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Deer-resistant plants for shade

Shade plants deer usually leave alone, from ferns to hellebores, with a sample bed planned from them.

Deer do their worst damage in shade, because the classic shade plants are their favourites: hostas are eaten to the stalks overnight, and so are daylilies and many lilies. The plants below are listed by NC State as deer resistant.

Resistant is not proof. A deer tastes before it decides, so young plants and new shoots get nibbled even of plants they then leave alone; and in a hard late winter a hungry deer eats almost anything. What deer avoid, on the whole, are plants that are aromatic, furry, leathery, bitter or poisonous: ferns, hellebores, foamflowers and the spurges are reliable.

214 plants: 80 perennials, 40 ferns, 13 bulbs, 16 grasses and 65 shrubs.

The dozen to start with

  • Japanese holly fern

    Japanese holly fern

    24 in · grown for its leaves

    Thick, glossy, dark green fronds with large, pointed leaflets like holly leaves.

  • Cinnamon fern

    Cinnamon fern

    4 ft · grown for its leaves

    A tall vase of green fronds surrounds stiff, upright, cinnamon-brown spore stalks in spring.

  • Mountain laurel

    Mountain laurel

    8 ft · late May to late June

    A native evergreen with crimped, sugar-icing buds that open into cup-shaped flowers of white, pink or red in late spring, in clusters that cover the plant.

  • Bugleweed

    Bugleweed

    6 in · early May to late May

    Glossy, dark rosettes knit into a dense carpet that smothers weeds in shade.

  • Lilyturf

    Lilyturf

    16 in · early August to mid September

    Evergreen clumps of dark, strap-shaped, grassy leaves, with spikes of violet flowers like grape hyacinths in late summer, followed by black berries.

  • Foxglove

    Foxglove

    4 ft · early June to mid July

    Tall spires of spotted, bell-shaped flowers bring height to part-shade beds in early summer.

  • Sweet woodruff

    Sweet woodruff

    8 in · early May to early June

    Whorls of bright green leaves make a soft, even carpet under shrubs and trees.

  • Calla lily

    Calla lily

    2½ ft · mid May to mid July

    Pure white, funnel-shaped flowers of great elegance, each wrapped around a yellow spike, above glossy, arrow-shaped leaves.

  • Ostrich fern

    Ostrich fern

    4 ft · grown for its leaves

    Tall, feathery fronds form an elegant green vase that gives height at the back of a shady bed.

  • Japanese camellia

    Japanese camellia

    10 ft · early February to early April

    Polished, dark evergreen leaves and large, formal flowers in red, pink or white from late winter into spring.

  • Japanese forest grass

    Japanese forest grass

    18 in · grown for its leaves

    The plain green species: a cascading mound of bright green, bamboo-like leaves that all flow in one direction, like water over a stone.

  • Autumn fern

    Autumn fern

    22 in · grown for its leaves

    New fronds unfurl coppery red in spring and mature to glossy, dark green.

A bed planned only from these plants

The planner was given only the plants on this page that suit zone 6 and part shade, and designed this 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed from them when the page was made.

A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) bed at eye level in late August: Green-and-gold, Leadwort, Littleleaf boxwood 'Winter Gem', White snakeroot, Woodland sunflower, Hairy alumroot 'Autumn Bride', Fringed bleeding heart, Snowdrop, Striped squill, Winter aconite.
A 16 × 8 ft (4.9 × 2.4 m) English border in zone 6, part shade, seen from the path in late August.
3. Littleleaf boxwood 'Winter Gem'35. Woodland sunflower55. Woodland sunflower55. Woodland sunflower51. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold12. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort21. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold14. White snakeroot44. White snakeroot44. White snakeroot42. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort27. Fringed bleeding heart77. Fringed bleeding heart77. Fringed bleeding heart77. Fringed bleeding heart77. Fringed bleeding heart72. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort27. Fringed bleeding heart77. Fringed bleeding heart77. Fringed bleeding heart76. Hairy alumroot 'Autumn Bride'66. Hairy alumroot 'Autumn Bride'66. Hairy alumroot 'Autumn Bride'66. Hairy alumroot 'Autumn Bride'61. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold11. Green-and-gold12. Leadwort22. Leadwort22. Leadwort28. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop8. Snowdrop9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill9. Striped squill10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite10. Winter aconite
From above, to scale. Each circle is one plant, as wide as the room it needs.

The plants

  1. 1 Green-and-gold × 16, yellow
  2. 2 Leadwort × 14, blue
  3. 3 Littleleaf boxwood 'Winter Gem' × 1, dark green leaves
  4. 4 White snakeroot × 3, white
  5. 5 Woodland sunflower × 3, yellow
  6. 6 Hairy alumroot 'Autumn Bride' × 4, white
  7. 7 Fringed bleeding heart × 8, pink
  8. 8 Snowdrop × 12, white
  9. 9 Striped squill × 12, blue
  10. 10 Winter aconite × 12, yellow

Planned as an English border: 10 of the 13 groups (77%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The flowering is at its height from late August, with 4 kinds out together. Hot and cool in equal measure: yellow against blue and pink, with white to calm things between them.

The planner's own design check: 10 Excellent, 6 Good, 1 Satisfactory. It flags one thing to watch: White snakeroot is highly poisonous to people and horses. Winter aconite is highly poisonous to people, dogs, cats and horses.

Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.

All 214 plants

Show all 214, by where they go in a bed

Front of a bed 79

Middle of a bed 68

Back of a bed 67

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