Deer have wonderful appetites and when hungry will eat whatever is available. However, deer display preferences for some species over others. In order to clarify deer food preferences to help you plan your garden, Amanda's Garden has compiled three lists of plants we carry that separate plants by palatability to deer. We have separated our plants into three categories: the most palatable plants, plants they occasionally eat and the plants they rarely eat. Please remember some plants will be eaten, even if they are on the list of rarely eaten plants. That means with a lot of deer around and not enough food they will be bold enough to come into the garden and eat these plants first. Deer plant preferences will depend on where you live and how many deer there are. The reverse can be true too. Plants on the list of usually eaten plants may never be used as food on your property if there is plenty of food available. For example, Amanda's Garden has only lost plants to deer one time over a 20 year period. A block of potted trillium were eaten late in the summer. The reason we do not have problem here is because there is plenty of food in this area, and even though there are a lot of deer, they have never eaten plants around our home.
This list was put together from both field experience and research, if you have had different experiences with deer eating something on the rarely eaten list please let us know so we can update our list. Click on the links below to see the lists.