Sorry, ment to post on a Perennials forum.

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.

With regard to the boxwood - I have somewhat clayish soil, but it's still rich at least 18" deep. Boxwood do not grow slow in my opinion, and require very little care other than watering until they are established and pruning mid June for my zone. I have one on the northeast corner of my house and it's monstrous and beautiful after just a few years - Green Velvet I believe. The boxwoods in the direct sun tend to grow a little slower, and more compact. I have all three varieties - green mountain (great for hedging), green velvet (these mound nicely) and green gem for a nice tight compact ball OR you can also hedge these. A house up the block facing east with full morning to mid day sun planted an entire row of the wee small ones you'd find at a box store about three years ago. This year, they've all grown together into a nice solid low hedge. So, I think it depends on where you live and the growing conditions. Boxwood can suffer from winterburn, so we do cover them with pine sprigs or burlap in the winter for those who get sun exposure. So in my own experience, and I have them in all areas of my yard except full shade, and they thrive and grow at a moderate rate.

Hi ValyGirl, If you have Bishop's Weed, a/k/a Snow-on-the-Mountain, in there, that stuff is EXTREMELY invasive and will wind up taking over the entire area. The comment in my "most used" perennial "picture" book, has this comment by the description of Aegopodium! "If you are moving away from neighbors that you can't stand, plant this on the property line just before you go. You can rest assured you will have gotten even for every wrong, no matter how great." If you've put it in fairly recently, you may want to reconsider your decision to grow it before it becomes well established. It is extremely difficult to eradicate when it starts to spread. Two of the things you already have, Geraniums and snow-in-summer are listed on my list of deer resistant plants and will probably work for you--depending on your deer! No plant is "deer proof," and what they will or won't eat depends on the time of the year and stage of growth, the availability of other food, and the deer themselves! A couple more short groundcover things on my list are Ajuga and Lamium maculatum, both are sun or shade and both should do well with the light you've described--and both are controllable! Galium, sweet woodruff is another one that should do well in your light, but it too can become invasive after 2 or 3 years--but nothing like Aegopodium! Linked below is the Rutgers "deer resistance" list. It's the best one I've ever found, and you can vary your parameters when looking for things, and the plants are rated by "degree" of "resistance!" The things I've listed are all on either the "perennials" list, or the "groundcovers" list, so be sure you check all the different permutations so you don't miss something! I don't know what you mean by valerian. That's a common name used for at least two different things that I know of, and both of those are at least 3' tall, so I kind of doubt that you have either of those! Neither of them (Valeriana officinalis and Centranthus ruber) are listed on the Rutgers list. Check out their list and see if you can find something you really like--but if you decide to leave the Aegopodium in there, know that in a few years it will completely take over anything else you have planted there and the other things will "struggle" at best, and die at worst. Hope you wind up with some things you really like, Skybird Here is a link that might be useful: Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance