Attracting Wildlife to Your Back Yard

A Guide to Increasing Wildlife Diversity and Aesthetic Value Around Your Home

Appendix D. Gardening Around Deer

When deer are very hungry they will eat almost anything, but during the growing season they usually have lots of options. That being the case, they often eat what they like best. Following is a list of trees, shrubs, perennial flowers, and annual flowers used by gardeners. They are grouped according to the relative palatability of these plants to deer.

TREES AND SHRUBS
Deer generally prefer to eat:	Deer sometimes eat:	Deer generally dislike:
Apple	Amur maple	Barberry
(Fruit trees in general)	Azalea	Buffaloberry
Basswood (Linden)	Black cherry	Currant (Gooseberry)
Birch	Boxelder	Honeysuckle
Bur oak	Bush honeysuckle	Juniper
Chokecherry	Cottonwood	Lilac
Cotoneaster	Elm	Mt. Laurel
Dogwood	Forsythia	Nanking cherry
English Ivy	hazelnut	Nannyberry
Green ash	Highbush cranberry	Ponderosa pine
Hackberry	Ironwood	Potentilla
Hydrangea	Mountain ash	Raspberry
Larch	Oak	Russian olive
Maple	Rose	St. John's wort
Rhodedendron	Scotch pine	Spruce
Sandberry	Spirea	Western yellow pine
Serviceberry	Sumac	Western red cedar
Siberian crab	White pine	Wormwood (Artemisia)
Viburnum	Wild plum
Weigla	Fir
White cedar (Arborvitae)
White pine
Willows
Yews

PERENNIALS
Deer generally prefer to eat:	Deer generally dislike:
Crocus	Achillea (Yarrow)	Goldenrod
Daylily	Ajuga	Joe-Pye weed
Hawkweed	Allium	Lamb's ear
Hosta	Anemone	Lavender
Hyacinth	Bittersweet	Lily-of-the-valley
Iris	Bleeding heart	Lupine
Lily	Buttercup	Monkshood
Meadow rue	Clematis	Pachysandra
Phlox	Columbine	Penstemon
Rose	Cinquefoil	Pennyroyal
Sedum	Coneflower	Peony
Strawberry	Coral bell	Poppy
Tulip	Coreopsis	Primrose
	Cransbill	Ribbongrass
	Daffodil	Rosemary
	Daisy	Sage
	Ferns	Snow-on-the-Mountain
	Feverfew	Speedwell
	Flax	Tansy
	Forget-me-not	Thistle
	Gayfeather	Toadflax
	Goatsbeard	Yucca

ANNUALS AND BIENNIALS
Deer generally prefer to eat:	Deer generally dislike:
Hollyhock	Alyssum	Geranium	Periwinkle
Impatiens	Begonia	Heliotrope	Polygonum
Pansy	Dahlia	Lobelia	Primula
Sunflower	Dusty miller	Marigold	Salvia
Violet	Flax	Mint	Snapdragon
	Forget-me-not	Morning glory	Verbena
	Four-o'clock	Mullein	Zinnia
	Foxglove	Parsley

NOTE: The information provided above was gleaned from browse survey reports conducted by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department, a recent article published in Minnesota Horticulturist (Oh, Deer! Suggestions for coping with Deer in the Home Landscape, B.R. Jarvis and D.F. Bravero), public information bulletins produced by the states of Illinois and New Jersey, New York, and conversations with local nursery owners.

Previous Section -- Appendix C. Native Plant Seed Sources and Information
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Next Section -- Appendix E. Sources of Further Assistance

The Registry of Nature Habitats

PO Box 321
Meridale, NY 13806