Updated on September 7, 2026. Ratings below are university browse lists, not a nursery tag. Confirm the current lists on the linked extension pages before you fill a porch with red zonals and call the bed deer-proof.
Rarely — if you mean the fuzzy bedding plant sold as a geranium. That plant is a Pelargonium, not a true geranium. Minnesota Extension puts Pelargonium × hortorum on its deer-resistant annuals table and calls it a cemetery plant: 12 to 18 inches, tough, drought-resistant. Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County’s Master Gardener survey listed zonal geranium among plants rarely or never eaten. Iowa State, compiling Rutgers, Cornell, and Michigan State, is harsher: Pelargonium spp. sit in the occasionally severely damaged annuals column, the same column as petunias and pansies.
True hardy geraniums — cranesbill, genus Geranium — are a different plant. Iowa State files Geranium spp. as occasionally damaged perennials. Rutgers rates Geranium endressii D, frequently severely damaged. The word “geranium” on a six-pack is not the plant on a perennial tag.
This page is the geranium answer. Shade-bed candy is hostas. The rest of the planting list lives on the deer-proof garden hub. Wild browse, not porch pots, is what deer eat.
| Plant | Two genera sold as “geranium.” Bedding / zonal / ivy / scented types are Pelargonium (tender annuals). Hardy cranesbill is Geranium (perennial). Iowa State: annual geraniums are not true geraniums. |
|---|---|
| Verdict | Zonal Pelargonium: rarely eaten in Minnesota and Cornell surveys; occasionally damaged on Iowa State’s compiled list. Hardy Geranium: occasionally damaged, with at least one Rutgers D species. Not hosta candy. Not proof. |
| University rating | Minnesota: Pelargonium × hortorum on the resistant table. Cornell Westchester: zonal geranium rarely or never eaten. Iowa State (July 2022): both genera occasionally damaged. Rutgers: Geranium endressii D. UGA Circular 985 does not put geranium on the protect-these list that includes petunia, pansy, hosta, and impatiens. |
| What they eat, when | New shoots and flower clusters after May transplant, then blooms until frost. Dawn and dusk raids match deer feeding times. Bedding plants die at the first hard frost, so they are not a winter browse problem. |
| Where it is worst | Unfenced pots at rail height in high-density suburbs. Ivy types trailing over a 4-foot porch rail sit in the browse zone. G. endressii in a northern-New-Jersey perennial border is the Rutgers exception. |
| Official sheets | Iowa State — deer damage · Minnesota — white-tailed deer damage · Rutgers deer-resistance list · Iowa State — growing annual geraniums |
Two plants, one common name
Iowa State’s annual-geranium sheet (last reviewed March 2024) is the ID you need before you read a deer list. Common garden or zonal types are Pelargonium × hortorum. Many have a dark horseshoe band — the “zone” — on the leaf. Flowers come in large clusters: red, burgundy, pink, salmon, orange, white. Ivy types (P. peltatum) trail. Scented types are grown for leaf oils — lemon, rose, peppermint, nutmeg, apple — not for the bloom.
True geraniums are hardy cranesbills. Iowa’s perennial sheet (June 2023) puts about 300 species in the genus, including Geranium maculatum, a woodland native in Iowa. Fruit looks like a crane’s bill. G. macrorrhizum is the resinous, aromatic groundcover many lists mean when they say “hardy geranium.” Flower shape is the field split: pelargonium blooms have two upper petals different from three lower petals; true geranium blooms have five similar petals. A nursery tag that says “deer-resistant geranium” is not a rating until you know the genus.
What they eat, and when
A zonal geranium in Iowa goes out after frost — mid-to-late May — into full sun, at least six hours. New growth is tender, fertilized, and sitting at 12 to 18 inches, Minnesota’s listed height and well inside a standing deer’s mouth. If a herd samples it, they take flower clusters first, then leaves. The foliage is slightly fuzzy and smells sharp when crushed. That is the defense, not a toxin like the lycorine in daffodils.
