First, I'm very sorry for this. I know how disappointing deer damage can be. It will be difficult to replace the bloom power of roses. If you were a zone warmer, I would have a few more ideas using long-blooming perennials such as salvia greggii, agastache, nepeta and perennial heliotrope. The low-growing buddleia 'Blue Chip' and 'Miss Ruby' would work in your zone and provide repeat bloom with some deadheading. Caryopteris is another one, but it will bloom in late summer and will look like sticks in the winter. 'Mini blue' is the shortest, I think. I have good luck with spirea, but the deer will do some sampling. Another deciduous shrub, so it won't provide interest in winter. Weigela may be an option. I've not tried it here (yet) to say if the deer will eat it. It is on many deer resistant lists. Cameron

I ws two white varieties of Echinacea that have a nice fragrance, 'White Swan' and 'Fragrant Angel'. Not as strong as the phlox though. Expect you already have those. The only thing that has saved my phlox from the deer is Liquid Fence.

We have really rabid deer and I've found that "deer-resistant" is pretty much meaningless. The only plants they truly avoid, in my experience, are ones with aromatic foliage. Around here, that means rosemary, many sages, rockrose, lavender, sagebrush, catmint etc. I think with the exception of the rockrose you can find varieties of all of those that will work in zone 6, even the lavender. Actually, I have never seen a deer touch coyote brush (baccharis pilularis) either, so that's another option for you. There are other plants that deer will kill when they're young and tender and just out of nursery pots, but after a couple of seasons in the ground they become less enticing, so if you protect them for a bit they will probably be fine. Western redbud is a really beautiful shrub, tough as nails and now that it's a little taller the deer are ignoring it. The same goes for the birch I planted in front of my house. A third strategy is to use fast-growing plants that quickly grow too big for the deer to take down. Ceanothus "Ray Hartman" comes to mind, and that will certainly take a freeze. Flowering plum trees are also very vigorous and if you plant a five-gallon specimen, they'll be safe from the deer in a season or two.

You need to check with your neighbors too! Deer appetites vary greatly from one area to the next, and on how many there are! Unlike at birdgardner's current house, my deer eat: peonies, columbines, hellebores, yuccas, ferns, cranberry bush (Viburnum trilobum) and English/Boston ivy. They'll nibble at Aruncus (goatsbeard), sample astilbe (I'm waiting for another round of browsing), coneflower (Echinacea), and have taste tested young poppies. They do seem to ignore foxgloves(Digitalis), most of the sages, thistle (Echinops), myrtle (Vinca minor), and Virginia bluebells. I do get some additional (collateral damage?) from groundhogs(woodchucks) which seem to savor Liatris, gaillardia, echinacea, and cyclamens (although I may be mistaken about the vandal involved). Fencing helps, but isn't always feasible/practicable/possible. Deer can jump over an 8' fence, g'hogs can tunnel under it (or climb over a 5' fence) if they are hungry enough.