Deer Resistant Annuals & Perennials for Arkansas
Here in the Natural State, we enjoy wild beauty. In Good Earth’s home city of Little Rock, nature is never far from our doorstep—from native dogwoods to bubbling brooks to abundant wildlife, we’re surrounded by homegrown beauty. However, this closeness to nature also carries a threat to our gardens: deer! We get questions every week about how to deer resistant plant. In this post, we are going to focus on deer resistant annuals and perennials for Arkansas gardens.
What does “deer-resistant” mean?
Over time, horticulturalists and gardeners have identified plants that deer tend to avoid eating. A key caveat to take away from that sentence is “tend to”—deer seem to be willing to eat anything if they’re hungry enough! In years where drought or overpopulation leads to fewer options, deer may be more willing to graze on plants they typically avoid. That being said, deer will often avoid plants with strong odors, hairy leaves, or thorns. If plants exist with these characteristics on the edge of your property, you may choose to leave them in place as a natural deterrent!
For a list of plants shown to resist deer, follow THIS LINK to the University of Arkansas’ Cooperative Extension Service website. You may also find other plants that, for whatever reason, deer in your neck of the woods won’t eat. By all means, plant more of those and enjoy your garden!
Strategies to deter deer
In addition to choosing less delectable plants, we have a few other tips for you to try to keep the deer out of your yard.
- Address deer problems early in the season! Deer are habit feeders that like to follow a routine. If you can take your yard off the menu early, the deer will find new sources of food to visit.
- Try repellents (such as Liquid Fence). They come in granular and spray forms, so you can choose the form that you prefer. Essentially, repellents smell foul to deer and keep them away from tasty morsels in your yard. Follow the directions; they are basically training deer not to choose your landscape as their next meal. This means spraying more often at first then tapering down.
- Frightening devices may also work for you. Motion-detecting sprinklers and lights can be effective, but need to be moved around the yard so the deer won’t simply habituate to their presence. Or maybe a dog in the backyard will keep deer at bay!
- To protect vegetable gardens, shape your beds as narrow rectangles and surround them with high (at least 8’) wire fences. The combination of a tall fence that’s hard to jump and a narrow landing space should keep deer out of your vegetable beds. Small plots can be protected with wire cages with a roof.
If deer have gone from majestic wildlife to pest feeders in your yard, try a multi-pronged approach to convince them to leave your yard alone. A single deer-repelling measure may not be enough on its own to keep deer away, but combining strategies simultaneously will make deer think your yard isn’t worth the effort. Choose deer-resistant plants for your next garden bed, try repellents on those plants they always seem to eat, and stay consistent in your methods until you can break their habits!
What is a ‘safe’ annual to plant?
Our landscape team installs seasonal color on many properties that have a big deer population. Here are some annuals that have worked well for us over the years.
Vinca – This sun loving annual is tough, loves hot sunny gardens. Choose from upright varieties or the Cora Cascade series, which is a spreading or trailing series. It trails over pot edges or spreads out nicely in the ground. A few Cora Cascade vinca plants cover a lot of ground!
Lantana – Another tough, sun loving annuals that is right at home in hot spots! It also another plant that offers a wide variety of size options, as well as bloom colors. This may just be the annual with the most new varieties released each year. If not, sure seems like it is! We love the Bandana series for pots, smaller spaces or as a front layer, as this series stays smaller. The Proven Winner Luscious Lantana series grows larger and features big puffs of blooms in a huge array of color options.
Verbena – We don’t mean to be repetitive but yes, another sun and heat loving annuals with big blooms that continue all summer. The Superbena series from Proven Winner brand is a winner; the color options are spectacular!
Cleome – Not the old kind we used to have in 6 pack flats that would reseed and become an issue, but the Proven Winner Senorita cleome that doesn’t reseed is a real winner. It offers height that some of the other annuals do not, making it a good choice as the back layer of a warm season summer color display, or as a the thriller in container gardens. Sun for this one too. The blooms are unique; it’s called spider flower for a reason!
Sun Coleus – Hear us out, just plant some. You won’t be disappointed, even if it doesn’t bloom. Actually these plants bloom but you want to pinch those off so the plant can give all the energy to the leaves, because that’s where the drama is! And yes, this is another one with tons of foliage color options and a variety of mature sizes.
Scavola – Also known as fan flower, this sun loving annual has blooms that look like a little fan. Available in white, purples, blues and pinks. Very hardy!
Angelonia – Surprise! The summer snapdragon, as this garden favorite is called, is another deer resistant annual that is showy. We love the shape of this bloom. When planning a color display, think not only about the mature size these plants will be, but also the flower form for impactful visual interest! This one has salvia like flower spires.
For perennials, check out this link… and check back. We will have a post dedicated to these next time!