Deer-Resistant Combinations for Hot, Sunny Sites

Learning to select plant combinations rather than just individual plants, will immediately transform your garden from the onesy-twosey look to a cohesive design. For those of us who share our gardens with deer it can be especially hard, yet it really is possible.

Deer behaviors and tastes vary across the country, so not every suggestion given here will work for every garden, but I hope this gives you a glimpse into the possibilities and gets you excited to head out to the nursery again.

Finely textured orange hair sedge (Carex testacea) weaves between the bold, felted, silver leaves of Helene von Stein lambs ears. Blue Star juniper to one side echoes the cooler tones.

The wine-red flowers of Aphrodite sweetshrub (Calycanthus) show up well against brighter foliage such as Golden Spirit smoke bush

Thriving in hot, dry sites, Russian sage and Mexican feather grass are both deer and rabbit resistant.

Sapphire Blue seaholly emerging from a froth of white sweet alyssum adds fragrance and attracts pollinators

The dark foliage of Nightglow diervilla picks up on the darker colors of Arizona Sun blanket flower while Blade of Sun snowberry adds sparkle

Additional Resources

There are hundreds of ideas in my latest book Deer-Resistant Design (Timber Press, 2019). Get your copy ordered now!

Are you struggling to design a deer-resistant garden and don't know quite where to start? My latest online workshop Designing a Deer-Resistant Garden was created just for YOU.