Updated on September 8, 2026. Ratings below are university browse lists, not a six-pack tag. Confirm the linked extension pages before you treat a drift of ‘Goldsturm’ as deer-proof — or before you blame a deer for a clean, six-inch cut.
Usually not. Rabbits first. Hungry suburban deer still take the blooms. Iowa State Extension, compiling Rutgers, Cornell, and Michigan State surveys (last reviewed July 2022), files black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia spp.) as a perennial seldom severely damaged by deer — the same column as meadow sage and purple coneflower, two columns safer than hostas. Rutgers rates Rudbeckia B. NC State’s plant toolbox calls R. hirta moderately deer resistant and tags the coarse, hairy leaf as the trait. Penn State (updated April 8, 2026) is blunt: the foliage “provides some deer resistance,” and newly planted clumps are “irresistible to rabbits.”
The catch that is unique to this plant: University of Georgia Circular 985 puts Rudbeckia on the “occasionally or frequently browse” table, and a Howard County, Maryland gardener told Ask Extension in July 2025 that deer had started nipping the tops of a long-established display. That is pressure, not a different species. For the rest of the yard, start at the deer-proof garden hub and what do deer eat.
| Plant | Black-eyed Susan. Garden plants are usually Rudbeckia hirta (Maryland’s state flower; biennial or short-lived perennial) or R. fulgida (true perennial, including ‘Goldsturm’). Not purple coneflower (Echinacea). Not black-eyed Susan vine (Thunbergia alata). |
|---|---|
| Verdict | Deer seldom wreck a mature clump. Protect seedlings and flower heads in high-density suburbs. Fence rabbits first. Catalog “deer-proof Rudbeckia” tags are not a university rating. |
| University rating | Rutgers: B, seldom severely damaged. Iowa State: perennials seldom damaged. NC State: moderately deer resistant. UGA Circular 985: occasionally or frequently browse. Penn State: coarse, hairy foliage gives some resistance. |
| What they eat, when | Spring rosettes and new transplants; then flower heads from June into October. Dawn and dusk raids match deer feeding times. Crowns stay in the ground. Rabbits take the same plant at six inches with a clean cut. |
| Where it is worst | Unfenced Maryland, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania suburbs where the same white-tailed deer herd already takes hostas. Georgia lists put it on the protect-it table. Midwest rural yards usually keep the flowers. |
| Official plant sheets | Rutgers deer-resistance list · Iowa State deer-damage list · NC State — Rudbeckia hirta · Maryland Extension — Black-eyed Susan · Penn State — Black-eyed Susan · UGA Circular 985 |
Three plants share the name
Penn State’s first line is the mix-up: “black-eyed Susan” is also a vining African annual, Thunbergia alata, sold for containers. If the tag says Thunbergia, you did not buy a native daisy. The garden plant is Rudbeckia, named for the Swedish botanists Olof Rudbeck. The species epithet hirta means hairy — that is the browse trait, not a scent like lavender or a lycorine load like daffodils.
Do not mix the packets. Common black-eyed Susan (R. hirta) is Maryland’s floral emblem since 1918. University of Maryland Extension (updated March 6, 2023): the statewide plant is mostly R. hirta var. pulcherrima on roadsides and old fields; Western Maryland’s var. hirta is more shade-tolerant. Height 1–3 feet. Blooms taxi-cab yellow with a black eye, June–October. NC State: 2–4 feet tall, 1–2 feet wide; a biennial or short-lived perennial that flowers the first year from seed, so gardeners treat it as an annual. ‘Indian Summer’ heads run 6–9 inches. Penn State treats ‘Cherry Brandy’ and ‘Autumn Colors’ as biennials to replant yearly.
Orange coneflower (R. fulgida, including ‘Goldsturm’) is the true clump perennial. Penn State: ‘Goldsturm’ was the Perennial Plant Association Plant of the Year in 1999, grows 24–36 inches, and is “particularly prone to angular leaf spot,” a bacterial disease that, with Septoria, blacks the foliage by August. ‘American Gold Rush’ (PPA 2023) is 22–27 inches tall and 40 inches wide, with finer hairy leaves and real Septoria resistance. Neither cultivar has its own deer rating. Cutleaf coneflower (R. laciniata) ‘Herbsonne’ reaches 6–7 feet — every bloom inside a standing deer’s chin. Purple coneflower is Echinacea purpurea, a different genus. Iowa files it in the same seldom-damaged column. NC State lists it as the nursery lookalike. It is not this page.
