Had woodchucks this year, they went after mostly the asters and echincea and the clover in the lawn. They didn't eat any perovskia that was right next to the echinacea. The Shastas were not blooming but they didn't eat the foliage. Walked right by them on their way to the echinacea. I also winter sowed three varieties of Shastas this year. The Alaska I sowed last year bloomed this year and it was horrible. Way too tall for where I planted it, flopped all over everything with the first rain and never came up again, buds opened all eaten by something. This year, I had Becky, Crazy Daisy and Snowcap seed and winter sowed those. They all germinated fine and the planted out seedlings look great. Some are short which is what I was looking for, and others a little taller. Some have buds on them and I am waiting to see what they look like. I also bought Shasta Wirral's Pride from Bluestone this year during their sale and it is blooming and has gorgeous crested blossoms that are long lasting and on thick stems. I am growing them in full sun.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that someone knows of some deer resistant dls. The deer aren't particular about which ones they eat of mine. DD

""Janet, I have some lovely clematis too. and My purple coneflowers are outstanding. However, they dont even begin to carry my front or back gardens to 'looking lovely'."" Pondy, that is why I've been filling in with daylilies. There is a great daylily farm in Reedsville Wisconsin, which doesn't open for the season until the daylilies begin blooming. They have prices listed on the website and photos of most of the daylilies they sell, so you can narrow down your search before going if you are so inclined. I'm not trying to pressure you into going there, but most garden centers and nurseries have a limited selection. There is such a wide range of colors that you can make any bland spot come alive with just one plant. Daylilies are saving my garden from the mid-season doldrums. Solaris also has liliums, which also offers a wide selection of color, too. Here is a link that might be useful: Solaris Farms

They say coyote urine sprayed around keeps the deer away. I however doubt that would work. In the winter time I clear out about a 15 sq foot area in the snow out the side of a garage door and also made a path from the overhead door going past this area to the back patio. The cleared out area is for the dog to do its business in the winter time. A couple times I saw deer tracks going right down the pathway and waltzing right past the area where there was dog business, both A and B :/ The only real way to be sure to stop deer is a fence. Usually a high one but if the garden is only 5ft wide you may be able to get away with a 6 ft fence because they may feel somewhat trapped jumping over it if its only 5 ft wide. There are other things you can do like hang a bunch of foil pie pans up to both make shiny moving objects and clattering noise at night. They work for a while until the deer figure out they are as harmless as tree leaves blowing in the woods. Bobex deer spray works good but having to apply it all the time would end up costing more than a deer fence kit. Its about $15 a bottle. For a 5 x 30 area you can get a $99 deer fence kit. With good care it should last 3 to 5 years. Thats what I use for my 20 x 26 plot. Although I also have an outer perimeter rabbit fence about 6 inches away because I discovered the rabbits just chewed through the deer fence. You could always try a fishing line fence, I've heard and read about it but never tried it. So the only sure way to keep out deer is a fence 5 ft to 8 ft high depending on the size of the fenced area. IE 5 ft around 1 young apple tree about a foot from the longest branches will suffice. A garden my size 7 ft suffices because they would need more of a running start to get out and they wont go into spots if they might feel trapped. A large garden would need 8 feet high and there even has been stories of bionic deer getting in and out of those. Thats under normal conditions. If there is over crowding and starvation then there may be more desperate attempts to gain access. Some say if you cant beat um feed um. Such as planting plants deer like to eat on some other area of the property. I don't like that strategy. Its like inviting more problems to the party. Like handing out free beer and wine at the company party. That's another reason I only use mouse traps in the garage. Why would I want to "bait" more mice into the garage?