Ivy geraniums in a hanging basket help only if the basket hangs above the browse line. A porch-rail basket at four feet is still in range. Minnesota notes deer can clear as much as 12 feet when motivated; how high a deer can jump is why an 8-foot woven-wire fence is the number on the damage pages. The first hard frost kills outdoor pelargoniums. Iowa’s overwintering options are potting up, cuttings, or bare-root storage at 45–55 °F. After that freeze there is no geranium left for a hungry January deer. Hardy cranesbill is the winter plant: a low mound that can take a late-winter nibble when fat reserves are lowest.
Deer damage vs rabbits vs budworm
Minnesota’s identification page is the field test. Deer have no upper incisors. They grasp and rip. Remaining stems look ragged, often well above rabbit height, with split-heart hoof prints and pellet groups in the mulch. A whole flower cluster missing overnight on a 16-inch zonal is deer. Rabbits leave a clean 45-degree cut, usually within a foot of the ground. Tactics live on how to keep rabbits from eating plants.
Do not blame deer for ragged buds with no torn stems. Iowa State lists geranium budworm — tobacco budworm — as a regular pest on pelargoniums. The caterpillar chews buds and petals. Aphids, four-lined plant bugs, and slugs take leaves without leaving hoof prints. Bacterial leaf spot (Xanthomonas pelargonii) drops lower leaves in warm, wet crowds. That is disease, not browse.
Where the ratings disagree
Minnesota’s resistant table includes zonal geranium, marigold, blue salvia, and wax begonia. Petunia is not on it — which is why the petunia page tells you to swap. Cornell Westchester put Pelargonium × hortorum with marigold and flowering tobacco in the rarely-eaten annuals. Iowa State’s compiled list (July 2022) puts both Pelargonium and hardy Geranium in the occasionally-damaged column. A well-fed rural deer skips zonals; a suburban doe with fawns in a New Jersey cul-de-sac will sample them. Rutgers’ current list is built from northern-New-Jersey nursery people, NJAES staff, and Master Gardeners — the same high-density white-tailed deer suburbs where hostas disappear. On that list, Geranium endressii is a D plant.
UGA Circular 985 (full review February 1, 2016) lists petunia, pansy, hosta, impatiens, and rose among plants deer occasionally or frequently browse. Geranium is not on that protect-these table, and it is not on UGA’s “annuals deer rarely browse” table either. Georgia is silent. Read that as “not a documented favorite,” not as a guarantee for an Atlanta woods-edge pot.
Scented-leaf types are the ones people mean when they say geraniums smell like a defense. Iowa State: oils release when leaves are rubbed, brushed, or crushed. The widely sold “mosquito geranium” smells like citronella when you touch it. Iowa is blunt: because the oil is only released on contact, plants sitting on a patio do not repel mosquitoes. They also do not build a scent wall that saves the pansies you parked next to them.
What works
Plant the right genus first. For summer color in an unfenced sunny bed, zonal or scented Pelargonium is a better bet than petunia or pansy. For a perennial groundcover, pick an aromatic cranesbill such as G. macrorrhizum, not G. endressii. Then treat pressure as the real variable. Deck pots that deer will not climb survive; rail boxes do not. If your street already loses hostas, Minnesota’s woven-wire standard is at least 8 feet. A 50-inch micro-exclosure only a few feet on a side can also work, because deer dislike stepping into a tight box. Details sit on how to keep deer out of the garden. Egg-based repellent belongs on a schedule, not as a substitute for plant choice. Minnesota’s realistic bar is a 50 percent cut in browse as success; 30 percent is more typical if you only spray. Which bottles last is on organic deer repellent.
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What does not work
A tag that says “deer-resistant geranium” without a genus. Surrounding a Wave petunia bed with zonals and expecting the scent to save the petunias. The “mosquito geranium” as insect control. Hair in bags, bar soap on stakes, mothballs, and ultrasonic gadgets — Minnesota lists hair, soap, mothballs, and bone tar as untested home remedies. A 4-foot picket around a 16-inch plant is theater. Feeding the herd to “distract” them trains them to the property; what to feed backyard deer is the page that says don’t.
