News flash! Sunday morning we discovered that our geraniums -three in a pot- were nearly all denuded. I had just removed a Persian Shield from the geranium pot. Deer don't like Persian Shield I had read, and indeed it thrived unmolested last year. So of course I figured removing it had emboldened the deer to feast on the geraniums. So I put it back in the pot. This morning a doe was grazing amongst the underbrush of the wooded area 25 feet from the kitchen window. I quickly went to see if the geranium's few-remaining leaves and single bud were still there. The leaves and buds were gone and so was the Persian Shield. I think I spend more on what deer eat than we spend at the grocery store.

I have several bananas around the outer fence of my pool and live in an area with a very high deer population and to date (even through a bad drought this year) they have NOT touched the bananas. I also have several palms around the fence and the front of the house in which they have not touched. I did put out several different vine plants to grow on my fence and they got butchered as well as several diff flowering bulbs i tried. Also, they love indian howthorn shrubs - found out the hard way. good luck! im curious, where are you moving?

Thanks for all the replies so far on this thread. Spruce: Somehow I knew you were going to recommend the Norway spruce! =) We have several mature NS on our property and they do well. The local farm market has several small potted (2 gallon?) NS trees on sale so I might check them out. smivies: Thanks for the ideas. We do have a couple of mature Douglas firs as well. They're fast growing for sure, but our particular specimens don't look all that great. Ours are not very dense, and you can see through them easily, so I neve really considered them as a possibility. We've never had any A. cephalonica so I'll ahve to do some research. Our white pines are quite drought tolerant but as you say, the soft wood makes for a poor windbreak. Our white pines, though beautiful, quite often drop branches during winds and storms. I'm growing several P. strobiformis from seed and they did very well this season (their first year). We'll see how they do this winter. The blue-green color is great! scotjute: Thanks for suggesting the Eastern Red Cedar. I'll take a look at that as well. We don'thave any of them so that might be interesting as well. Thanks again! We're open to suggestions =) Dave

A few more I noticed while watering today that might do: I grow Cotoneaster horizontalis variegatus in a 14" container in full sun and does well, but we have high humidity...might make a difference? The bunny leaves it alone too. Turns lovely shade of red in winter, but very few blooms and no berries. Juniper 'Blue Star' in a low container with silvery-white Centaurea gymnocarpa 'Colchester White' and bunny ignores. Check out this Centaurea...it's the whitest filigreed leaf and evergreen here. Thrives in full sun. 30" high, 30" wide mound. Spreads from root but not as fast as some Artemesia. Chrysanthemum pacificum (now I believe renamed Ajania) is lowgrowing but spreads well. Would flow over and follow contours of rocks. Tough plant almost evergreen...sort of curls up in Jan-Feb but already in growth again). Silver-edged crinkly leaf, small yellow button flowers in fall. And bunny ignores. Trachelospermum asiatica probably grows too vigorously but a slower variant is Trachelospermum asiatica variegata gets about 12 in tall..takes full sun. Few blooms but the green/white leaves take on reddish tones in winter. Toxic so no bunny damage. Haven't noticed bunny bothering my 30" clump of Rue. Ruta graveolens 'Blue Mound'. Mine is confined to pot but I believe it spreads if in ground. Nice blue foliage, insignificant yellow flowers. Don't believe bunny bothers. Hedera canariensis variegata grows about 12" tall, large -about 5-6"- colorful evergreen leaves on red stems. Pink tones in winter. Can't swear to it but believe no bunny damage. Have a Hypericum rather nice yellow flowers, leaves turn reddish in winter, grows about 2 feet tall and I've read that it will spread...mine's in a pot, but throws out 3-4 foot branches which I presume would take root if I didn't keep trimmed. Haven't noticed bunny damage. All these are in full sun growing within sight of my back windows and I see one bunny once a week or so. so no guarantee but just my experience. Have lots of varied plants but these are strong growers most of which I've grown for years. The Centaurea is a 3-year "newbie" which I like better than any Artemesia which often don't do well in our humid summers. Yes, I like variegated foliage! Smile. But I love foliage of all kinds more than flowers and so have lots of plain greens to set off variegation. You may want to stick to plain green version...they are usually even tougher and grow faster. Good luck with your project. josh