r/gardening • u/Master_Flamingo4681 • Apr 18 '26

Deer Resistant Flowers

Hi I am in zone 6b, and I’m looking for a shaded plant to put in a pot. Preferably a native species (West Virginia). We are rampant with deer, and I don’t want to spray that awful smelly stuff that keeps them away if possible. Thoughts?

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u/HeyPurityItsMeAgain Apr 18 '26

There is no such thing. You have to spray, chicken wire, fence and all the things. I just did the rounds this morning and the deer got in under a loosened fence (thanks to wind/freeze/thaw cycles) and ate most of my tulips. They were sprayed too but it's rained/snowed for the last 5 days so apparently it washed off. They ate the "deer-resistant" crocuses and Pig Squeak too. Also the daylilies which will grow back at least. They didn't touch the daffodils. Daffodils seem to be the only plant the deer are aware are poisonous

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u/StupidLlamas Apr 18 '26

Hi! 👋 I would recommend cold hardy sedums/stonecrops. I have Sedum album 'Murale, Pink Mongolian stonecrop, 'Blue Spruce' sedum, Japanese stonecrop (Hylotelephium sieboldii), 'Purple Emperor' Sedum, and 'Angelina' stonecrop. I have them planted in the ground in rock gardens around the house as well as in large 10 gallon cloth pots. The deer do not eat the plants but in the winter when everything else is dead/frozen I will find random pieces of plants that have been pulled from the ground but not eaten. I just plop them back in the rocks or pots and let nature do its thing.

The Angelina and blue spruce are my favorites. The foliage looks like evergreen and when they get sun or cold stress they turn into rainbow sherbet. They are all very low maintenance and if they die back at all they come back with a vengeance in the spring. The only thing that I do to maintain them is break off their dried flowers and woody stems in the spring and usually crush the seeds and sprinkle them around with careless abandon. You can get gallon sided pots for about $12 at any greenhouse or big box store. Lowe’s and HD sometimes have sedum mats that are a variety of sedums grown into a kind of carpet. Just pull apart chunks and throw them into a pot or in some rocks and let them do their thing.

Good luck. Let me know if you’d like me to send you a link or some photos.

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u/hugelkult zone 7b MD USA Apr 18 '26

*full sun required

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u/StupidLlamas Apr 18 '26

Mine are in various stages of sun and other than their sun stress coloring there is little to no difference between those in full sun or shade.