Photo by: RM Floral / Alamy Stock Photo. Tagetes tenufolia 'Lemon Gem'. The ornamental plants and shrubs in your garden should be a feast for the eyes, not a banquet for the local deer population. If you have a garden full of plants and flowers that deer love to eat, replace them with these attractive, easy-care alternatives, Sign up for weekly gardening inspiration and design tips. Note: Japanese spirea (Spiraea japonica) is invasive in parts of the U.S. and Canada; see where. Happy Face® potentilla. RELATED: If the best defense is a good offense, then it makes sense to start by choosing deer-resistant plants. Popular cultivars include the low-growing ‘Lemon Gem’, which can be used as a hedge or groundcover; ‘Sunset’, with reddish-orange blooms that fade to yellow; and Happy Face® (pictured), a long-blooming white variety with dense, dark green foliage. Pollinators are drawn to the large panicles of honey-scented blooms from summer through fall. Zones: 2-7. Grown primarily for its attractive silvery-gray foliage, dusty miller has a felt-like coating that deer find unappetizing. Disclosure. Get planting advice, garden design tips and trends, monthly checklists for your area, product specials and more in our weekly newsletter. Many stunning plants are unpalatable to deer because of their poisonous compounds, fuzzy or aromatic leaves, and tough, spiny, or bristly textures,” says Ruth Rogers Clausen, author of 50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants. For many, that means deer. Zones: 4-9. The broad scallop-edged leaves, which resemble a lady’s cloak, are covered with soft hairs that deer find objectionable. Photo by: Proven Winners. Rocket mix snapdragon. Like most species of sedges and ornamental grasses, it is not favored by deer. Photo by Proven Winners. Photo courtesy Kleft Seed. * Required FieldsWe will never sell or distribute your email to any other parties or organizations. “Pests and diseases are few, and deer, unimpressed with their strong scent, seldom browse them except for a bloom or two,” says Clausen. Height/Spread: 2 to 4 feet tall, 1 to 2 feet wide Photo by John Richmond / Alamy Stock Photo. Photo by Ball Horticultural Company. As an added attraction, attractive spikes of tiny white blooms emerge from the creeping shoots in early spring. Height/Spread: Varies widely, 6 inches to 4 feet tall, 6 inches to 2 feet wide Its dainty bell-shaped flowers perfume the air with a heavenly fragrance in early spring. With an emphasis on design, gardening expert Karen Chapman teaches you her tried-and-true methods for creating beautiful, deer-resistant garden areas. Height/Spread: Varies, 2 to 4 feet tall & wide Interplant aromatic perennial herbs throughout your garden that have scents that deer hate, such as mint, thyme, French tarragon, Deer love the tender new leaves and shoots of groundcovers when they first emerge in the spring. Photo by: Ball Horticultural Company. Height/Spread: 1 to 2 feet tall & wide Rabbits - Natural Ways to Protect Your Garden, Deer are often frightened away by loud noises and sudden movement. Keep them on edge by hanging wind chimes from the branches of trees and shrubs or by placing wind spinners throughout your garden. Gin Fizz™ juniper. Athyrium niponicum var. More about the newsletter. Pachysandra terminalis 'Variegata'. Monkshood blooms from late summer through fall, providing a welcome display of late-season color. One of our favorite deer-resistant perennials are bleeding hearts (Lamprocapnos spectabilis, aka Dicentra spectabilis). 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