I live next to a woods. The deer correctly believe that this housing development stole their land, so they walk up and down the sidewalks and deck stairs, munching.
I’ve had them pull entire plants out of the ground, and also those flimsy green wire garden fences — they pull them out with their teeth. And they leave distinctive pyramids of poop pellets in the yard. On the plus side, in winter when it snows, you can clearly see tracks of where they’ve been the night before.
Best thing to do is resign yourself to a constant and ongoing battle. If you are trying to grow produce in the ground, you will need fencing, and sometimes double fencing — one fence a few feet outside the other one in case they leap the first one. Then you will have the issue of trapped or impaled deer. Just sayin’.
As for ornamentals, work with your county extension and local nurseries to find those few plants they won’t eat. I’ve spent thousands over the years replacing items.
My short list of what they love to eat:
Arbor vitae
Tomatoes
Hostas
Liriope
Zinnias
Any type of lily
Sunfowers
Tulips
English holly
Impatiens
Geraniums
Azaleas
Hydrangeas
Crysanthemums, if desperate
I’ve had better luck with marigolds, garlic, junipers, Japanese hollies, maples, forsythia, itea, ornamental tall grass (some, but not all), catnip, catmint, clematis, daffodils, phlox, lavender., sage, oregano, and bugleweed—they have survived.
Another smell-repellent thing that works but needs constant replacing is that they dislike the strong perfumey smell of fabric softener, so you can cut dryer sheets in strips and tie them all around the edges of fences. I can’t, because HOA; but maybe you can. Some people have luck with grating Irish Spring bar soap around or even on some of the foliage, but of course that needs replacing frequently. I have had some success with sprinkling coffed grounds on the azaleas.
coffed = coffee
I live in the woods next to a National Forest in deer country but for some reason, they've never bothered my garden. I think they know every house has guns and the occupants like to eat deer.
Bigger problem can be described by a T-shirt I saw a guy wearing the other day - had a pic of a buck and said; Nice truck ya got there. Be a shame if I ran into it.
What about using Cayenne Pepper as a deterrent? Or is there some other pepper that grows that large and is even hotter?
Your local Menards (if you have one) may have Coleus canina Hybrid plants on sale. However, the efficacy of this plant is unproven, so far as I can tell. It might be interesting to have a few FReeper gardeners give them a try in a (non-critical) particular spot, and see what happens. I’m giving it a whirl... :-)
They don’t seem to be interested in tulips of the tulips are plants in the midst of a daffodil bed.
I’ve had mine planted that was and deer will not eat daffodils.
Although, come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing the tulips this year....... hmmmm.....
I’ve heard that deer will browse maples so if you’re trying to start some saplings, it might be good to protect them.
I did that with some maple saplings I started around our property, which is replete with deer.