My Deer Garden

Plant record · Perennial

Is Cinquefoil deer resistant?

Potentilla sp.

Yellow cinquefoil flower and strawberry-like leaves
Photo by Olivier Pichard, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.
Damage step 1 of 4 · Rarely Damaged

Yes. Deer almost always leave this alone.

Type
Perennial
Hardiness
Zones 3–8, genus range
Light
Full sun
Maintenance
Low

Damage steps follow a published university field scale. How plants are rated.

About Cinquefoil

Strawberry-like leaves and small yellow flowers, low and tough, and reliably passed over by deer.

The name covers two quite different plants. Shrubby cinquefoil is a small woody shrub that flowers from June to frost and is one of the hardest-working plants available for a hot dry bank. The herbaceous perennial species are lower, softer and shorter-lived.

Either way the requirement is the same and unusual: poor soil and full sun. Fed and watered it goes leggy and stops flowering, which is the opposite of most gardeners' instinct when a plant looks sparse.

Shear the shrubby types back by a third in early spring. Old neglected plants get woody and bare at the base and are better replaced than renovated.

Soil and care

Soil pH
5.5 to 7.5
Drainage
Well drained
Water
Low
Spacing
12 to 18 in apart
Growth rate
Moderate
Maintenance
Low

Similar to Cinquefoil

Other perennials with the same deer rating.

Where Cinquefoil grows

Hardy across 50 states on zone range alone. Mountain and coastal areas sit outside the ranges used here, so check your own zone before ordering. Select any state, including one it will not grow in, for what is resistant there.

Alabama — hardy here. Zones 7 to 9.Alaska — hardy here. Zones 1 to 8.Arizona — hardy here. Zones 5 to 10.Arkansas — hardy here. Zones 6 to 8.California — hardy here. Zones 7 to 10.Colorado — hardy here. Zones 3 to 6.Connecticut — hardy here. Zones 5 to 7.Delaware — hardy here. Zones 7 to 7.District of Columbia — hardy here. Zones 7 to 8.Florida — hardy here. Zones 8 to 11.Georgia — hardy here. Zones 7 to 9.Hawaii — not hardy here. Zones 9 to 12.Idaho — hardy here. Zones 3 to 7.Illinois — hardy here. Zones 5 to 7.Indiana — hardy here. Zones 5 to 6.Iowa — hardy here. Zones 4 to 6.Kansas — hardy here. Zones 5 to 7.Kentucky — hardy here. Zones 6 to 7.Louisiana — hardy here. Zones 8 to 10.Maine — hardy here. Zones 3 to 6.Maryland — hardy here. Zones 6 to 8.Massachusetts — hardy here. Zones 5 to 7.Michigan — hardy here. Zones 4 to 6.Minnesota — hardy here. Zones 3 to 5.Mississippi — hardy here. Zones 7 to 9.Missouri — hardy here. Zones 5 to 7.Montana — hardy here. Zones 3 to 6.Nebraska — hardy here. Zones 4 to 6.Nevada — hardy here. Zones 4 to 9.New Hampshire — hardy here. Zones 3 to 6.New Jersey — hardy here. Zones 6 to 7.New Mexico — hardy here. Zones 4 to 9.New York — hardy here. Zones 4 to 7.North Carolina — hardy here. Zones 6 to 8.North Dakota — hardy here. Zones 3 to 4.Ohio — hardy here. Zones 5 to 6.Oklahoma — hardy here. Zones 6 to 8.Oregon — hardy here. Zones 6 to 9.Pennsylvania — hardy here. Zones 5 to 7.Rhode Island — hardy here. Zones 6 to 7.South Carolina — hardy here. Zones 7 to 9.South Dakota — hardy here. Zones 3 to 5.Tennessee — hardy here. Zones 6 to 8.Texas — hardy here. Zones 6 to 9.Utah — hardy here. Zones 4 to 9.Vermont — hardy here. Zones 3 to 5.Virginia — hardy here. Zones 6 to 8.Washington — hardy here. Zones 5 to 8.West Virginia — hardy here. Zones 5 to 7.Wisconsin — hardy here. Zones 3 to 5.Wyoming — hardy here. Zones 3 to 6.
Hardy on zone rangeNot hardy — still linked
Choose a state from the listeasier on a phone

Common questions about Cinquefoil

Is Cinquefoil deer resistant?
Cinquefoil (Potentilla sp.) is rated Rarely Damaged, step 1 of 4 on the damage scale this site uses. Deer almost always leave this alone.
What hardiness zones does Cinquefoil grow in?
Cinquefoil is hardy in USDA zones 3 to 8. Outside that range it will either not survive winter or will struggle with summer heat. That is the range across the genus, so a named species or cultivar may be narrower.
Does Cinquefoil grow in shade?
No. Cinquefoil wants full sun and will grow thin and flop in shade.

Browse from here

Every list Cinquefoil belongs to.

All perennials·Rarely damaged·Full sun plants

Hardy in these zones

Zone 3·Zone 4·Zone 5·Zone 6·Zone 7·Zone 8

Damage ratings follow the four-step field scale published by Rutgers University. Growing data is compiled from state extension sources and still being verified record by record. Last reviewed .