Okay, this is in addition to my first request for help. I've been looking all over this website, and it is fabulous the amount of information available. I take my hat off to you all, the real gardeners! I have moved to my new property and brought lots of my old garden in pots. The old garden was well fenced so I don't know much about deer resistance. My short list, so far, is: crabapple hawthorne rugosa roses mountain ash (too messy?, and can it be grown in a large container?) split leaf sumac (the deer ate the top of this the other day, but I'm told it's poisonous?) birch (too big?, but I love the white bark) corkscrew willow (too big?, but again so totally cool) lilac (california and ordinary) boxwood iris ( I have lots of this available) kerria (I have lots of this available) yucca (I have two on the beach if I can move them?) mock orange daylilies (although the deer keep munching them and everything says they are deer resistant) clumps of chives ( I have tons) heuchera (I have tons - is this deer resistant, I can't find that info) Japanese Maple ( I like Ozakasuki, will it live here in the salt, and is it deer tolerant, and will it be happy living in my 36 x 36 container?) My driveway is quite steep. The bed beside it is about 8ft wide and 10 ft long at the top (this is where I want to plant one threesome of shrubs), sloping down and around to a corner at only 18" wide for about 20 ft, then widening at the corner (I have a 36" wide and deep pot waiting for something sitting on the curve) then around the corner it widens to about 6 ft for about 20 ft. This is where I want to put the other grouping. In the narrower areas I will put perennials. The back of these garden beds are all fenced with trellis type fencing, so I could grow vines up the back, perhaps. Advice? Remember that I am on the ocean, and have a large deer population, and this area cannot be fenced. If I plant rugosa roses in the skinnier areas of the driveway, will they get huge? Also, I've been reading on this website about Montauk Daisies, will they grow in the Pacific Northwest, I've never heard of them before but they look gorgeous. I'm hoping to do groupings that I can spread around my whole property, trying to get some theme going. It's also important to have something blooming pretty much all season, so I'm trying to stagger my flowering times. Most other gardens I've ever had have had one of everything, and that really doesn't work! I know I've asked way too many questions, but any help will be very much appreciated!

I would ask your local county extension agent for a list of locally resistant shrubs. One of the problems is that there are NO plants (to my knowledge) that some deer won't eat at some time. There are plants that deer don't like, usually, and there are plants that they don't eat, usually, but they can and do change their patterns and habits. That said, there should be enough plants that they rarely eat in your area for you to find some. Not living there, I won't venture to offer any, I may well be wrong. You can also try googling for deer-resistant evergreens in NJ, and see what comes up - you might want to limit the list to broad-leaf evergreens, as most of the conifers that I now of are eaten by deer around here at some time. There should be on-line lists for resistant shrubs. Good luck!

well time to teach some things.. and it has nothing to do with where you post .... its a conifer... it is a tree .. but technically.. its not a shrub ... anyway.. if you try the search engine within GW .. upper right.. you might find a couple thousand posts about LC ... which i can sum up by saying.. there arent a lot of peeps here who approve of them ... for a multitude of reasons ... if you wish to avoid a couple hundred posts berating this plant.. you might want to come at it from the other direction.. and in a new post ... say.. in the conifer forum ... post a picture.. and ask suggestions about how to solve your problem ... as to what plants you might select ... you might get further along in your quest to solve your problem .... good luck .... ken

Thanks for the suggestions, all of which make more sense than mine. Having checked again, I agree Philadelphus was a poor choice. I like Choisya but watering whole hedges is not an option. We'll likely limit the use of this shrub to specimens on the way up our main drive and close to the house. Ceanothus or Grevillea seem like the best candidates. Ceanothus 'Edinburgh' I know and there is some on our island but Grevillea is new to me. I couldn't find a good online illustration of it but assume it's similar to Firebird except for the colour. If it's fast growing it sounds like it might be the right answer. There is a small island off the coast of Brittany called L'Isle de Callot, a nature reserve and bird sanctuary. The island, mostly traffic free, has pedestrian lanes which are defined by Escalonia hedgerows 10 - 12 feet high that seem very old. They support an enormous variety of birdlife and are stockproof. As a trigger for happy memories of that beautiful island, we'll also include some Escalonia hedges somewhere in our landscaping plans.