Plants That Groundhogs Will Avoid

Ageratum

Flossflower (Ageratum houstonianum) is an annual beloved by admirers of blue flowers. But it offers more than just good looks. It is valued by Americans as the blue element in red-white-and-blue planting combinations for patriotic holidays (blue being the most challenging color to furnish in creating this combination).

Bleeding Heart

Bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis) is one of the prettiest perennial flowers you can grow. Its arching stems are lined with the whimsically-shaped flowers that give it its name. Related plants are fringed bleeding heart (Dicentra eximia) and Dutchman's breeches (Dicentra cucullaria). Plants commonly bloom in red, pink, and white. The fact that these must-have specimens are also plants that groundhogs don't eat is simply a bonus.

Butterfly Weed

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is another plant that's useful as well as attractive. It's a key ingredient in butterfly gardens. A type of milkweed plant, this perennial flower can serve as a host to the caterpillars of monarch butterflies. In addition, swallowtails are drawn to the nectar produced by its gorgeous orange flowers. Another plant with orange flowers that woodchucks won't damage is avens (Geum).

Foxglove

As if its colorful, bell-shaped flowers weren't enough reason to grow foxglove (Digitalis), this plant will attract hummingbirds to the garden, too. Its major drawback is that it's too poisonous to grow if kids, pets, or animals will be around it, though. Flowers come in a number of colors, including yellow.

Larkspur

A stately perennial that most commonly bears purple, white, or blue flowers (with the occasional pink), larkspur (Delphinium) is another useful plant for drawing butterflies to the yard. It's also the ideal plant to grow at the back of a flower border, given its impressive height (some can reach 7 feet tall). Groundhogs may nibble here and there in a bed of larkspurs, but larkspur is toxic to animals, so they will learn to stay away.

Lavender

Pests often won't bother plant parts that have strong smells. Many herbs have vegetation and/or leaves that smell wonderful to humans but that pests find repellent. Lavender (Lavandula) is such an herb. Harvest those fragrant stems and lavender-colored flowers that the groundhogs conveniently avoided all summer and use them in potpourris for your home in winter.

Lily-of-the-Valley

Lily-of-the-valley has fragrant, white blooms and is so cold-hardy that even gardeners in USDA zone 2 can grow it as a perennial. But it is also invasive and toxic to animals. Its toxic nature is why groundhogs—and even deer and rabbit pests—leave it alone. If you can tolerate its drawbacks (and don't have pets), this is the kind of flowering ground cover that you can just plant somewhere and leave alone, as it is not fussy at all.

Sweet Alyssum

Like flossflower, sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima) is an annual flower and a popular bedding plant. It stays short, so it's useful as a ground cover for the summer months. It's also aromatic, long-blooming, and low-maintenance. Types with pink or purple flowers are available, but most gardeners grow the white-flowering kind.

Yarrow

Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) has fragrant, feathery foliage. The smell is what keeps it off the list of groundhogs' favorite foods, although they do occasionally eat them. Pink, red, white, and yellow are the most common flower colors.

Yarrow is a tough enough plant to naturalize in some areas. This quality, along with its showy, flattened clusters of flowers and delicate leaves, makes yarrow a popular edging plant.

Hellebores

Whether it is Helleborus niger (Christmas rose) or Helleborus orientalis (Lenten rose), the common names reveal one reason why we love hellebores so much: They bloom at times when there may be little else flowering in the garden. Adding to their value is how resistant to pests they are.

There are probably two reasons why groundhogs avoid hellebores:

• They are toxic.
• Both their sepals and leaves are tough rather than tender, making them unpalatable.

Flowers and Vegetables That Groundhogs Commonly Eat

A basic tenet of integrated pest management is to take the path of least resistance wherever possible. In this case, that means growing plants that groundhogs don't eat. Unfortunately, sometimes we're determined to grow something that pests are just as determined to devour.

People gardening in groundhog territory who refuse to restrict their plant selection to what groundhogs don’t eat must compensate by being vigilant. Whenever they detect signs of groundhog damage, they must take measures to control these pests immediately, or else they'll soon find their gardens in shambles.

If you grow only flowers in your landscape, you'll probably have less trouble with groundhogs than do people who grow vegetables. Still, there are some perennial flowers that groundhogs are known to eat. These include, in addition to black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta):

• New England aster (Symphyotrichum novae-angliae)
• Bellflower (Campanula)

But vegetable gardeners usually bear the brunt of woodchuck attacks. The pests commonly eat the following vegetables:

• Beans
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Cauliflower
• Collard greens
• Corn
• Cucumbers
• Kale
• Kohlrabi
• Lettuce
• Peas
• Squash
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes