Updated on September 7, 2026. Ratings below are from university deer-browse lists, not a nursery tag. Confirm your local herd pressure before you buy a flat of Wave petunias for an unfenced bed.
Verdict
Yes. Deer eat petunias. They are not “deer candy” on the level of hostas or tulips, and they are not resistant. Iowa State Extension, compiling Rutgers, Cornell, and Michigan State surveys, lists Petunia spp. as occasionally severely damaged. University of Georgia Extension puts them on the “occasionally or frequently browse — protection recommended” list. Minnesota’s deer-resistant annuals table includes marigold, zonal geranium, blue salvia, and wax begonia. Petunia is not on it. A Wave carpet at six inches is a buffet both deer and rabbits can reach without standing up. For color they usually skip, use the deer-proof garden hub and the deer-resistant annuals list — not a petunia labeled “tough.”
Petunia browse facts
| Item | What to know | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Plant | Garden petunia is Petunia × atkinsiana (often sold as P. hybrida), a South American nightshade related to tobacco. That family tie does not make it deer-proof. | USDA PLANTS — Petunia × atkinsiana |
| Deer rating | Occasionally severely damaged. Needs a fence or a cage in real deer country. | Iowa State — susceptibility of plants to deer damage |
| Southeast | Listed with hosta, impatiens, pansy, and rose as plants deer occasionally or frequently browse. | UGA Extension Circular 985 |
| Minnesota | Not on the deer-resistant annuals list. Marigold, geranium, and blue salvia are. | UMN — white-tailed deer damage |
| Penn State | Resistant-plant options for PA landscapes include snapdragon, flowering tobacco, marigold, and scented geranium. Petunia is not on that list. | Penn State — ornamentals and deer |
| What they eat | Colored corollas first, then leaves and stems. Wave types sit at browse height all season. | UMN petunia diagnostic, below |
| Peak window | May–July after transplant; drought later sends deer back to irrigated pots. | UMN — spring browse |
| Last checked | September 7, 2026 | — |
What part they eat, and when
Deer pinch a flowering stem and tear it. The trumpet goes first because it is tender and full of water. A grandiflora with 4- to 5-inch blooms (Rutgers: those large flowers also shred in rain) can look deadheaded overnight. Spreading / Wave types stay about six inches tall and run four feet or more — a ground-cover snack at rabbit height and deer height.
Hanging baskets help only above the browse line. A porch-rail basket at four feet is still in range; a hook at six to seven feet on a wall a deer cannot stand under is the version that works. They will put front hooves on a deck step. Minnesota Extension notes deer can clear as much as 12 feet when motivated, which is why an 8-foot woven-wire fence is the number on the damage pages — see how high a deer can jump.
If they take flowers and leave foliage, cut remaining stems back by about half (the Rutgers cut for leggy plants) and they can push new blooms. Stubs in July heat are done for the year. Garden petunias are tender annuals in most of the United States. There is no underground crown waiting for next spring in Zone 5.
Deer damage vs rabbit damage
University of Minnesota’s petunia diagnostic splits this because both animals eat the same plant:
- Rabbit: tops cut off at a clean 45-degree angle, low to the ground, pea-sized pellets. Tactics: how to keep rabbits from eating plants.
- Deer: the same missing tops, but the stem is ragged. Deer have no upper incisors; they grasp and tear. Cloven prints, larger pellets. Browse can sit above two feet on a basket or window box.
- Slug / hornworm: holes in leaves, or a plant skeletonized in July–September with no torn stubs. Tomato hornworm is a Solanaceae pest on petunias the same way it is on tomatoes. That is insects, not deer.
Wave petunias get rabbits first. Hanging baskets get deer. A mixed bed of petunias and pansies gets both — Iowa State puts both in the “occasionally damaged” annuals column with impatiens.
Region
This is a suburban eastern and midwestern problem more than a national-forest problem. High-density whitetail towns — New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Michigan, northern Virginia, the Twin Cities collar — are where a flat disappears in one night. Georgia Extension put petunias on the browse list for the same reason Atlanta yards get hit. Irrigated Front Range mule-deer towns will eat them too. Wild diet is still browse, mast, and agriculture; that menu is on what do deer eat. A Wave petunia is a fertilized, watered annual at the edge of a woodlot, which is why deer as pests sits next to this page.
