I had as few until a couple of days ago. a friend wanted the seed for her birds. The deer left them alone, but they were down by the woodshed, and that's a busy place around here, so I don't think they frequent it very much. So, not a good evaluation on whether or not deer eat sunflowers.

Mike

If you check listings of deer resistant plants, sunflowers rate pretty low. On a scale of A to D - A being plants rarely damaged by deer and D being plants frequently browsed by deer - sunflowers only rate a C or occasionally severely damaged by deer. IME, deer will sample just about anything - listed as deer resistant or not - and young deer tend to be the worst offenders (maybe adults have more sophisticated palates??). It also depends on what other succulent sources of nourishment might be available in your garden.....deer definitely have their preferences.

Sunflowers also get decimated by birds, raccoons and other small climbing mammals. Rats adore them!!

Sunflowers are a big time yum yum to deer