My Deer Garden

Deer-resistant plants for full sun

Full sun is where the deer-resistant palette is strongest, and it is not a coincidence. The plants that shrug off browsing are disproportionately aromatic Mediterranean subshrubs, and those evolved in hot dry open ground: lavender, rosemary, catmint, Russian sage, thyme, santolina. Their defence is the volatile oil that also needs sun to develop properly, so a lavender grown in part shade is both floppier and, in a small way, less unpalatable. The other reliable group here is the ornamental grasses, which deer ignore almost universally.

324 plants · page 5 of 6

Seldom Severely Damaged9

Occasionally Severely Damaged51