The nightshade mix-up
Garden petunias are Solanaceae. So is flowering tobacco (Nicotiana). Gardeners hear “nightshade” and assume the plant is toxic enough to skip. Rutgers rates flowering tobacco A — rarely damaged. Iowa State puts Nicotiana with the rarely-damaged annuals. Petunia does not get that grade. Nicotine in Nicotiana is the defense; a hybrid grown for a soft, wet corolla does not carry it at a useful level. For the hanging-basket look without the raid, use flowering tobacco or snapdragon from deer-resistant annuals and flowers deer don’t eat.
What works
Physical exclusion first. Minnesota is blunt: a 50 percent cut in browse is a success; 30 percent is more typical if you only spray. For a petunia bed that is the whole show, that is not enough.
- Fence the bed, not the cultivar. Eight-foot woven wire around a small cutting garden works. A 50-inch micro-exclosure only a few feet on a side can also work because deer dislike stepping into a tight box. Details and heights are on how to keep deer out of the garden.
- Hang them honestly high. Baskets on a second-story hook, or on a wall a deer cannot stand under, survive. Baskets on a 4-foot porch rail do not.
- Egg-based repellent on a schedule. Putrescent egg solids are the ingredient Minnesota and most extension pages still take seriously. Spray before the first browse, reapply after rain, and rotate products so the deer do not habituate. Which formulas hold up is on organic deer repellent.
- Do not plant Wave types as unfenced groundcover in deer country. That habit is the whole plant at mouth height from May to frost.
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What does not work
Hair in bags, bar soap on stakes, wind chimes, ultrasonic gadgets, and a 4-foot picket fence. Minnesota lists hair, soap, mothballs, and bone tar as untested home remedies. Deer habituate to noise and lights. A ring of lavender around an unfenced Wave bed does not save the petunias. There is no deer-resistant petunia cultivar worth betting a bed on. Calibrachoa (million bells) is a related genus some Mid-Atlantic lists treat as less palatable. We do not have a child URL for it, and it is not a Rutgers A-list plant. Treat it as maybe better, not proof.
Three substitutes that already have pages
- Marigolds — Iowa State: seldom severely damaged. Minnesota puts Tagetes on the resistant annuals table and notes the foliage odor. Still not proof against a starved winter deer, which is why that page is “sometimes,” not “never.”
- Zonal geraniums (Pelargonium × hortorum) — on Minnesota’s resistant list and Cornell’s rarely-eaten annuals. Iowa State is harsher (occasionally damaged). Scented types are the ones Penn State actually recommends.
- Salvia — Iowa State: seldom damaged. Minnesota lists blue salvia (Salvia farinacea) with the resistant annuals. Same sun, same season-long color, much less likely to be stripped.
If the bed is shade, skip petunias anyway (they want about six hours of sun) and use the shade annuals on the resistant-annuals page — wax begonia is the one Minnesota names. Lavender is the perennial wall, not an annual swap.
FAQ
Are Wave petunias more deer-resistant than grandifloras?
No. Habit makes them worse. Spreading types stay low, so every bloom is in the browse zone. Grandifloras in a truly high basket can outlast them. Height is the difference, not flower chemistry.
Will petunias grow back after deer eat them?
Only if enough stem remains, and only this season. They are tender annuals in most states. Stubs in July: replant. Do not wait for a second flush from a crown that is not there.
Do hanging baskets keep deer off petunias?
Only above the browse line, on a structure a deer cannot stand on. A railing basket is a snack.
What should I plant instead for summer color?
Marigold, zonal geranium, blue salvia, flowering tobacco, snapdragon, wax begonia. The shortlist is flowers deer don’t eat.
Sources
- Iowa State Extension — Susceptibility of Plants to Deer Damage
- UGA Extension Circular 985 — Deer-Tolerant Ornamental Plants
- UMN Extension — White-tailed deer damage
- UMN — Petunia leaves chewed
- Penn State Extension — Ornamentals and Deer
- Rutgers NJAES — Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance
- Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County, Resistance of Annuals … to Deer Damage (Master Gardener survey)
This article is part of the Deer-Proof Garden Guide. Wild diet — not the hanging basket — is what deer eat.
