Deer Resistant Annuals

The rough-textured foliage and sweet scent of Lantana make it a great deer-resistant option for sunny spaces in the landscape. This heat-tolerant annual is great for hot, sunny borders, containers, and window boxes. In addition to its excellent deer resistance, it is a wonderful source of nectar for pollinators.

Want to learn more about growing Lantana? Check out our spotlight video.

Also known as Madagascar Periwinkle, Annual Flowering Vinca is a tough, floriferous plant perfect for sunny spaces in the landscape. Its heat tolerance and deer-resistance make it a reliable bedding plant as well as a fantastic addition to container gardens.

Want to learn more about growing Vinca? Check out our spotlight video.

Often grown as a companion plant in and around the vegetable garden, these annuals produce glowing hot colors in yellow, gold, orange, rust and bicolor. They are easy to grow from seed, drought tolerant, perfect for sunny border edges and mixed container gardens. They can also keep white-fly off tomatoes and assist in repelling deer.

Bacopa produces small flowers in white, pastel blue or pink that continuously bloom Spring to Frost. This powerhouse, trailing annual is fantastic for hanging baskets, mixed combination planters, and low edging in annual gardens. It’s low maintenance, self-cleaning and known to have great deer resistance.

Annual verbenas make perfect fillers or spillers in annual combo planters and hanging baskets. They flower in a rainbow of colors, including scarlet reds, eggplant purple, peach, striped, and ombre hues. These floriferous trailing plants are excellent pollinator attractants and possess good deer resistance.

In recent years, classic snapdragons have been bred to produce more vibrant flowers, stronger stems, and bushier habits. They make showy “thrillers/fillers” in mixed container gardens and bloom from spring through fall frost. In addition to good deer resistance, these fragrant flowers also attract pollinators!

Known for their unusual straw-like petals that crackle when they are touched, Strawflowers possess many qualities that make them a fantastic deer-resistant option for the landscape. These unique annuals also possess excellent heat and drought tolerance and make excellent dried flowers for arrangements and wreaths.

This wonderfully fragrant, petite flowering annual produces clusters of mini blooms that perform best in sun to part shade conditions. It’s a fantastic, floriferous, “filler” in hanging baskets and mixed containers, along with a great groundcover option in landscape beds and rock gardens. They grow best in cooler temperatures, but some hybrid varieties have been greatly improved with exceptional, non-stop flowering, excellent heat tolerance and vigor.

Also known as Mealycup Sage, Salvia farinacea develops deep blue, light blue, lavender, and silvery white spike flowers over green foliage. It is very deer resistant, drought tolerant and performs well in clay soil. This annual produces tall flower spikes that are very dependable “thrillers” in the sun. It’s also an excellent option to attract hummingbirds to the landscape.

Dusty Miller is known for its classic, grey to silver, fuzzy foliage. It performs well in the garden or in mixed containers. This foliage favorite is also frost tolerant, and during mild winters may return in spring.