I think you're going to need a deer fence to keep them out of your orchard...but planting in front of the fence will look nice and help disguise the fence. From what I've read, you can either do an 8' deer fence, all the way around, or two fences (about 4' apart) that are 4' tall. I don't know if this will work, but it's supposed to, according to some other forums. I've also read that an electric wire or two will work, but not here. We have an electric fence around our horse pasture (seven wires, two hot ones) and the deer jump over, crawl under and even walk through...very carefully. As for the roses, my deer like to chew on the new growth, but I plant them against the house or fence...and I put lots of lavender, other herbs and deer resistant plants in front of them. They still reach though in the fall, and nibble, but an exposed bush will get eaten down, pretty fast. Butterfly bushes are not thorny, but the deer don't care much for the taste. They also ignore (for the most part...babies taste almost everything) coneflowers, cosmos, daisies, lilacs, bee balm, mint, lavender, alyssum, marigolds, pontilia, blueberries, stock, tomatoes, acorn squash, sunflowers, white petunias (don't know why) pansies, violas, columbine, sweet woodruff and the strawberries, if they're growing under other shrubs or herbs they don't like. All deer are probably different, but mine don't pay much attention to these plants...so except for my roses, that's pretty much what I plant, here :)

Greenthumbz, those are gorgeous pics! I've heard that there are a couple of trees that are not native to North America but are used by significant numbers of native insects. 1) Malus/Crabapples - native, hybrid, or exotic, Douglas Tallamy's book stated that the leaf chemistry is so similar that North american insects will use all species. This certainly bears true in my experience. I've got lots of crabs, a few specimens and a crazy wild thicket full of them in back,and they are bird magnets, not just for the fruits in the fall but for the nectar and insects in spring and summer. 2) Picea abies/Norway spruce - don't have any personal experience, but was told this by an ornithology student at Cornell who was doing a study on the subject

I bought that book but felt it didn't offer enough suggestions. (Good as far as it went.) I agree that visiting the Bot. Garden in CH, the Bloomquist native section at Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, the native garden (forgot the name) in Asheville...not the big Arboretum but the smaller one closer to town. In SC I did go once to the gardens at Clemson but was disappointed...maybe they have added more natives now since Patrick McMillian is there, and he is a big proponent of natives. He would be one to check if you have questions for your area...very nice young man with incredible knowledge. Also, if you don't travel much, NC State has great photos with cultural requirements for a lot of wildflowers and native shrubs. I imagine Clemson does, too, but I don't usually "cruise" that site since I no longer live around there. Oh, I bought a Shumard oak years ago, and it is too big now. Nothing will grow under it, not even weeds! Oh, well. My cat likes the empty dusty dirt to roll in and dust himself. I wanted to mulch it, but my husband said I could not take away my cat's pleasure-place.

You might see if there are any wholesalers who can supply smaller tubes of the Purple fountain for landscapers - even if you ask a landscaper to buy them in - if you can get cheaper pots and sacrifice some plunes by giving a good haircut, you could try dividing the clumps & could probably produce 4 times the number for planting out. In terms of native grasses, I don;t know your area, I know I find a lot of roadside grasses in my area very pleasant even though some may be weeds. Do be careful though when I say "weeds" some species can be very invasive - Qld now has a problem with the other fountain grass. I found this site which can supply small trial quantities of seed and has some good sections of notes on grasses and their uses (no commercial interest) Here is a link that might be useful: native grass seed supplier