What they eat, and when
Two windows. The first is the basal rosette. NC State: hairy leaves emerge early in spring, still soft, at nose height. A six-pack of R. hirta set out in May is a watered salad. Penn State: protect young plants until they lignify. The second window is bloom. Maryland Extension’s calendar is June–October. A Howard County gardener (Ask Extension #911884, July 29, 2025) described the typical deer take: they nibble the top, and the stem then branches. You lose the show, not always the crown. A 2- to 4-foot plant sits entirely in a standing deer’s browse zone. The crown stays in the soil. If a clump never comes up, look for vole tunnels, heaving, or rot — not a January deer. Seed heads left standing feed goldfinches; that is a bird problem on ripe cones, not browse.
Deer damage vs rabbits vs mildew vs checkerspots
Deer leave a torn, shredded stub. Minnesota’s diagnostic page for black-eyed Susan: large sections of leaves missing, a ragged stem or petiole, hoof prints or pellet groups, damage overnight. No upper incisors, so they grasp and rip. Damage often sits well above rabbit height on a 3-foot ‘Goldsturm’.
Rabbits leave a clean 45-degree cut, usually within a foot of the ground. Iowa State’s rabbit list puts Rudbeckia spp. with perennials moderately to severely damaged — the same split as zinnias, which Iowa files as seldom damaged by deer and often wrecked by cottontails. An Iowa Extension news note from 2003 on ‘Prairie Sun’ said the same thing in one line: rabbits love it; most deer do not. Hardware cloth at the soil line stops rabbits. It does not stop a deer that reaches over it. Rabbit tactics: how to keep rabbits out of the garden.
Minnesota’s Rudbeckia diagnostic also lists slugs (ragged holes that cross veins, slime) and silvery checkerspot caterpillars (black, spiny, holes in May–June). Those larvae are supposed to be there — Maryland and NC State both name Chlosyne nycteis as a Rudbeckia host. Powdery mildew and Septoria leaf spot blacken lower leaves without tearing stems. White film is not browse. ‘Goldsturm’ looking wrecked in September is often disease, not a deer.
Where the ratings disagree
Rutgers built its list from nursery people, NJAES staff, and Master Gardeners in northern New Jersey — suburbs where deer densities are high. A B rating there still means plant it, but do not skip a cage on new clumps. Iowa State, compiling that list with Cornell and Michigan State, keeps the genus in seldom-damaged perennials. NC State’s toolbox is the culture sheet plus “moderately deer resistant,” drought and salt tolerant, coarse texture, rough leaf feel, hairy stems.
UGA Circular 985 is the honest counterweight. It files black-eyed Susan with plants deer occasionally or frequently browse and recommends protection. Read that as a Georgia suburb with a hungry herd, not as chemistry. There is no lycorine here. The defense is the sandpapery leaf. A well-fed rural Iowa deer will skip it; a suburban Maryland doe with fawns, in the same county that named the plant its floral emblem, will take the blooms. If your street already loses hostas and dahlias, treat new Rudbeckia as unprotected food until the hairs harden.
Do not use a daisy family as a twin. Iowa files annual sunflower as frequently severely damaged. Zinnias and marigolds sit on the seldom-damaged annual list. Same family, different ratings. See do deer eat sunflowers and do deer eat zinnias.
What works
Plant the hairy types, and rub a leaf at the nursery. If it feels like sandpaper, you have the trait the lists are using. Full sun and air movement also keep mildew and Septoria off — Penn State’s real August failure on ‘Goldsturm’. Maryland Extension: the disturbed-soil variety gets disease if you leave it in one spot too long; let it self-sow and move. NC State: skip the lawn-fertilizer strip; extra nitrogen makes foliage at the expense of flowers.
Physical exclusion is still the only near-certain fix in a Rutgers-level suburb. Minnesota’s woven-wire standard for a whole bed is at least 8 feet. A 4-foot decorative fence around a 3-foot clump is theater — how high a deer can jump is why. For a short drift, a welded-wire cylinder taller than the bloom is enough. For first-year R. hirta and rabbit-height rosettes, hardware cloth at the soil line matters more than that fence.
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Put the bed against the house or inside a fenced vegetable garden. Start egg-based or hot-pepper repellents on the first true leaves if the herd already walks the bed, rotate formulas, and respray after rain. Once a dusk loop is established, spray alone rarely holds. Bottles: organic deer repellent. Whole-yard tactics: how to keep deer out of garden beds.
