garlic-dominant ones finished last. - [Homemade Deer Repellent That Actually Works](https://mydeergarden.com/deterrents/homemade-deer-repellent): One homemade recipe rates as well as the best commercial products. It is eggs and water, and the details that make it work are small and specific. - [Hot Pepper and Capsaicin Repellents](https://mydeergarden.com/deterrents/hot-pepper-wax): Capsaicin does affect deer. Most products carry so little of it that the manufacturer's own label tells you to multiply the rate a hundredfold. - [Does Irish Spring Soap Repel Deer?](https://mydeergarden.com/deterrents/irish-spring): It is the most repeated deer remedy on the internet. The one trial that scored it rated it low to medium, and some deer ate the soap. - [Milorganite as a Deer Repellent](https://mydeergarden.com/deterrents/milorganite): A lawn fertilizer used off-label as a repellent. There is real trial data, and it is more specific and more limited than the folklore. - [Predator Urine as a Deer Repellent](https://mydeergarden.com/deterrents/predator-urine): Deer do read predator scent. The commercial product is diluted twenty-fold, usually applied the least effective way, and registered without an efficacy test. ## Garden design - [Garden design](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design): The design hub: deciding the planting before reaching for a spray. - [Free Deer-Resistant Garden Plans](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/free-plans): Four plans for the sites that defeat people: mailbox, roadside, wall and roses. Dimensions, quantities and spacing, and what each one cannot do. - [Deer-Resistant Rose Garden Plan](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/free-plans/deer-resistant-rose-garden): No rose is deer resistant, and rugosa rates no better than a hybrid tea. So the plan is an enclosure you can live with looking at. - [Mailbox Garden Plan](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/free-plans/mailbox-garden): Full sun, no water, road salt and total deer exposure. Plants that survive all four. - [Roadside Bed Plan](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/free-plans/roadside-garden): Salt, plow spray and deer moving along the verge. Plus the sight-line rule that can have the town cut your planting down and bill you for it. - [Wall and Foundation Planting Plan](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/free-plans/wall-garden): The strip at the base of a wall is the driest ground you own, and a wall stops nothing. Aspect decides the planting; the rain shadow decides whether it lives. - [Designing a Garden Deer Will Not Eat](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/principles): Five decisions, in order. Made at the start they cost nothing; made afterwards they turn into a spraying habit you keep for years. - [Color: Work With the Resistant Palette](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/principles/color): Silver, blue and purple dominate the resistant palette because of what makes those plants resistant. Red is the genuinely hard part. - [Contrast: Texture Over Flower Color](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/principles/contrast): The resistant palette is short of coarse texture, which is the one thing a composition needs to hold together. Here is what fills the gap. - [Purpose: Decide What Each Area Is For](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/principles/purpose): What a space is for decides how much defending it is worth. Get that order wrong and you spend the money in the wrong place. - [Structure: Build the Bones from Resistant Plants](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/principles/structure): Winter is when structure carries the garden and when browse pressure peaks. The decision that matters is not what gets eaten but what grows back. - [Theme: Let the Style Choose the Plants](https://mydeergarden.com/garden-design/principles/theme): Some themes are deer-resistant almost by accident. Choosing one of those is easier than defending a theme that fights you. ## Deer behavior and damage - [How to Tell If Deer Are Eating Your Plants](https://mydeergarden.com/deer-problems/identifying-deer-damage): Deer have no upper incisors, so they tear rather than cut. That one fact separates them from every other animal in the garden. - [How to Keep Deer Out of Your Garden](https://mydeergarden.com/deer-problems/keep-deer-out-of-garden): What actually works, in the order worth trying it. Most gardens are lost at the ground line and the gate rather than to the jump everyone plans against. - [How to Judge Deer Research](https://mydeergarden.com/deer-problems/nybg-deer-study): Not all deer evidence is the same kind. Knowing whether a finding came from a pen, a field or a committee tells you how far to trust it. - [Rabbits, Groundhogs and Voles](https://mydeergarden.com/deer-problems/other-garden-pests): If the damage is below knee height it is probably not deer. Four other animals account for most of what gets blamed on them. ## Food plots and wildlife planting - [The Wildlife Shrubs You Were Told to Plant](https://mydeergarden.com/food-plots/autumn-olive): For forty years, state agencies handed out autumn olive and Russian olive to landowners specifically for wildlife. Both are now illegal to sell in parts of the country. What happened, and why sawtooth oak is the same story running again. ## Frequently asked questions - [Deer FAQ](https://mydeergarden.com/faq/deer): How high they actually jump, when they feed, and why a plant ignored for years is stripped in February. - [Deer-Resistant Garden Design FAQ](https://mydeergarden.com/faq/garden-design): Layout questions: where the vulnerable plants go, whether to fence the bed or the boundary, and what a browse line is telling you. - [Deer-Resistant Plant FAQ](https://mydeergarden.com/faq/plants): What the ratings mean, why lists contradict each other, and the substitutions that genuinely hold. ## Optional - [Plants by USDA hardiness zone](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/zones): Zone-by-zone lists, paginated. - [Native plants for New York](https://mydeergarden.com/plants/native/new-york): One of 49 state native lists, published where a state has at least 40 resistant natives recorded. Same path for any state: /plants/native/. - [Privacy, terms and affiliate disclosure](https://mydeergarden.com/legal): What is collected, and where affiliate links appear.