Geranium macrorrhizum Is deer proof in my garden. Likes some shade, though. Astilbe and heuchera also do pretty well.

I've slowly been reworking my garden to include deer resistant plants. I'm tired of spraying and wasting money on deer candy. Here's some plants/shrubs that deer avoid in my garden. Rabbits also tend to leave these alone. I'm in zone 6, suburban Philadelphia

abelia, caryopteris, spirea, red twig dogwood, hypericum, nandina

knifophia, coreopsis, bearded iris, purple coneflower, astilbe. lamium. stokesia, liriope, nepeta, millenium allium, may night salvia, veronica, helenium

Deer will eat Bergenia, Iberis and Dianthus in winter. And they LOVE Sedum 'Autumn Joy'--not resistant at all.

Deer resistant include all irises, Pardancandas, Achillea, all salvias. Lychnis coronaria and L. arkwrightii in addition to those mentioned by others. They also tend not to eat Persicarias.

Also, whenever you plant something new, spray it with a deer repellent. Deer will try anything new and sometimes develop tastes for something normally considered resistant. Spraying a new plant will prevent that--as well as preventing their pulling out the plant to taste it, then spitting it out and leaving it to die.

There are very few plants that are deer "proof". And deer "resistance" will be extremely variable. Deer diets will change depending on what natural foods they have at hand and where you are located so regional listings will have more validity than very generalized ones. It is also important to keep in mind that the deer don't read the books or follow the lists so do not rely on them as being the gospel :-) Typically, with heavy deer populations, they will at least sample anything new that gets planted and the babies or young deer will also sample everything to see what tastes good and what does not.

They do tend to avoid plants with fuzzy foliage (like lamb's ears) and those that have strong concentrations of essential oils, like most herbs. They also tend to avoid any ornamental grasses.

In my garden, they will munch the flowers or flower buds off of just about anything, regardless of how much other damage they may or may not do to the rest of the plant. The only sure way to keep them from browsing your garden is to fence them out or use routine applications of scent deterrents. I favor Plantskydd as it is oil based and does not wash off easily with rain or irrigation.

They don't touch my Rudbeckia, Shasta Daisies nor Iris.

"Typically, with heavy deer populations, they will at least sample anything new that gets planted and the babies or young deer will also sample everything to see what tastes good and what does not."

Yes, gardengal, that's why I ALWAYS recommend spraying a new plant with a good repellent. They remember and they spread the word.

I have a quite intense battle with the deer around me. Last year I saw a random plant at the nursery that on the sign for it, said "deer resistant", and since the picture of it looked pretty, I bought it. Had never heard of it, but I like blue, spikey plants, so I bought it. I planted it and all throughout the first part of the summer I thought - "well, that's just a bushy weed". It was getting bigger and bigger, but no blossoms. But, I did notice the deer didn't eat it, and it was growing nice and big. Half way through summer it started blooming - and it was impressive! Deep blue spikes bloomed on it all through the rest of summer. It is a Blue Knight Coreopsis (Bluebeard). It's come back nice and strong again this year, and is about to blossom. Since the deer totally leave it alone, I plan on dividing the plant and spreading it throughout my gardens. Likes full sun.

The mule deer here are thick and frequent, and they will try to eat anything - hollyhocks (Alcea sp. ?) are not to their liking.

missmary, I doubt that Caryopteris will divide; it's actually a subshrub. You'll end up killing the plant. Just buy more.