Is it also a bit shady? Sounds it given the plants that have survived.

In my experience deer stayed away from a Ligularia and Calamintha combo though the Ligularia may not like the July dry, much. Calamintha will love it and may shade the L. roots enough to keep it going.

Friend has more deer than anyone I know and swears by Buddleia which also would tolerate the wet/dry.

Martie

I've tried Astilbe chinensis which is more drough resistant than A. arendsii with no success, so ligularias
wouldn't stand a minimal chance there.
Now when you mention it, I recall planting L.przhewalskii (the most tough of all of them) there and moving it somewhere else in a couple of months.
Yes, it's shady, but shade is open, not a dark-dark. Place is under canopies of very tall limbed up maples, oaks and ashes.
Buddleia davidii less likely will bloom there and I don't think it's too attractive not in a bloom, but you reminded me about my B. alternifolia which need a better place than where it is and might even bloom there given her spring bloom time. Not very attractive plant, though.

I think the classic is ferns. There is some fern that lines the roads for miles in the Poconos. It's very attractive, rather tall, and probably growing in quite similar conditions. It might be a type of male fern, but I really don't know.

You might consider Aronia melanocarpa?

geo, you might try googling 'deer resistant perennials', if you haven't alrdy. i JUST read a short list on SOME gw post(gee,that's helpful isn't it?)that i think included kerria. i know its a shrub but it does flower and there are 2 nice varieties-picta and pale moon. also dry tolerant.since rhodotypus is kerria-related, maybe they would be deer tolerant too.. and what about the lamiums and epimediums- they have some wonderful foliage AND flowers, but i know not about the deer with them.
best, mindy

Jo, I have aronia in my woods. It's very open and leggy there. I'm affraid I'll pass on it. Thanks for suggestion, though.
Kay, ferns is a great idea!
How could I not thought about it?
I definitely will use them there.
Someone on perennial forum mentioned chelone.
Is it deer resistant? My woodchucks ocassionally munch on it, but I'm willing to give it a try if deers are not interested in it.
Ferns and chelone should make a great combo, I think.

George: If you had trouble with astilbe and ligularia in this spot you may want to rethink chelone. The stand I had in a former garden loved rich woodsy damp soil. Tried it in dry shade and it withered quickly.

One more thought: Clethra alnifolia? Not sure of deer resistency but all other critters seem to leave it alone. 'Hummingbird' variety will tolerate dry soil better than the older varieties. My three new babies of it went through the drought last year, in shade, without supplemental water and are alive and flourishing this year.

Martie

Martie, thanks for another good idea.
I have a pair of "Sixteen candles" that had been completely overrun by taller astilbes and acontiums, so I have nothing to lose by moving them there, though bambies (not adult deers) were nibbling on them from time to time last year.
Re: chelone.
I found C. obliqua to be somewhat more drough tolerant and more vigorous than C. lyonii. Have a large clump of them in somewhat similar conditions and they prosper. Again, if it's deer resistant, I have nothing to lose by trying since they are easy transplantable and fast reproducing.

George, these plants do well in my dry shade and are deer resistant: hellebores, epimediums, saxifrages and corydalis lutea; for shrubs, skimmia and kalmia. That's all I can think of now.

Hedy