Gardening Ideas Outdoor Plants 20 Garden Plants Deer Will Utterly Destroy By Steve Bender Steve Bender Steve Bender, also known as The Grumpy Gardener, is an award-winning author, editor, columnist, and speaker with nearly 40 years experience as Garden Editor, Senior Writer, and Editor-at-Large for Southern Living. Southern Living's editorial guidelines Updated on January 13, 2023 Share Tweet Pin Email Trending Videos Oh, man! Nothing like a fresh hosta! Photo: mirror.co.uk. I'm gonna save you some money. I'm gonna save you some time. I'm gonna save you a LOT of heartache, anger, acid reflux, and embarrassing eye twitches. Because if you live where deer cruise the neighborhood at night, there are certain plants you should NEVER stick in the ground lest you find them the next morning on a pleasant little journey down Bambi's digestive tract. 01 of 20 Hostas Nicola Stocken/Gap Photos To a deer, these are fresh-caught Maine lobster served with melted Irish butter. They will scarf down every one they see, even when not offered a suitable wine pairing 02 of 20 Daylilies Steve Bender Don't even think of planting these three plants in deer country unless your garden is surrounded by an electric fence the size of the one in "Jurassic Park." Hope there's not a power outage. 03 of 20 Roses Getty Images You might think thorny roses would be undesirable, but you don't know Bambi. To him, a little physical pain is more than worth the emotional trauma he's going to cause you. 04 of 20 Rhododendron Steve Bender Another dinnertime favorite. Deer seek the plant out in the winter when the rhodies might be hanging on to more leaves than other plants. 05 of 20 Azeleas Renate Frost / EyeEm / Getty Images What's up with this? Are deer determined to remove all of America's favorite plants from the landscape? Yeah, pretty much. 06 of 20 Indian Hawthorn Carol VanHook Around the Southern coast and in places with alkaline soil, this broadleaf evergreen is enjoyed as a substitute for acid-loving azaleas. Deer feel the same way. Yum. 07 of 20 Japanese Pittosporum Courtesy of PDSI It grows in many of the same places in the South as Indian hawthorn does. Until deer find it, of course, and then your garden looks so much more open and uncrowded than before. Fist bump! 08 of 20 Pansies and Violas Pansies and their relatives, violets and violas, are often treated as annuals; they're enlisted to provide beds, containers, and borders with plenty of fall (and winter!) garden color. Leonid Shkurikhin/EyeEm/Getty Images This one is a no-brainer. If people can put pansy and viola flowers on salads and eat them, deer surely can. FYI, their favorite dressings are Ranch and Thousand Island. 09 of 20 Euonymus Christopher Fairweather/Getty Images Grumpy ain't gonna shed any tears over this one. He hates most species of euonymus, particularly the gruesomely garish golden euonymus (E. japonica 'Aureomarginatus'). If the deer don't get them, scales and mildew will. Good riddance. 10 of 20 Japanese Aucuba Bernard Spragg This is one of the better broadleaf evergreen shrubs for shade, especially the popular gold dust plant (A. japonica 'Variegata') with bright yellow spots on deep green leaves. Once a deer spots it, though, it's "sayonara." 11 of 20 Blueberry Think blueberry bushes are just for summer picking? Think again. These shrubs are a blaze with color come cooler months. Leaves change to red, orange, or yellow combinations that offer a welcomed bonus to the plant's summer fruit. Learn more. . Andrei Berezovskii/Getty Images Did you know that blueberries are among the most potent sources of health-giving antioxidants? Deer certainly do, which is why they will gobble down every one, along with the foliage too. How kind of you to plant them. 12 of 20 Japanese Yew Wilson Nursuries Among the most common evergreen shrubs for foundation planting and hedges in cold-winter areas, Japanese yew bears soft, red fruits that people find quite toxic. Deer, of course, do not. They relish the leaves as well. Here's looking at yew, kid. 13 of 20 Tulips Courtesy Cheekwood Estate and Gardens OK, since I just told you to forget about planting pansies and violas for spring color, you think you'll plant sweeps of tulips instead? Wait until the herd sweeps through your yard! Plant daffodils instead. Deer won't touch them. 14 of 20 American Arborvitae F. D. Richards Rows of these pyramidal, needleleaf evergreens are often planted in the burbs to screen out ugly neighbors. Deer, however, think all humans should be friends and that can't happen with arborvitaes in the way. Good dining makes good neighbors! 15 of 20 Impatiens Coast-to-Coast / Getty It's a bummer, because easy-to-grow impatiens are prolific flowerers, and they don't need deadheading or other fussy care. But deer don't want to admire your impatiens, they want to eat them. 16 of 20 Ivy Glynlewis1/Getty Images Beware—The Old Farmer's Almanac says ivy is one of the plants (along with hosta and daylilies) known as "deer candy." 17 of 20 Hydrangea Getty Images Deer may ignore the stems and leaves of hydrangea, but wouldn't you know they love the flowers and will eat them even when they're just small buds. 18 of 20 Crabapple Jacky Parker Photography/Getty Images Crabapples might not be our first choice for a snack, but deer love to munch on these tiny fruits. 19 of 20 Sunflower picture alliance / Contributor / Getty Images Deer look to sunflower for a protein source, and will certainly return once they've discovered a nutritious and tasty patch. 20 of 20 Sweet Potato Vine Daryl Mitchell With a name like this, I suppose we can't be surprised that deer love this container-planting favorite. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit