Any annual flowers the animals won't eat? Gardening Q&A with George Weigel (2024)

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Angelonia is one type of annual flower that animals usually don't eat.

(George Weigel)

Q: I planted begonias this spring, and some animal dug up and ate almost all of them. Can you tell me which annual flowers are the least appealing to animals?

A: That's pretty frustrating. And common. A variety of "yard animals" like the tender tastiness of young annuals, especially rabbits but also deer, voles, chipmunks and groundhogs.

The difficult part is that not all of those prefer the same diet. Even the same animal, say rabbits, seem to favor different plants in different yards.

Begonia is a species, for example, that rabbits usually don't favor. I can get away with growing them in my yard, but I seldom can keep a pansy intact for 5 minutes without it ending up as rabbit dessert.

My rabbits also seem to like petunias, scaevola, verbena and occasionally rudbeckia and dusty miller.

Groundhogs seem to be more interested in perennials, especially coneflowers and rudbeckia, but I've seen them chew off young annual sunflowers.

Deer also tend to pick on young shrubs and perennials, especially hosta and daylilies – although they'll eat anything if they're hungry enough and nothing better is around.

Voles and chipmunks are more nibblers and usually seem to pick on the same kind of annuals that rabbits like.

For what it's worth, here are annuals that usually don't get eaten by animals, both in my yard and from what I've heard from other gardeners: alyssum, angelonia, blue salvia, browallia, celosia, coleus, euphorbia, geranium, lantana, heliotrope, marigolds (occasionally rabbits), mecardonia, melampodium, nicotiana, pentas, New Guinea impatiens, vinca, calibrachoa and zinnia.