The 11 Best Rabbit Resistant Annuals to Grow

By Calin Oancea

4/28/20246 min read

Are you looking to maintain your amazing flower beds and landscape without worrying about rabbit damage?

In this straightforward and no-fluff article, we will reveal the 11 best rabbit-resistant annual plants which are also resistant to other animals like deer, so you will succeed with maintaining your green space. We will also go through their features and what we learned after growing and inspecting them all.

Here are the 6 best annual plants that are rabbit resistant that we like most out of this entire list:

  • Marigolds

  • Snapdragons

  • Ageratum

  • Cleome

  • Lantana

  • Vinca

green design
green design
dark green design
dark green design
a rabbit resistant annual with purple flowers
a rabbit resistant annual with purple flowers
multiple flowers on a Geranium annual
multiple flowers on a Geranium annual

Geranium

  • Height: 30-60 cm (12-24 in)

  • Color Varieties: Pink, red, white, purple

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; well-drained soil

Geraniums are popular for their bright, cheerful blooms and their ability to deter rabbits with their strongly scented leaves. We saw that these annuals perform well in both containers and hanging planters.

dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
multiple Daffodil flowers in our garden
multiple Daffodil flowers in our garden
  • Height: 30-50 cm (12-20 in)

  • Color Varieties: Yellow, white, orange

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade; well-drained soil

Daffodils are not only beautiful spring plants, but their bulbs contain compounds that are toxic to rabbits and other mammals, effectively deterring them. After we had grown them in our garden we experienced that the rabbit-resistant plants are perfect for naturalizing in lawns or planting in clusters within garden beds.

green design
green design
green design
green design

Daffodil

Ageratum rabbit resistant annuals with purple flowers
Ageratum rabbit resistant annuals with purple flowers
  • Height: 15-50 cm (6-20 in)

  • Color Varieties: Blue, white, pink

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade, well-drained soil

With its fluffy clusters of flowers, we saw that Ageratum also emits a scent that rabbits find unpleasant. This full sun annual plant is resistant and great for edging paths and filling in flower bed gaps.

green design
green design
green design
green design

Ageratum

green design
green design
a lantana plant with a bunch of colorful blooms
a lantana plant with a bunch of colorful blooms
dark green design
dark green design

Lantana

  • Height: 30-150 cm (1-5 ft)

  • Color Varieties: Multicolor (yellow, pink, orange, red, purple)

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Lantana is known for its colorful, clustered flowers and ability to withstand hot, sunny environments. We experienced that rabbits and other animals like deer typically avoid it due to its pungent smell, it is also toxic so be careful when planting annual plants like this.

dark green design
dark green design
green design
green design
a bunch of pink Cleome blooms in garden beds
a bunch of pink Cleome blooms in garden beds

Cleome

  • Height: 90-150 cm (3-5 ft)

  • Color Varieties: Pink, white, purple

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun; well-drained soil

Cleome is a thriller plant or deer-resistant shrub for containers that is commonly known as spider flower. We found that its height makes it an excellent background thriller plant for baskets and larger pods in mixed floral arrangements but it is also a great deer-resistant bush to grow in your containers.

dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
a small Marigold bush with orange flowers
a small Marigold bush with orange flowers

Marigolds

  • Height: 30-60 cm (12-24 in)

  • Color Varieties: Yellow, orange, red

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Marigolds are not just vibrant and easy to grow, but their scent is a natural deterrent for rabbits. Planting them around the garden perimeter or interspersed with vegetables at the right time can help protect more vulnerable plants from rabbits.

dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
a Vinca shade annual with purple flowers
a Vinca shade annual with purple flowers

Vinca

  • Height: 30-50 cm (12-20 in)

  • Color Varieties: Pink, white, red

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Vinca is one of our absolute favorite annuals for shade and ground cover plants that offer glossy foliage and starry flowers, which provide continuous color throughout the summer. Its low-growing structure and deeply connected steams make it rabbit-resistant.

dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design

Snapdragons

  • Height: 20-90 cm (8-36 in)

  • Color Varieties: Wide range of colors

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun to partial shade, moist, well-drained soil

Snapdragons feature tall, majestic spikes of brightly colored flowers that we saw are generally ignored by rabbits. We also concluded that these rabbit deterrent flowers are ideal for adding height and color to the garden in cooler seasons.

one Snapdragon rabbit resistant annual with colorful flowers
one Snapdragon rabbit resistant annual with colorful flowers
green design
green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
purple and rabbit resistant Salvia plants
purple and rabbit resistant Salvia plants

Salvia

  • Height: 30-90 cm (12-36 in)

  • Color Varieties: Blue, purple, red, white

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

After inspecting and growing Salvia in our growing lab we found that its spiky blooms and aromatic foliage make it unappealing to rabbits. It thrives in full sun and adds a bold pop of color to beds and borders.

dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design

Dusty Miller

  • Height: 15-30 cm (6-12 in)

  • Color Varieties: Silver foliage

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Dusty Miller has a beautiful silvery-gray foliage that adds contrast to flower arrangements and is generally avoided by rabbits. It is toxic to humans and to pets and fits as a raised bed plant.

a Dusty Miller plant with a gray foliage
a Dusty Miller plant with a gray foliage
green design
green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
an orange Zinnia flower which is rabbit resistant
an orange Zinnia flower which is rabbit resistant

Zinnia

  • Height: 30-90 cm (12-36 in)

  • Color Varieties: Wide range of bright colors

  • Growing Conditions: Full sun, well-drained soil

Zinnias have vivid, long-lasting blooms and their ability to deter rabbits, making them perfect for sunny borders. These annuals that are rabbit resistant are native to North Americas dry grasslands.

dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
dark green design
Calin Oancea
Calin Oancea
Green Box
Green Box

Article By:

Calin is a gardening specialist knows a lot about gardening and plants. He is the founder of this website and is responsible for most of the content.

Reviewed By:

Florin, a more technical guy, is responsible for the design, reviewing the articles and making improvements, and optimizing for SEO so that everything we publish looks deam good.