Do not confuse pet safety with deer defense. The ASPCA lists Pelargonium species as toxic to dogs, cats, and horses (geraniol and linalool; vomiting, anorexia, depression, dermatitis). That is a porch-pet fact. It is not why deer skip the plant, and it is not a reason to call the foliage “highly toxic to deer.”
Three substitutes that already have pages
- Marigolds — Iowa State: seldom severely damaged. Minnesota puts Tagetes on the same resistant annuals table as zonal geranium.
- Salvia — Iowa State: seldom damaged. Minnesota lists blue salvia (Salvia farinacea) with the resistant annuals.
- Lavender — on Minnesota’s and Iowa’s rarely-eaten lists. Same full sun a zonal wants, without the frost-kill.
Peonies cover the June perennial slot. The short flower shortlist is what flowers deer do not eat. Annual color without a six-pack of zonals is on deer-resistant annuals. Hardy cranesbill belongs on the deer-resistant perennials list — with the Rutgers endressii caveat, not as a blanket genus.
Related plants in the same yard
If deer found the geraniums, they have already walked the rest of the sunny strip. Petunias and pansies in the same Iowa column go first. Hostas go in the shade. Dahlias have no fuzzy leaf and no lavender-level scent; treat them as unprotected food on a street that already loses hostas. Do not cage one zonal and leave a hosta bed next to it. Layout and cost comparisons are on how to keep deer from eating plants. Why the same animals keep looping your yard is the deer as pests page.
FAQ
Are scented geraniums more deer-proof than zonals?
Usually the safer Pelargonium, because the leaf oils are stronger and the foliage is often hairier. Iowa State still files the whole genus as occasionally damaged. No university list we cite rates rose-scented P. graveolens or lemon P. crispum as a separate, safer grade than a red zonal.
Will geraniums grow back after deer eat them?
Zonal and ivy types can push new blooms if enough stem remains — Iowa already wants you to deadhead spent clusters. They are tender annuals in most of the United States. A plant eaten to stubs in July is done for the year. Hardy cranesbill can resprout from the crown.
Do hanging baskets keep deer off ivy geraniums?
Only above the browse line, on a structure a deer cannot stand on. A railing basket is a snack.
Which hardy geranium should I actually plant?
Start with aromatic Geranium macrorrhizum (Iowa recommends ‘Ingwersen’s Variety’) or a compact G. × cantabrigiense such as ‘Biokovo’. Skip G. endressii where Rutgers would call it a D plant. Native G. maculatum is Iowa’s woodland species; it is a spring ephemeral in shade, not a summer bedding swap.
Sources
- Iowa State Extension — Susceptibility of Plants to Deer Damage (Pelargonium spp. occasionally damaged, annuals; Geranium spp. occasionally damaged, perennials; sources include Rutgers, Cornell, Michigan State; last reviewed July 2022)
- Iowa State Extension — Growing Annual Geraniums (genus split; zonal / ivy / scented; mid-to-late May plant date; 6 hours of sun; mosquito geranium oil only on contact; budworm; overwintering 45–55 °F; last reviewed March 2024)
- Iowa State Extension — Growing Perennial Geraniums in Iowa (~300 species; G. maculatum native; cranesbill fruit; G. macrorrhizum; last reviewed June 2023)
- University of Minnesota Extension — White-tailed deer damage (Pelargonium × hortorum on the resistant-plant table, 12–18 in., “cemetery plant”; torn vs 45-degree cuts; 8-foot fence; 12-foot jump; reviewed 2026)
- Cornell Cooperative Extension Westchester — Resistance of Annuals, Biennials, Perennials, Groundcovers, and Vines to Deer Damage (Pelargonium × hortorum rarely or never eaten)
- Rutgers NJAES — Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance (Geranium endressii: frequently severely damaged — D; no plant is deer-proof)
- UGA Extension Circular 985 — Deer-Tolerant Ornamental Plants (geranium absent from the occasionally/frequently browsed protect-these list; full review Feb. 1, 2016)
- ASPCA — Geranium (Pelargonium species) (toxic to dogs, cats, horses; geraniol, linalool)
This is a child of the deer-proof garden guide. Wild browse, not the porch pot, is on what deer eat.
