Is Hosta deer resistant?
Hosta spp.
Deer will destroy this. Do not plant it unprotected.
Rating source: Rutgers NJAES E271
Toxic to cats and dogs if eaten
About Hosta
Deer candy, and the single most-asked-about plant in deer gardening. Expect total defoliation without protection. The plant itself usually survives. Hostas regrow from the crown, so a clump eaten to stubs in June will often push new leaves within weeks, and the year after it comes back as though nothing happened. What you lose is the display, every year, indefinitely. Before blaming deer, check the damage. Deer tear rather than cut, leaving a ragged stub because they have no upper incisors and strip the leaf off. Slugs chew irregular holes through the middle of a leaf and leave a dried slime trail, and they favour the same damp shade hostas want, so the two are routinely confused. Repellent rotation works if you start in April and never miss an application. Fencing works absolutely. Nothing else does, and thicker blue-leaved cultivars are only marginally less preferred.
Soil and care
- Soil pH
- 6 to 7.5
- Drainage
- Consistently moist
- Water
- Moderate
- Fertility
- Moderate
- Spacing
- 18 to 35 in apart
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Maintenance
- Low
Tolerances and uses
- Drought
- Low
- Salt
- Low
- Pollinators
- Low
- Containers
What to plant it with
- Daffodil
Daffodils flower and die back just as hosta foliage unfurls to cover the fading leaves. Same hole, two seasons.
Keep apart from
- Rosemary
Same conflict. Rosemary needs sharp drainage and full sun, hosta needs moist shade.
Deer-resistant alternatives to Hosta
Same plant type, hardy in the same zones, but rated better on the Rutgers scale. If Hosta keeps getting eaten, these go in the same spot.
- Bleeding HeartLamprocapnos spectabilisZones 3–9Rarely damaged
- Cardinal FlowerLobelia cardinalisZones 3–9Seldom damaged
- Fringed Bleeding HeartDicentra eximiaZones 3–9Rarely damaged
- MintMentha sp.Zones 3–9, genus rangeRarely damaged
- Obedient PlantPhysostegia sp.Zones 3–9, genus rangeSeldom damaged
- VioletsViola sp.Zones 3–9, genus rangeSeldom damaged
Similar to Hosta
Other perennials with the same deer rating.
Protecting Hosta
Deer will destroy this without protection, so the question is which kind you are willing to pay for.
- How tall a deer fence needs to beEight feet, and six is the most common expensive mistake in deer fencing.
- What a deer fence costsMaterial ratios are stable even when prices are not, and installation reliably doubles the figure.
- Repellent that actually worksThe egg-based recipe that reproduces the active ingredient in the commercial sprays that win university trials.
- Fencing a raised bedA deer jumps from ground level, so measure the barrier from the ground and not from the top of the bed.
Growing them anyway
Hostas are rated Frequently Severely Damaged, the worst tier on the scale, and nothing here changes that. They are also the best foliage plant for deep shade there is, which is why people keep buying them after losing a bed of them. If you are going to, plan the protection before the first spring rather than after it.
The cheapest protection that works
A bed of 8 by 16 feet has been excluded successfully by a fence only 50 inches high, where protecting a whole property needs eight feet. A deer will not jump into a space it cannot see a landing in, and a small enclosure does not offer one. Waist height, four posts, one weekend.
Keep the mesh tight to the ground. Deer go under far more often than over, and six inches is enough of a gap.
The links below are affiliate links. If you buy through one, this site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. Nothing is recommended because it pays better, and this page still rates hostas in the worst tier on the scale. Full terms at /legal.
- Hosta plants
Shade tolerance is the reason to want them. Deer resistance is not on the list.
- More hosta varieties
Bigger, bluer and more corrugated leaves are reported to be browsed slightly less. Reported, not measured.
Nothing here has been tested by this site, so there are no ratings or review markup on it, and prices are not shown because they change faster than a page can. If you would rather not fight for them, ferns do the same job in the same shade and sit in the top tier.
Where Hosta grows
Hardy across most of these 51 states on zone range alone. Mountain and coastal areas sit outside the ranges used here, so check your own zone before ordering.
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- New York
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Georgia
- Texas
- Colorado
- California
- Oregon
- Washington
- New Hampshire
- Vermont
- Maine
- Rhode Island
- Delaware
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Montana
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Utah
- Nevada
- Arizona
- New Mexico
- Alaska
- District of Columbia
- Hawaii
Browse from here
Every list Hosta belongs to.
Hardy in these zones
Common questions about Hosta
- Is Hosta deer resistant?
- Hosta (Hosta spp.) is rated Frequently Severely Damaged on the Rutgers NJAES four-tier scale. Deer will destroy this. Do not plant it unprotected.
- What hardiness zones does Hosta grow in?
- Hosta is hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9. 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 Hosta grow in shade?
- Yes. Hosta tolerates full shade to part shade, which makes it one of the options for a shaded bed where deer also browse.
- How big does Hosta get?
- Mature height is roughly 8–35 in. Growth rate is moderate.
- When does Hosta bloom?
- Hosta flowers from June–August.
- Is Hosta toxic to dogs or cats?
- Yes. The ASPCA lists Hosta as toxic to cats, dogs, and horses. Site it away from where animals graze, or choose something else if you have a dog that chews.