If I recall correctly, Elaine, you're not too far from me in Hunterdon County. When you first planted your viburnum and gray dogwood, how did you keep the deer out?

I have plenty of mature viburnum in the back but have planted new in the front, including gray dogwood (well, this is ending their 3rd season). Each of the last two summers, in one night the deer came through and had a feast, not to the point of killing the shrubs - they have all refoliated - but being defoliated is slowing down progress toward getting to the flowering stage.

Maybe what I need to do is bite the bullet and hire someone to put fencing up around my new plantings until they get above the level of the deers' reach.