Rabbits and deer will eat almost anything if they are desperate. Onions and garlic don't deter our wildlife, nor do most of the supposedly rabbit and deer proof plants. We've had rabbits graze garlic chives down to the roots. We live on a acre of cactus, yucca, thistles and all kinds of thorny brambles. We also have hawks, owls and bobcats strolling through regularly. We have deer sleeping in front of the house, rabbits hopping from one plant to another, though all the spiky, thorny brush. So don't believe the stories that predators or spiky leaves or smelly plants will protect your garden from wildlife. Commercial repellants are all based on bloodmeal or sulphurous eggs, and they are reputed to work, at least for a time. I make my own repellant - recipe is given earlier in this thread. I find this works but must be reapplied about once a month. I also use chicken wire cages around small plants. All of this is necessary when the animals have to eat or starve to death. Cheryl

I live on the North Shore of Long Island. I have (or should I say had) 2 1/2 acres of garden including prize winning day lilies, irises, hyrdrangeas. Now all I have is barren weed-caked soil and deer. Tonight I saw my one remaining Casablanca lily bud which was on a stone patio up a flight of six steps outside my dining room doors -eaten. The deer have eaten every flowering shrub, yucca spikes, geraniums, roses, balsam even sedum and portulacas. There is nothing they don't devour. The shame of it is that nothing deters them. I have a very expensive Deer Tech sonic deterrent system which costs me $3500 to install and $2800 a year to maintain. The deer browse right next to the units. I have used soap, pepper, liquid fence, deer off, bobcat urine, blood meal, milorganite, garlic, perfume oils to no avail -the deer consider them a condiment. Recently, I started spending 1 hr each evening and again in the morning wrapping and unwrapping each lily bud in gauzy row cover fabric and fastening it around the stem so it looked like a lollipop. The deer simply ate right through it. Next I encased each lily bud in a freezer weight zip-lock bag -again they chewed right through it and ate the bud. I am close to tears each morning when I visit my garden and see that there is no single blossom left. I used to look out my kitchen window to a sea of lilies. This summer the forest rats robbed me of the joy of seeing even a single flower. My border of phlox are gone and the replacements lasted one evening. My husband and I became infected with babesiosis and he almost died from it. I had $6500 damage to my car last fall when I hit one. I am sick of this infestation -they are nothing but vermin and the environment is suffering as a result. The new saplings are being destroyed and the understory plants that are home to small mammals, quail, pheasants and other birds are being denuded. During the rut, bucks can become vicious. One attacked my gardener and tried to gore him. He made it into his truck only to have the buck ram the truck damaging it to the point that it was undriveable. We feel like we are under siege. We are in the process of stringing 8' high barbed wire fencing around the perimeter of our property. Can you imagine living in a formerly lovely property that now looks like a prison? Deer are a national epidemic that are causing environmental, economic, public health and safety catastrophes. Suddenly Bambi is no longer cute. Our community has authorized culling -3 blinds and infrared cameras will be installed to track the deer and hunters will have access throughout the year. 21 deer were culled from my neighbor's yard just last year...that is the level of our populations. We also have albino deer because the herds are getting inbred. If anyone can figure out a solution -they should get the Nobel prize!

(Chew-Not®, Deer Off®, Deer-Away® Big Game Repellent, Plantskydd®, Bobbex®, Liquid Fence®, Deer Solution®, Hinder®, Repellex® systemic tablets, and coyote urine) on yews (Taxus cuspidata Densiformis) at 2 different locations in Connecticut. The study included both positive (fence) and negative (no treatment) controls. We planted yews in 2 blocks at each location in the spring of 2006; each block had 12 groups of 6 yews. We randomly assigned one of the 12 treatments to each group of yews within each block. We applied repellents based on manufacturers’ label recommendations for the 2006 and 2007 growing seasons and recorded application costs. We derived a protection index based on plant size and dry needle weights at the end of the 2007 growing season. In general, repellents that required more frequent application performed better. Bobbex® ranked highest, but was the most expensive repellent treatment. Hinder® performed nearly as well at a fraction of the cost. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268445587_Effectiveness_of_deer_repellents_in_Connecticut

Cricket Love, believe me once it sunk in, I was happy my yard is so private. I probably would be in jail or mental hospital if the neighbors had seen me. I was devastated, crying, swearing, stomping you name it I was doing it. LOL I will wish you luck but be prepared. It is a fight, you have to be committed. They can wear you down. It hurts to look at your gardens all pretty and come out and it is all gone in one night. They survived they came back this year so I have been out with all my sprays and anything that I can do to have my gardens. Solid fence does not work have that on one side, Believe me they will jump. I have sat in my morning room and watched them flying over the fence right into the middle of my hosta bed. mosswitch is right groundhogs will eat your hostas. So I have double trouble. I constantly have had them eat a garden and I find the hole stuff it with used kitty litter top it off with a three bags of dog poop. I have a Mastiff so it is big poop. That keeps them out for about a month. I did not have the heart to take a pic of the entire garden but I took a picture of my Sum and Substance before and after. Just a sample to give you a visual of what to expect. Do you think you can take this? LOL