One thing that has not been mentioned is the predator urine. A bottle of coyote, fox, wolf urine might sell for twenty bucks in a big box store. I try to do everything on the cheap, so have not tried these products. May try the deer repellent recipe Kimmsr listed. Since my garden is in the 'burbs, I only have to make my toms, peppers, spinach less attractive to deer than those of my close neighbors. The plastic tape with a repellent mix might be enough to encourage the deer to try a yard 100' away. But I maintain my plants with compost mulch, trim the stems and spray compost tea; so no one else has tomatoes or spinach in October. The neighbor with two dogs seems to have the fewest deer incursions. A hardcore gardener further away keeps two old dogs -- enough energy to chase away pests, not enough to jump over the fence and escape. My one dog is not outside enough to keep animals away. A mountain lion got his/her picture on front page of the newspaper a year ago when a hunters camera five miles away took a automatic photo at night.

I have rose bushes, echinacea, wood aster (supposed to look like "snow in Sept."), liatris, great blue lobelia and peonies encircled in 4' high cages. The deer either reach down into the cages (no tops) or rip them out of the ground (staples and all) to get to these plants. I expect trouble with rose bushes but not with others that are on all the "deer resistant" lists that the deer never read. They plucked every peony bloom right off the plants. Thought they were supposed to be fool proof when it came to deer. If the deer don't get a plant I can be reasonably sure the rabbits or "stinking moving shag carpet" (groundhogs) will get them sooner or later. This is all in a residential neighborhood that backs up to a farm and a narrow strip of state owned "open space" land. Too many deer and not enough food...except what I plant. Gets progressively worse each year and this year is a real bummer. My next move is to put another 3' of fencing on top of the 4' fence circles. I'll twist tie them together so I can easily access plants for maintenance and hope longer earth staples work. They've developed a taste for garlic and mint so none of the sprays work any more. Sound cheerful, huh? Not...but I'm not giving up on seeing something bloom after all the work it took to grow, plant and maintain these plants. I fully realize it's starting to look like a plant gulag around the house but I'm not ready to throw in the towel. Close but not there yet.

This topic seems to be always timely. :) We've found another unattractive solution to deer problems in the vegetable garden - orange snow fencing. My husband constructed a fence of it using steel stakes and that kept the deer out all summer. Interestingly enough, last summer he was going to make the fence but didn't get around to it, and only had the fencing spread around the garden. The deer didn't cross it. We don't seem to have the problem with the deer until later in the summer and fall, and then, of course, over the winter when they pass through the yard all the time. Our mature cedars near the road have been chewed up pretty badly, but they seem to leave the flower beds alone. However, on the weekend i discovered that they seem to like the ranunculus that Brenda sent me in the spring. :-/

It depends on the winter and where you planted it. If it's in a sheltered spot, it may even be a zone 6 microclimate. If it's out in the open, subject to winter winds, you might surround it with burlap attached to stakes. I've heard of putting dry autumn leaves inside the burlap for protection, but that might invite chewing rodents to hibernate. My attitude is, if it lives, great, it can stay. If it dies, throw it out and buy something else. Lessons learned. Save the receipt for a refund. Good luck.