Many people ask us about native plants that are resistant to deer browsing as the population of White-tailed Deer has really grown in recent decades in lower Michigan! This small kit has been curated to offer a variety of plants that are unpalatable to deer for various reasons: aroma, flavor, or texture.
It includes 14 plants, 2 each of 7 different varieties, with a diversity of flower shapes, colors and bloom times, so you can help save the pollinators without worry about deer! They may be planted together in a garden plot, but also scattered throughout or in smaller groupings.
If you want a larger number of plants, try our LARGE Deer Resistant Kit, with 12 varieties and a total of 24 different plants!
Design Tips:
- Allow for at least 1sq ft per plant, 14 sq feet (plot sizes like 4' x 4' or 3' x 5')
- Prepare your garden site (follow the link for details)
- A partial sun/shade location is ideal for this grouping
- Plants in this kit will all do well in moist to moderate soil moisture conditions
- Group plants of the same species together
- Consider the height of each plant. Position taller plants at the back and shorter plants at the front.
*Please note that sometimes young deer taste before they decide they don't like something, but they are unlikely to devour something they don't like!
Kit Contents:
10 varieties, 2 of each plant (total of 20). Details for each variety are below and each is pictured at the left side of your screen in the listed order:
2 - Beebalm
2 - Button Eryngo (Rattlesnake Master)
2 - Marsh Blazing Star
2 - Nodding Wild Onion
2 - Rose Milkweed
2 - Yarrow
2 - Yellow Giant Hyssop
Plant Details:
Beebalm or Wild Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa)
Native Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Dry to Medium-Wet
Soil Type: Thrives in a wide range of soils: acid to lime, rich to poor, sand to clay
Height: 4'
Bloom Time: July through September
Bloom Color: Lavender, pink
Resistance: Deer, Drought, Black Walnut
Attracts: Butterflies, bees, hummingbirds, birds
Pollinator benefit: Excellent nectar source
Button Eryngo (Eryngium yuccifolium) aka Rattlesnake Master
Native Perennial
Sun Exposure: Sun Note: put this in a sunnier area of your plot!
Soil Moisture: Moist
Soil Type: Various, well-drained soil
Height: 4-6'
Bloom Time: May-August
Bloom: White in 1" globes
Deer Resistant: Yes
Attracts: Butterflies, bees
Pollinator Benefit: Larval Host for Baltimore Checkerboard Butterfly
Marsh Blazing Star (Liatris spicata)
Native Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Moist, Medium, Medium-Dry
Height: 2'
Bloom Time: August-September
Bloom Color: purple
Resistant: Deer
Attracts: Butterflies, bees
Pollinator benefit: especially good for native bees; good nectar plant
Nodding Wild Onion (Allium cernuum)
Native Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Medium, Medium-Dry
Height: 18"
Bloom Time: July, August
Bloom Color: Light pink to purple
Resistant: Deer, drought, black walnut, shallow-rocky soil
Attracts: Bees, butterflies and hummingbirds
Pollinator benefit: Great nectar source, recognized as good for native bees
Rose Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata)
Native Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Wet, Medium-Wet, Medium
Height: 4'
Bloom Time: June, July, August
Bloom Color: Pink
Resistance: Deer
Attracts: Butterflies, bees, hummingbirds
Pollinator Benefit: Larval Host for Monarch and Queen butterflies; excellent nectar source for other pollinators; Xerces Society identifies as Special Value to Native Bees and Bumble Bees
Common Yarrow (Achillea millefolium)
Native Perennial
Sun: Full Sun to Part Shade
Height: Up to 3'
Moisture: Dry
Soil: Grows in a variety of soil conditions, sand, loam, clay
Bloom Time: July-September
Bloom Color: White-Pink
Attracts: Pollinators, butterflies, moths, birds
Resistance: Deer and Drought
Pollinator Benefits: Xerces designations: Special Value to Native Bees (Recognized by pollination ecologists as attracting large numbers of native bees.); And Supports Conservation Biological Control (A plant that attracts predatory or parasitoid insects that prey upon pest insects.)
Yellow Giant Hyssop (Agastache nepetoides)
Native Perennial
Sun Exposure: Full, Partial
Soil Moisture: Medium, well drained soil
Height: Up to 6'
Bloom time:July-September
Bloom Color: Green, White, Cream, Lemon-yellow
Tolerance: Drought, poor soils
Attracts: Butterflies, native bees
Pollinator Benefit: Xerces Society: Special Value to Bumble Bees; Special Value to Native Bees (Recognized by pollination ecologists as attracting large numbers of native bees.) Supports Conservation Biological Control (A plant that attracts predatory or parasitoid insects that prey upon pest insects.)