I think you're going to need a deer fence to keep them out of your orchard...but planting in front of the fence will look nice and help disguise the fence. From what I've read, you can either do an 8' deer fence, all the way around, or two fences (about 4' apart) that are 4' tall. I don't know if this will work, but it's supposed to, according to some other forums. I've also read that an electric wire or two will work, but not here. We have an electric fence around our horse pasture (seven wires, two hot ones) and the deer jump over, crawl under and even walk through...very carefully. As for the roses, my deer like to chew on the new growth, but I plant them against the house or fence...and I put lots of lavender, other herbs and deer resistant plants in front of them. They still reach though in the fall, and nibble, but an exposed bush will get eaten down, pretty fast. Butterfly bushes are not thorny, but the deer don't care much for the taste. They also ignore (for the most part...babies taste almost everything) coneflowers, cosmos, daisies, lilacs, bee balm, mint, lavender, alyssum, marigolds, pontilia, blueberries, stock, tomatoes, acorn squash, sunflowers, white petunias (don't know why) pansies, violas, columbine, sweet woodruff and the strawberries, if they're growing under other shrubs or herbs they don't like. All deer are probably different, but mine don't pay much attention to these plants...so except for my roses, that's pretty much what I plant, here :)

"I never would have thought of looking at the Federal Highway Administration for a list of invasives!" They've planted so many, they ought to know them ;-)

I guess we can be done with this now that the event is over. Hope it energized a lot of people to get out and remove invasives.

I've attached a link to a short article found on wildflower.org about using sedges to replace liriope. It mentions McNeal Growers (mcnealgrowers.com) as another Austin area sedge specialist. Repotted, listed as a Dallas source for cedar sedge, unfortunately closed last year. Meadow sedge (carex perdentata) is another recommended variety that wholesaler Native Texas Nursery grows as Webberville Sedge. Calloway's (as well as those mentioned earlier) carry their products in Dallas, but the one near us hadn't received their NTN shipment yet and only "thought" this sedge would be included. Here is a link that might be useful: Native grasses or sedges for a border in Texas This post was edited by bostedo on Wed, Apr 17, 13 at 14:05