As a groundhog war veteran I can only tell you that nothing ever deters them. The only solution is to trap and relocate -- IF there is no rule against that where you live.
That said, here are a few plants they have not touched in my garden:

Astilbe, hibiscus, peonies, irises, thyme, lavender, day lilies, asiatic lilies, hosta, burning bush, roses, rhodys, azaleas, japanese maples, japanese blood grass, bee balm.

GL!

I'm happy to report we gave our three-year-old cat the run of the yard this year, starting in early spring, and she chased them off our property. I guess that's one way to relocate!

Welcome to Garden.org, @GardenNome !

Interesting that the groundhogs don't bother things like hostas and daylilies.

lovesblooms said:I'm happy to report we gave our three-year-old cat the run of the yard this year, starting in early spring, and she chased them off our property. I guess that's one way to relocate!

Envious! I had 2 barn cats, 2 indoor/outdoor kitties, 2 collies. One collie actually managed to catch up with Sir GH. We had to take the collie to the emergency vet with a bloody nose.

Weedwhacker said:Welcome to Garden.org, @GardenNome !

Thanks @weedwhacker! I am really enjoying this site.
Interesting that the groundhogs don't bother things like hostas and daylilies.

I am so glad there is *something* that survives these critters.

GardenNome said:

Envious! I had 2 barn cats, 2 indoor/outdoor kitties, 2 collies. One collie actually managed to catch up with Sir GH. We had to take the collie to the emergency vet with a bloody nose.

Ouch! We were afraid that would happen to our cat, too, because as soon as she got out she made their burrow her hideout (which is under the house, btw). This was in March, when they were probably still bleary eyed. Imagine waking up and staring into the glowing yellow eyes of your worst nightmare, lol. The element of surprise+predator/prey instinct=scared-witless groundhogs and a very self satisfied kitty...

Weedwhacker said:Welcome to Garden.org, @GardenNome !

Interesting that the groundhogs don't bother things like hostas and daylilies.

My groundhogs love daylilies and hostas and eat the iris roots in the winter. I guess it depends where you live. A groundhog will and have ate my entire hosta garden in one night I saw that on my night security camera..

Ground hogs? Our experience has been just the opposite. We sometimes saw lumber on the property as well as cutting firewood for our wood stove. We store a pile of logs a couple hundred feet from the house. Our groundhogs have lived under that pile for years and we usually have 4 or 5 offspring every year. They stay pretty close to that area and have never been in our garden. We just leave them alone. Moles and voles do a lot more damage here.

McCannon said:Ground hogs? Our experience has been just the opposite. We sometimes saw lumber on the property as well as cutting firewood for our wood stove. We store a pile of logs a couple hundred feet from the house. Our groundhogs have lived under that pile for years and we usually have 4 or 5 offspring every year. They stay pretty close to that area and have never been in our garden. We just leave them alone. Moles and voles do a lot more damage here.

My groundhogs are less nice than yours. Mine eat everything in the garden. I finally started live-trapping them and just dumping the cage in a large bin of water. If they won't leave my melons alone, I will solve that problem.

Maybe our groundhogs are a little more domesticated?

McCannon said:Maybe our groundhogs are a little more domesticated?

I little story. When I was about 14, my dad took me and my younger brother out hunting groundhogs. Today I would just leave them alone out in their wild field. But I was 14. Toward sunset, Dad gave a whistle to alarm the varmints. One stood up about 100 yards away. I shot at it. Dad said no it just dropped into its burrow I said no I think I got it.

So we all had to trek down there. I got it right between the eyes. It never even knew it was dead. I was proud of the shot, of course, but Dad said, you kill it, you eat it. Oh crap! I wasn't expecting that.

Dad did all the work preparing it, and we all had to eat some of it. Gamey, fatty, pork-like but stronger-tasting.

Hey, he brought US out hunting for them... When he was 92 and failing he lived with me for 2 years. I trapped a groundhog that was living under my shed and attacking my garden. I didn't make him eat it...

And it was probably tenderer then the one *I* had to eat.

We lost our last coyote a while back and THEN - the groundhogs moved in. Hundreds and thousands of them. They're everywhere. The cycle of life can sure be annoying sometimes! LOL!

The good news is - less dandelions. Apparently, they love 'em! And I don't know if it's related but we used to be overrun with rabbits (which are a little too lean for carnivores that have other options) but I haven't seen any in a while. And less ground squirrels. The tree squirrel population seems unaffected. We've never really had much in the way of mice or rats. Probably due to the snake population which seems pretty happy. Not many frogs out and about. They're pretty riotous in the more heavily wooded areas but you'd think we'd have a greater distribution as we have lots and lots of trees, all over, and a lake right in town...interesting. We have some pretty big turtles though. Not a big population, but pound for pound...

The groundhogs though...I don't know. Only time will tell, I suppose. Now that they're spread around town, I'm not even sure new coyotes would make any difference. There's plenty to eat and no real reason for them to wander around town, frightening the natives. Oh well! We'll see!