Is Dianthus (Pinks, Sweet William) deer resistant?

Deer walk past dianthus far more often than they stop. Rutgers rates the genus Seldom Severely Damaged, listed on E271 as "Carnation, Pinks, Dianthus sp.," with sweet William, D. barbatus, carrying the same rating as a biennial. NC State's toolbox entry says it "is resistant to damage by deer but will be eaten by rabbits," which is the right order of concern: the low, fragrant mat that deer ignore sits at exactly the height a rabbit works.

Do deer eat dianthus?

Seldom. The clove scent that makes pinks worth planting is the same thing that puts them in Rutgers' second tier, and the leaf is narrow, gray and dry rather than soft. Under heavy pressure the flower buds are taken, as buds are on nearly everything. A dianthus eaten to the crown inside a fenced garden is rabbit work.

Where it grows

Full sun and sharp drainage, in zones 4 to 9 by NC State's range, at 4 inches to 3 feet depending on which dianthus: the cheddar and maiden pinks make evergreen mats, sweet William is a biennial that seeds itself, and the carnation is the tall one. NC State: "they are grown as annuals, biennials and evergreen perennials." Flowers spring and summer, and longer if the spent stems are sheared.

Protecting dianthus

From rabbits, a 2-foot ring of wire. From deer, rarely anything, and where buds are going one application of the 20 percent egg spray Colorado State rates High covers the thirty days of peak bloom. The ASPCA lists carnation, Dianthus caryophyllus, as toxic to dogs, cats and horses, an "unknown irritant" with "mild gastrointestinal signs, mild dermatitis," and the callout below carries that.

If it is browsed

It rebranches from the base and flowers again on shorter stems; a mat-forming pink recovers inside a month in spring. What it does not survive is wet ground in winter, which kills more dianthus than every animal combined.