Is Barberry deer resistant?

Thorny and genuinely unpalatable. Check your state list before buying, because Japanese barberry is banned or restricted across much of the northeast.

Do deer eat barberry?

Rarely. Rutgers rates the genus Rarely Damaged, A, and NC State's entry for Japanese barberry says "seldom damaged by deer," with drought, dry soil, salt, heat and urban conditions on the same resistance list. The thorns do the work, one at every leaf node, and the leaf is small and sour.

Where it grows

Zones 4a to 8b, 3 to 6 feet, full sun or partial shade, yellow flowers in spring and red berries after. NC State: "It spreads by root suckers and colonizes to form thickets, which may outcompete nearby plants," and "Birds eating the berries contribute to spreading the seeds far and wide."

Should you plant it?

Not in the ten states where the encyclopedia records it as listed, and probably not in the others. Japanese barberry is on the NC Invasive Plant Council's list, and the Japanese barberry page carries the public-health reason several state bans cite. Deer leaving a plant alone is not a reason to plant it, and inkberry and bayberry give the same structure without the thicket in the woods.

If it is browsed

It regrows from the base and the suckers without noticing. The plant that survives everything is the plant that ends up everywhere, which is the whole argument against it.