At my house... the only thing that keeps deer out of the garden is a fence.
I've tried everything, including butchering them in the garden...

Planting stuff to repel them is a nice idea, but is strictly a fantasy.

I blogged on plants that they won't eat, and I would be very surprised if any of y'alls deer eat the plants I mention.

I agree that in most situations a fence is needed, but depending on your property, it may not need to be 7 feet all around. We have stretches of areas where the fence is only around 5-6 feet, but the deer won't jump it. (We think the issue there has to do with low lying tree branches, but there is one stretch where they could jump, but don't.)

What we are currently discovering (my conclusion may prove wrong come this fall, but we'll see) is that strategically placed deer fence or wire 7 foot fence and gates (along high deer traffic routes), in combination with water blaster gadgets (for those spots on the deer routes/entry points that can't be fenced, such as our creek) is highly effective. The incidence of eaten plants has dropped almost to zero since we did this. (The little that is being eaten (a bloom here or there), I am not sure is being done by deer; in the past the deer have gone way beyond eating just one or two flowers.)

Re your plant list, I can vouch that the deer leave the canna, salvia, and lantana alone. They don't eat the dahlias here, ditto Argyranthemum, Scabiosa, Bidens, Heuchera and daffodils. I have found that while they may browse Stachys and Gaura early in the season, they mostly leave them alone.

Daylilies, though, are deer salad...both foliage and flower buds. (Normally by this time of year, many of the daylilies that aren't individually fenced would be cropped down to just a few inches. Since I am not seeing any new cropping, that is another indication to me that we are now (mostly, if not entirely) keeping the deer out. But again, come deer rutting season, I may be proved wrong.)

I agree that a fence is the best deterrent. The funny part, for me, even a fence that is really not all that sturdy works, if the deer sense that there is really no place to land if they jump it. My fence at the top of the slope is held up by wishful thinking. I don't have the time or money to pay someone else to put in new posts, so I just kind of propped them up. The deer don't even bump into the fence, even those with large racks.

Someday, I might do a better job of fixing the fence, but as long as it stays up, the deer believe it is a barrier. Town deer are trained to believe that stuff.

Smiles,
Lyn

Great ideas! What kind of fence do you have?

The fence at the top of the slope is the old fence the previous owners put up. It's just 4 x 4 s with hog wire. (No photos.) The posts were leaning every which way, so I just braced them so that they are almost straight and patched the wire with some chicken wire. I had a lot of deferred maintenance to do on the house when I first purchased it, so I just hoped that would do the job for a while. That's where the wishful thinking comes into play

For my first deer fence down on one of the street beds, I just used reclaimed pipes for the post and whatever wire I could find:




Unfortunately, I underestimated how large the rose was going to grow and anything that grew through the fence was eaten by the deer.

This year, I used some scavenged t-posts and wire given to me by a friend to make a larger deer cage. My friend put it up for me. There is no way I could have done it myself. The rose doesn't show any blooms because at the time this photo was taken I was disbudding all of my roses to keep rose curculio weevils from breeding in the garden.






The reason both fences work is that the deer cannot see a good place to land if they try to jump the fence.

For another bed which runs along the front of my house, I caged the whole bed using the t-posts and old wire. I cut some "gates" on the lawn side, so that I can get down into the bed and work on the roses.






The other side of the bed ... please ignore the weeds, I hadn't gotten to that part of cleaning up the beds when I took this photo.






The fun part is watching the deer walk back and forth on the lawn looking at the roses and it is just high enough that they can't reach over, but wow ! are they tempted.

Smiles,
Lyn

Looks good, seems like you can barely see it from the street. I mean it does not stick out like a sore thumb yet very effective!

Thanks.

Those roses were deer-pruned for several years, but now I have them coming back. I have a hunch they are going to out grow the bed, but I'd be quite happy to see that.

I am not fencing the lower tier and plan to clean it up and plant more deer resistant plants. Everything has to be tested before planting because it seems like my deer simply cannot read the deer resistant lists and seem to eat everything that I do not think of as a weed. They allow the weeds to flourish.

Smiles,
Lyn

I am surprised they eat roses because of the thorns! Wouldn't it be nice if they could read, then all you would have to do is put up a sign. LOL.

When I lived out in the country and had 4.5 acres I NEVER had a lick of trouble with the deer. I had three active dogs at the time and I'm sure that helped. The whole property was fenced. The deer would jump the fence. But they NEVER stopped to eat, just passed right on through. Moles were my big problem. Rabbits a tiny bit of trouble but their populations were kept in check with the coyotes and my dogs.

But here in the burbs the deer and rabbits are so trying!! The rabbits all year and the deer only in winter. But I bought a giant jug of Plantskyd for winter (hubby won't let me use it in summer because he is afraid it will attract too many flies).

Currently I have a skunk that is causing trouble in my iris. S/he is digging in the center of the clumps. Breaking the leaves at the base. But they are large clumps so I think they will be fine. But I'm not happy about the lingering smell!

Wonder why she is digging so much. Hang a air freshener that is shaped like a tree, I have one in my car and I think they are stronger than a skunk!. Maybe she will be offended by something that smells good. LOL...

Wow.. I'm.glad that I don't have your skunk problem. (We *do* have them in the neighborhood; I saw a couple in our yard when we first moved in, and our neighbor's dogs have gotten skunked. We do have a dog now (since late February), but no skunking. *fingers crossed*)

I'm sad to say that the - or at least, "a" - deer is definitely back. Some of the daylilies in the Back 40 (across the creek) were chomped down to the ground. On our patio, the flowers on one Pelargonium, the foliage on one potted daylily, and all of the remaining buds on another ('Dancy Nancy', which was in bloom ) are gone.

We're not sure at this point where the deer is coming in from. I found a trail camera on sale online, so I ordered that and am going to put it up at the suspected entry points (creek ends, chain link fence along the back property line) to see if we can catch her/him/them in the act. Since I just have the one camera, I'll have to rotate it (a week at one creek end, a week at the back hillside, a week at the other creek end). Hopefully we can figure out the entry point, and hopefully we can do something about it. (If from the creek, it will have to be more water blaster gadgets, or else adjust the ones we have. If at the chain link fence...well... we can always add something along the top, though I hate to think about that.)

Dratted deer!

(At least that camera should come in handy once the deer problem is solved (if ever). We sometimes get racoons in the side yard; before calling out the exterminator it would be helpful to confirm their presence. On the other hand, the camera will doubtless show all of the rats invading there (our neighborhood is semi-rural and Rat Haven) which is not exactly something that I want to see.)

Since you have a dog and the neighbors have dogs, it would be wise to walk your fencing to make sure none of them have dug exits/entries under your fence. The only time I had a deer problem is when my neighbor's dog dug under the fence so he could get into my yard ... he was after my cat, which loved to tease him.

The deer found that with a little more effort they could get into the yard, too and discovered the roses. OMG, deer are very, very determined once they find something to eat that they love. I fought that dang doe for weeks because she kept finding new ways to get into the yard.

One time, I went after her with the hose and she went through the fence at the top of the slope. A major repair job at the time because I wasn't very good at fixing fences.

Funny, but not funny, one day my 3 lb cat chased her off ... he thinks he's a cougar. I've even seen him stalking deer. I haven't a clue as to what he would have done if he caught her, but it was sure funny to see him go after her.

Do you go down to your creek ? If not, there are several ways you can make it difficult for the deer to enter there and still have it look attractive, but they would make it difficult for you to get down to the creek. It's still fencing, but it can be covered with plant materials.

Smiles,
Lyn

@RoseBlush1

>>>>>>Funny, but not funny, one day my 3 lb cat chased her off ... he thinks he's a cougar. I've even seen him stalking deer. I haven't a clue as to what he would have done if he caught her, but it was sure funny to see him go after her.

Inexpensive, nearly invisible deer fence (email from Bluestone Perennials)

Greetings from Bluestone,

If you are dealing with deer – here is an idea you might wish to try: A nearly invisible fence made from fishing line. It is quick, easy, low cost, and it works! What's not to like?

My father has a vegetable garden in Michigan that was being pillaged by deer. He put up 6' green garden stakes about shoulder high every 25 to 30 feet apart. Next he ran fishing line at waist and shoulder heights, about 3' and 5'. He used clear monofilament line, however you can get green tinted if you wish. That was the end of his deer problem. Deer are very skittish and spook easily. They can't see the fishing line and panic when they bump into it. The result is "Feet don't fail me now".

Deer also can't turn by bending their bodies. Need a gate? Just overlap the fence by about 3' and leave yourself a narrow path between the sections. Smaller animals, (rabbits anyone?) will not be bothered by the fishing line so if they are also a problem then a low run of chicken wire or similar fencing will be necessary. My father uses 24" tall chicken wire and buries it 3" to 4" to discourage critters from tunneling under.

The end result allows you to enjoy your flowers, enjoy your view, and not have you feeding the neighborhood maurauders. Hope it works for you - this method has been a home run for my father!

Happy Gardening!

Sounds like a fairly simple solution -- I'll be curious to see if any of our deer-plagued folk give this a try. @Lauribob

From personal experience..... don't forget to close the gate.

Smiles,
Lyn

The result is "Feet don't fail me now".

I love the free humor they throw in, I would definitely use this method if I had a deer problem.