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What does not work
A tag that says “deer-proof black-eyed Susan.” No sourced university list rates Goldsturm, American Gold Rush, or Cherry Brandy as safer from deer than the genus. Disease resistance is not browse resistance. A ring of Rudbeckia will not hide hostas. Dryer sheets, soap, hair, and a single motion light buy days. Feeding the herd to “distract” them trains them to your property — what to feed backyard deer is the page that says don’t. Penn State: 18 insect species use Rudbeckia as a host in Pennsylvania. Leave some seed heads for goldfinches. That does not change the deer rating.
Three substitutes that already earn their keep
If you want late color without feeding the herd, Iowa’s same or safer column is already on this site: salvia (spikes, stronger scent), marigolds (color, not a perimeter fence), and peonies for June before the Susans open. Lavender and daffodils cover the rarely-eaten slot. Longer menus: deer-resistant perennials, deer-resistant annuals, and what flowers deer do not eat.
Related plants in the same yard
If deer found the black-eyed Susans, they have already walked the sunny strip. Hostas go first in shade. Sunflowers in that strip are a frequent target, not a companion. Dahlias sit one Rutgers step worse and bloom in the same window. The herd in those Maryland suburbs is the one on Maryland deer hunting — that is context, not a garden fix. Protect or replace the whole border. Layout: how to keep deer from eating plants.
FAQ
Will black-eyed Susans grow back after deer eat them?
Often, yes, if the crown is intact. A nipped flower stem is this year’s show gone; Maryland’s Howard County case is the typical pattern — the plant branches below the bite. Repeated shoot-to-frost browsing on a first-year R. hirta can end that plant, because many hirta types are short-lived anyway. A true R. fulgida clump with an intact crown usually returns next June.
Do rabbits eat black-eyed Susans even if deer don’t?
Yes. That is the usual damage. Iowa State lists Rudbeckia spp. among perennials moderately to severely damaged by rabbits. Penn State: newly planted clumps are irresistible to them. Clean 45-degree cuts at ground level are rabbits. Hardware cloth, not more Goldsturm. See how to keep rabbits from eating plants.
Are Goldsturm or American Gold Rush more deer-proof?
No sourced university deer list says so. American Gold Rush earns its keep on Septoria resistance and a compact, hairy leaf — Penn State’s 2023 plant-of-the-year note, not a browse rating. Goldsturm is the 1999 classic that blacks out from leaf spot. Protect the plant, not the series name.
Can I skip a fence if I only have “a few” deer?
A few deer is how the habit starts. Light pressure may cost you a transplant or two and still leave a decent drift. Once one animal adds your bed to its dusk loop, the raids continue. If you already see pellets in the mulch, treat Rudbeckia as a seldom-damaged plant that still needs a cage in a Maryland or New Jersey cul-de-sac. If the cuts are clean and low, build the rabbit fence first.
Sources
- Rutgers NJAES — Landscape plants rated by deer resistance (Rudbeckia sp.: Seldom Severely Damaged — B)
- Iowa State Extension — Susceptibility of plants to deer damage (Black-eyed Susan, Rudbeckia spp.: seldom damaged perennials; last reviewed July 2022)
- Iowa State — Susceptibility of plants to rabbit damage (Rudbeckia spp. among perennials moderately to severely damaged)
- Iowa State Extension news — ‘Prairie Sun’ black-eyed Susan (Aug. 2003; rabbits a favorite, most deer not attracted)
- NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox — Rudbeckia hirta (moderately deer resistant; hairy leaves; 2–4 ft; silvery checkerspot host)
- University of Maryland Extension — Black-eyed Susan (March 6, 2023; state flower; var. pulcherrima; 1–3 ft; June–October)
- Penn State Extension — Black-eyed Susan: Beautiful and Beneficial (updated April 8, 2026; hairy foliage, rabbit note, Goldsturm vs American Gold Rush, 18 PA host insects)
- UGA Extension Circular 985 — Deer-tolerant ornamental plants (black-eyed Susan among plants deer occasionally or frequently browse)
- Ask Extension #911884 — Deer eating black-eyed Susans (Howard County, Maryland; July 29, 2025)
- UMN — Black-eyed Susan leaves chewed: slug vs checkerspot vs deer/rabbit vs hail
- UMN — White-tailed deer damage (8-foot fence)
This is a child of the deer-proof garden guide. Wild browse, not landscape daisies, is on what deer eat.
