Low-Maintenance Deer-Resistant Perennials for Shade

Low-upkeep perennials for shady beds that deer usually leave alone. Compare height, bloom time, and hardiness zone.

Bearsfoot Hellebore

Asian Bleeding Heart

Columbine

Common Pawpaw

Perennials come back from the same roots each year, which is why borders get built from them. These perennials are also the low-upkeep ones. Dry shade is the hardest place in the garden to plant, and some of these manage it. Most are grown for their flowers.

perennials: 291
hardiness zones: 3 to 11

Annual Vinca

Sweet Scented Bed Straw

African Lily

Bowles Periwinkle

Deer leave these perennials alone, and they still flower. You can find perennials here that flower in spring, summer and late autumn, so the border keeps its colour long after the first flush. Most of the colour is white, purple and yellow.

spring: 138
summer: 108
late autumn: 29

The breadth is the point: the planting can be put together in almost endless ways. Epimedium, Dryopteris and Carex have the most entries, and woodland edges and borders are the commonest uses.

woodland edges: 183
borders: 151