I planted one of my phlox paniculata "volunteers" out in my garden to see if the deer would eat it. I planted it between large rosemary, echinops, salvia greggi, spirea and coneflowers. In other words, buried in the middle of a lot of plants that aren't at the top of the deer menu. I was operating on the theory that deer are basically lazy. So far, it has bloomed without a single nibble. That said, if more exposed, it would absolutely be eaten! I was just playing around with my free plant. I know what you mean about wanting large blooms like phlox in the garden. In this photo, the carmine blooms below the coneflowers are spirea 'Neon Flash'. It is a small deciduous shrub that likes full sun. It blooms larger than this in June, I shear off the spent blooms with a hedgetrimmer, then it blooms again in late July/early August. My phlox 'Robert Poore' is just above this group in my garden. To the left of the coneflowers is salvia greggi 'Wild Thing'; behind is a buddleia; right side are agastache 'Blue Fortune', although I like agastache 'Salmon and Pink' better. The yellow blooms just to the right are rocket yellow snapdragons (annuals that overwintered here) coming into a 2nd bloom. This is the grouping on the other side of the phlox. If you look carefully to the right side, you can see my little phlox starting to bloom. That's crape myrtle 'White Chocolate' behind it. I've repeated the rosemary (now pulled and replaced by agastache 'Salmon and Pink'), the salvia, a culinary sage, echinops ritro. There's a large lavender up to the right of the myrtle. There's also a pink muhly behind the myrtle (this is a slope). On the left of the echinops, there's newly planted lavender. Blooms that are gone now from this group are rose campion. By the way, at the top is a 2 acre meadow where deer sleep every night! If you can grow lantana in your zone, 'Ham and Eggs' is a variety that works well in the perennial garden. It is supposed to be only 2 feet high, but mine are now over 4 feet in height and width, having overwintered since 2006. Even in my deer resistant garden, the deer will sample a few things, especially along the paths and newly planted perennials. However, 99.9% of my garden is left alone. When I went out this morning, two fawns were at the upper edge of the garden. The herd sleeps in our meadow a few feet above the edge. My husband said that our greyhound has to weave her way through sleeping deer to do her business at night! The deer don't even bother to get up and run! I updated my blog last Saturday with a lot of this information. I go to great lengths to experiment with deer resistant perennials and shrubs. However, your deer may have different preferences, so there are no guarantees. There's a lot of trial-and-error. I hope this is helpful. Cameron Here is a link that might be useful: deer traffic control in my garden

We have really rabid deer and I've found that "deer-resistant" is pretty much meaningless. The only plants they truly avoid, in my experience, are ones with aromatic foliage. Around here, that means rosemary, many sages, rockrose, lavender, sagebrush, catmint etc. I think with the exception of the rockrose you can find varieties of all of those that will work in zone 6, even the lavender. Actually, I have never seen a deer touch coyote brush (baccharis pilularis) either, so that's another option for you. There are other plants that deer will kill when they're young and tender and just out of nursery pots, but after a couple of seasons in the ground they become less enticing, so if you protect them for a bit they will probably be fine. Western redbud is a really beautiful shrub, tough as nails and now that it's a little taller the deer are ignoring it. The same goes for the birch I planted in front of my house. A third strategy is to use fast-growing plants that quickly grow too big for the deer to take down. Ceanothus "Ray Hartman" comes to mind, and that will certainly take a freeze. Flowering plum trees are also very vigorous and if you plant a five-gallon specimen, they'll be safe from the deer in a season or two.

I'm located in southern ny and have been working on a wildlife garden - heavily influenced by natives for a few years now. Most of my plants are used by pollinators - for nectar, or host. and the birds are quite fond of the fruiting shrubs. I have lots of shade, some deer and in one area black walnut trees (note: not all plants listed below are growing with the walnuts). I'll share what has worked for me: small to medium trees - both volunteers here: Celtis occidentalis hackberry Prunus serotina black cherry shrubbery - these were purchased: elderberry (sambucus), lindera - may get a nibble, but not decimated by deer. this year I added some ninebark starts. I've read that deer will nibble on these, but they will come back from it . I am also trying some cornus (red twig dogwood). many say the deer like these - I have some low-tech deterrents in place - branches and such. I am hoping they'll be okay until they get a bit larger. There seems to be some conflicting information online as to deer preference for the cornus - time where tell where my plants fit. I was debating these plants for a while, but figured I'd give 'em a shot this year. A somewhat protected Amelanchier (serviceberry) is doing well. and the deer seem uninterested in my itea - it is planted up close to the house, tho. flowers/perennials all volunteers unless otherwise specified: Since pulling out the garlic mustard in the area, I have a lot of the native annual jewelweed which the deer do enjoy. I mention it because I suspect they may be more interested in this than things they don't find as tasty. I do tend to pull some of this out as the season progresses - but between the deer and myself, there's still some flowering later on. The other annual i welcome (considered weedy to some) is three-seed mercury. deer don't touch this, and it always looks perky. other native volunteers for me that may be considered weedy by some - Circaea (enchanters nightshade), geum white avens, white wood aster, viola, virginia knotweed, and sensitive fern. these are the "rabbits" of my garden they are very assertive and help hold down the fort from garlic mustard and other nasties. of these, the circaea and asters do get a nibble - but the "pruning" makes for a lusher bloom. I also leave a lot of the poke weed that pops up - this too gets nibbled, but will still bloom and fruit. and how can I forget - jack in the pulpit. my solomons seal gets nibbled early in it's growth if unprotected (branches placed around it), but the deer seem to leave it alone when larger. I also have some deer tongue grass in the sunnier locations - deer leave this alone. purchases: milkweed - incarnata, and joepye weed can both take some shade. joe pye gets nibbled a little too, but I get the same results as with the aster - not decimated, just a bushier look. native geranium, celandine poppy, christmas fern, bloodroot, cardinal flower, great blue lobelia, Agastache, and echinacea all seem un touched. vines: wild grape, virginia creeper, and poison ivy I think that about covers it - sorry for being so long-winded, but know what a pain it can be to constantly cross reference shade tolerance and deer resistance lists (I would still recommend checking to see if native to your area). I would suggest also posting in the native plants forum here. I think you'll get a greater response. another suggestion would be wildlifegardeners.org good luck Here is a link that might be useful: natives forum / gardenweb

There're just way too many deer. Period. We've got the crybabies and other assorted rednecks in this state who have been whining for years, usually something along the lines of "the d*mn DNR is killing off all the deer". Well, it's complete and utter nonsense. Counted 37 in a field up by my land the other day, fat and happy and ready to consume more vegetation. And this after a harsh winter that was supposed to have potentially decimated the herd. I'd have to say not! The ground in our cedar swamp is very nearly 100% composed of deer prints. This place is crawling with them. I swear, some of the "sportsmen" feel they are owed a nice, big buck every time deer season comes around. They don't want to have to work for it. They drag with their 4-wheelers, they hunt from platforms, sometimes with heaters and other comforts of home, it's really a joke in my opinion. Meanwhile, foresters like myself have to come up with ever-increasing means of protecting our young stock. The whole thing is off-balance. +oM