I have a woodland garden with plenty of deer and my Korean lilac hasn't been touched. Not to say your deer won't nibble, but.. The wild sumac around me is a favorite so I'm thinking any sumac would be a treat for them. As a matter of fact the mother deer that gave birth in my garden was enjoying the sumac the day before she surprised me with her newborn. My Weigela is at least 7yrs. old and going strong without a nibble. And I actually think if it were to get one or two tastes it would pull through. Also free from deer has been my hydrangea Pinky Winky, although I just planted it last year so it's still new. But it's next to the sumac, and the deer enjoyed the Rudbeckia's near it as well. So... Again, not to say your deer won't think your shrubs aren't tasty but these have been good for me.

First, I'm very sorry for this. I know how disappointing deer damage can be. It will be difficult to replace the bloom power of roses. If you were a zone warmer, I would have a few more ideas using long-blooming perennials such as salvia greggii, agastache, nepeta and perennial heliotrope. The low-growing buddleia 'Blue Chip' and 'Miss Ruby' would work in your zone and provide repeat bloom with some deadheading. Caryopteris is another one, but it will bloom in late summer and will look like sticks in the winter. 'Mini blue' is the shortest, I think. I have good luck with spirea, but the deer will do some sampling. Another deciduous shrub, so it won't provide interest in winter. Weigela may be an option. I've not tried it here (yet) to say if the deer will eat it. It is on many deer resistant lists. Cameron

bboy, while only a fence guarantees absolute security, I've gardened in deer country for many years, and am a garden consultant whose specialty is precisely that. Deer preferences do vary from area to area, but clearly certain plants are more appealing to others. But if deer have the run of a property, they will develop tastes for plants they ordinarily would pay little attention to. They're in the restaurant and they're going to sample the entire buffet. So the key is making the boundaries of the property generally unappealing. So if they're generally kept out--there are a large number of techniques--and if their first experiences with new plants is made unpleasant by the use of sprays, they tend to avoid those plants. In any case, very large shrubs are usually able to fend for themselves if they're generally unappealing, and if they've been sprayed regularly when they're small. Of course, very heavy deer pressure is very different from moderate, and during a starving season like we're about to have here this winter, caused by a freeze that killed all the mast in the woods and a subsequent drought, all bets are off. This winter for the first time, I'll be netting almost everything, though in the past all I've ever done is spray the oakleaf hydrangeas.

I'm only in my second full year of "gardening" at my father's house and it's been a roller coaster ride. With all the development around my father's house over the years the deer have reproduced uncontrolled and now have much smaller grazing area. There's simply too many for the available food. They always ate what people consider "deer candy" but it's gone way beyond that now. I must say, though, that I pass fields and fields of Alfalfa and other forage material grown year round which deer could eat but prefer garden plants. When I spray with Liquid Fence and other repellants they bite off buds and drop them on the ground. A plant without the first flush of buds left as bare stalks isn't much help in the garden for some time even though deer didn't technically "eat" them. Nothing with 4 legs has eaten: Asclepias incarnata (Swamp Milkweed) Asclepias tuberosa (Orange native) Asclepias curassavica (Tropical Milkweed) Eupatorium maculatum (large Joe Pye Weed) Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate' Lychnis Coronaria (Rose Campion) Stachys byzantina Nepeta 'Walkers Low' & 'Blue Carpet' Lavender 'Hidcote' & 'Vera' (Lady) Agastache aurantiaca 'Apricot Sprite' Agastache rugosa 'Honey Bee Blue' Agastache rupestris Agastache cana 'Purple Pygmy' Delphinium x elatum 'Magic Fountain' Penstemon digitalis 'Huskers Red' & 'Mystica' Lobelia cardinalis 'Queen Victoria' & 'Ruby Slippers' Lobelia siphilitica (Great Blue) Lobelia speciosa 'Fan Blue' Monarda didyma (species) Monarda didyma 'Petite Delight' Verbena bonariensis Lantana Salvia coccinea 'Lady in Red', 'Coral Nymph'& 'Hummingbird White' Salvia nemerosa 'Caradonna' (ate half of a 'May Night') Bearded Iris (a few blooms nipped off) Nicotiana sanderae (Limelight, Rose & White) They eat our Holly and Boxwood...Holly to the point of large bare spaces but only exterior browsing of Boxwood. Rhododendron get browsed because they're intermingled with Azalea which are defoliated even when sprayed. Resorting to burlap covering this winter since I'm tired of having them decimated each year. I tried to grow a Hydrangea, which I love, for a few years but they ate every leaf repeatedly until it just died. Again, sprayed repeatedly. If it's not deer then it's groundhogs, rabbits and slugs. I don't know which critter eats them but Zinnia & Marigolds have to be fenced or put on the deck to survive anytime from seedling stage until frost kills them off. The plants...not the deer! It's upsetting when you research and give care to planting things that are supposedly "deer resistant" and they get decimated. I consider half the plant being eaten "decimated" but others consider it browsing. If it won't bloom at all or a few measly blooms it's a bust for the year. If it dies from repeated heavy browsing I struggle to find something that's shown to survive. I think if you've got enough sunny areas your options are greater than if you want things that bloom in much more shade. It's trial and error which can vary from year to year. Cameron has a great running account of her experience with her "Deer Resistant Garden" and I find it encouraging to check it regularly. Different geographic locations and years vary but it's nice to look at her gardens to see what's working...and drool more than just a little! I can't remember if you linked your blog, Cameron. If I go back to thread to check I'll have to type this all over again so sorry if my link is redundant. :) When I make my early morning rounds to check for critter damage and plant conditions I can come upon damage that makes me utterly exasperated and crestfallen. I don't have that much space converted to amended beds or places where I've dug out cement clay down 2' and replaced with organic top soil. Lots of container grown plants with green rabbit fencing around "pot ghetto" along south side of house and stakes planted facing outward like sharpened javelins...LOL. Looks like hell with all the layers of protection this year but I refuse to lose more plants than I already have this year. The deer won't jump into this area since it's too close to house for that. Farther out and it's every plant for itself. Good luck with selecting plants and finding a mix that works reasonably well for you in your area. Just remember that the deer are variable in their behavior so you're ready if/when they browse things they haven't before. One can only grow so much Nepeta, Salvia, Agastache and few other things they very rarely even nibble. Here is a link that might be useful: Defining Your Home -Cameron's Blogspot