I live in North Carolina and deer will eat Annabell, Tardiva, Oakleaf...never seen a hydrangea that they didn't eat.

That said...I once lived on land where the deer had plenty of food in the wild, so they didn't eat my hydrangeas. So, when I built another house, I planted all my favorites...but, that deer herd didn't have enough to eat in the wild, so they ate all of my hydrangeas...and hostas.

When we built here, I knew the deer were around, so I had to stop growing hydrangeas. I have one inside a fence and I'd love to have more.

It's gambling with your money to plant hydrangeas outside of a fence. A small garden where deer can't see how to escape works better than a large garden where deer think they can jump over the fence and back out again.

Deer resistant gardening happens to be my niche since a herd of over 30 sleeps beside my flower garden every night.

Cameron

MMM... You're just the kind of person I need to hear from. I have a few questions...
Do you grow tricyrtis or tiarella? Are there any hardy geraniums that your deer don't touch? How about Bergenia?

I have lots of perenials in our small Raleigh garden, which we will be leaving behind in 4 or 5 years when we retire. Our mountain place is gradually beginning to become somewhat landscaped. I don't want too much to take care of, but I really feel the need for some of my lovely perenials.
Between the climate, the critters, and the fact that we are not always there to water, the plants we grow have to be tough!

I wouldn't advise planting Tricyrtis. In general our deer have plenty to eat and don't bother the garden, but Tricyrtis was pulled out of the ground and completely eaten. The other plant that the deer decimate in my garden is yew which was nibbled to bare branches year round until I removed it.

Re deer resistant geraniums. Deer will not eat G. maccrorhizum (Big Root Geranium) and usually avoid the related hybrids--'Biokovo', 'Karmina', etc. They avoid them because of the highly fragrant foliage. Also highly deer resistant are: Agastaches of all types, Pulmonaria, Epimediums, Lamiums, Ferns, Ornamental grasses, Gaillardias, Coreopsis, Nepetas, Salvias, Pardancandas, Irises of all types, Peonies, Achilleas,Penstemon, Aconitums, Digitalis.

Not a complete list, but something to get you started.

Thanks! I have begun, again, on a list of zone 6 deer resistant perenials. Too bad about the Tricyrtis.

My tiarella are in planters on my patio. The deer visit the patio to munch a few things and haven't touched the tiarella.

I once blamed the deer for eating my geranium 'Rozanne' so I moved it inside the cottage garden fence. Turns out, it was rabbits eating it.

On my blog you can see my list of plants that have worked in my unfenced deer resistant garden. Deer herds can vary in what they will eat, but this is based on my personal experience. I have had 'deer resistant' labeled plants devoured (such as hibiscus 'Blue Satin' and helianthus angustifolius 'First Light').

In addition to the page that I'm linking to, there is a label on my blog side bar for "deer resistant" so you can read more about the plants.

Hope this is helpful.

Cameron

Here is a link that might be useful: plants that I've tried