Deer can damage if not destroy almost any newly planted plant! The text in the photo above gives some reasons why. Adult males can also damage tree trunks when they rub their antlers on them.
Before I list the plants that are highly deer resistant, I will state that virtually no plant is 100% deer resistant. So, if deer inhabit your area, I recommend: -CAGING all new plants, especially from flats and 1- and 2- gallon plants. Certain highly resistant plants that are planted more deeply and are in 5 gallon or larger containers may survive without caging (if deer don't trample them or gore them with their antlers!) -Leave cages on your most deer resistant plants at least 6 months to a year! The idea is for the plants to develop a good lateral root base, have time to start producing phytotoxins, and to be less tempting due to the new smells and foliage that curious deer (and rabbits and armadillos) like to investigate. Remove one cage at a time and let them go for a few days to see what happens. If the plant gets munched but has a good root system, it will grow back. -Plastic coated green metal wire, like the kind sold at Home Depot and elsewhere, works well. Often a single metal stake is sufficient to support this. Plastic flexible caging works well, but you will need more stakes to support this type. -Cages should be a few inches wider than the diameter of your plant and at least a foot taller, to start. -If you want a tree or large shrub that is NOT deer resistant, you can cage it with stacked wire cage up to about 5 feet or so, until the majority of the foliage is above browse level.
Still with me? OK, here are plants that in MY EXPERIENCE, deer USUALLY leave alone! Non-natives have an asterisk. American Beautyberry Anacacho Orchid Bee Balm/Horsemint/Lemon Mint/Bergamot Blackfoot Daisy Bluebonnets Burford Holly* Carolina Jessamine Chile Pequin/Chile Petin Copper Canyon Daisy* Crossvine Damianita Datura /Jimson Weed/Angel trumpet Dwarf Palmetto Elbow Bush Esperanza, (Yellow Bells) Esperanza, Sangria Flame Acanthus Frostweed Garlic Chives* Gaura, most types Golden Groundsel Honeysuckle, Coral Indian Blanket /Gaillardia Inland Sea Oats Lantana, Native Texas Maximilian Sunflower Mexican Feathergrass* Mexican Hat (Ratibida) Mexican Mint Marigold* Milkweed: Antelope Horns, Butterflyweed, and others MIstflowers; Blue, Fragrant, and Gregg’s Muhlys: Big, Gulf Coast and Bamboo Nolina (all species) Palmetto, Texas Dwarf Prairie Verbena Prickly Pears; Old Mexico*, Santa Rita and Spineless Pride of Barbados* Red Buckeye Red Yucca Sabal Palm, dwarf Sage, “Lipstick” Salvia hybrid Cedar Sage Indigo Spires, Salvia hybrid Sage, Mealy Blue 'Henry Duelberg’ Sages: Autumn sage (Salvia greggi) varieties including Pink, Red, and White Tropical Sage, Santolina, Gray* Sedges: Webberville and Woodland Skeletonleaf Goldeneye Skullcaps: Heartleaf and Pink* Sotol (all species) Sumac, Flameleaf and Evergreen Texas Betony Texas Persimmon "Texas Sages": Cenizo (Leucophyllum), Compact, Convent, and Green Tree Senna Turk's Cap Twistleaf Yucca Whale’s Tongue Agave Wooly Stemodia Yarrows: Moonshine and others Yaupon Holly Zexmenia, Orange
