Deer will eat almost anything if it is convenient, so if this lady's yard is a place where deer are hanging out, you can expect everything growing to be nipped at least a little. I think the only way to have a flower garden is to chase the deer away, or at least make them feel a little less relaxed in the yard.

Deer do eat just about anything. The only thing that truly works are properly built fences. Meaning a fence designed so they can't jump over.

Other good options are buying a somewhat hyper dog to patrol the area or planting a deer-buffer garden. Dogs tend to let some deer slip through many times. They can't be alert 24/7. A deer-buffer garden is a crop of plants that deer really enjoy, such as clover. This garden is placed somewhere away from the plants you want to protect. Far enough away so that the deer will be more likely to travel to it or stop at it while on the way to your protected garden.

I have a border fence of 4x2" wire fencing. I own a large dog that loves to chase deer. Plus, I also keep a lot cut so that the deer have a nice secluded place for them to eat at instead of eating the flowers in my garden. None of those work 100% of the time, but its much better than it used to be.

I used to wake up in the mornings to the sound of deer eating my newly planted flowers right outside my bedroom window, no more than 2 feet from me. I've even had deer come up onto my porch and eat my potted plants there. I later built a nice railing on the porch. Hopping mad that time I was.

It also helps that I hunt on my land though I wasn't going to recommend that option. lol

She could invite several hunters to hunt her woods this fall during gun season. She could tell her local DNR agent that she will allow (oh, say) 4 hunters on her property, or whatever. It is sad that these beautiful animals have been allowed to overpopulate to such an extent. Aside from temporary fencing, she needs some long term solutions. As do we all. I live in a small city, but have a large pond and huge county forest corridor in my back yard. The deer totally decimate everything here, and, of course, no hunting is allowed in this residential area. There is talk of employing sharpshooters to take down the population. Most of us will sadly recommend it.

If you combine the idea of having something they like to eat away from the house, with planting things they don't generally like to eat near the house, it may be successful (though the fence is the only real guarentee.) Google 'deer resistant plants' or 'deer proof plants' to get lists of plants they do not tend to eat.

I live in a deer migratory route and the only thing that works for me is liquid fence and it does work. Follow the directions and spray every month and your problems pretty much are gone. Works on bunnies and chipmunks also except the chipmunks do munch some - just takes them time to realize it doesn't taste good. LOL

If you use this product just spray upwind so you don't have to smell it much and it doesn't get on your clothes. You will never smell anything worse... LOL The smell for us goes away after it dries. Imagine road kill, rotten eggs and anything else that is disgusting and it's in this smell.

If you're going to commit to a garden then commit to a fence. I recommend an electric one, monitored 12 months out of the year. The contrast between the fenced and unfenced area will be unbelieveable. I don't understand why planting clover will deter deer in Winter.
Deer are creatures of habit, once they learn to steer clear from the electric fence they will go elsewhere.
Sam

Thank you so much for all the suggestions. She is in her 80's and has lived on this property for appx. 60 years. A fence is out of the question. The expense of it would be enormous for the property. I think she is just looking for something in her last few years to take her back to the way it used to be. Then the deer problem entered into the picture. I will try the solution you apply and see how it works. Once a month would work out. I think you are right about them not having any fear. I was out looking at the area she wants to save some perennials from and up the hill they come. Almost like they are pets. Hunting may be a solution to the problem too. She may go for that. Again, thanks so much.
Terri Meyer

Would it be possible to pick a smaller area lined by trees, and put strings of wire around it? Not to name drop, but Martha Stewart had a similar problem, and when I got to meet her several years ago, I asked her how she solved it and she said that they ended up stringing single lines of wire around a perimeter of trees.........at about 2', then 4', then 6', then 9'. It might not be very expensive, just stringing single wires up around the area closest to her house, if possible. But, of course, you'd still have bunnies to deal with, and they have big appetites too!

I had deer problems too till I bought Liquid Fence. They used to eat my tulips and roses but not this year. One good dose lasts a long time. They don't eat daffodils, at least they haven't yet. Irises they don't touch either. Just a few ideas.

The web site link attached has a nice list of plants that deer rarely eat and another list of plants that deer love to eat... so you can choose from one list and stay away from the other.

Here is a link that might be useful: nice deer plant lists

OK, I saw the comment that it's sad deer have been "allowed to overpopulate". More like forced to! Now don't jump all over me, deer are a problem. Seriously, I'm not trying to start a fight. I don't disagree with hunting, it's necessary. But the reason it's so is because WE diminished the natural habitats and extinguished most of the natural predators. Hunt the deer, but have no delusions that THEY are the problem. WE are. (Okay, off soapbox now)

I usually don't post here,but perhaps my suggestion will help. I use all kinds of old wire, barbed, perferabley woven or chicken netting. Lay it on the ground where the deer need to cross before getting to your apple trees or whatever. They will not cross the fence! Under my trees around my shade garden, it works like magic. Good Luck !

Posie, I agree with you. Wire fencing laid on the ground and held down with landscape pins works really well.

aisgecko,

In my neck of the woods, what you said is 100% correct. They're animals that like the "edges" of habitats..and what happens when a woods is cleared to build is that they've been given a lot more edges!

How about erecting a fence around a smaller plot to grow plants in safety.Thats what I did.I have a fifty by twenty five foot plot surrounded by a six foot high fence where I grow flowers and veggies.The deer have never jumped it,although they could,I guess because of its small size.All shrubs outside this fence are individually surrounded by their own five foot high fence,if they are under five foot high themselves,to prevent winter browsing;very heavy here.On the rest of my property tall brows-resistent perrenials,goldedrod,blackberries,jewelweed;outgrows everything,first to be eaten; are all allowed to florish thru the summer to hide the many native perrenials I have seeded thru out the area.Occasionally I even get one of them to bloome.This solution is not quite astheticly satisfactory,but I don't want to live surrounded by a seven foot high fence either.

Put bar scented soap around it

>Does anyone know of a fantastic web site that lists plants? Or even a book?

I'd highly recommend the book "Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden" by Rhonda Massingham Hart. It has more information in it than if 50 different people posted their helpful tips for you, and the book is well worth the price. Get the second edition if you can, though the first is no throwaway. If you're as desperate for ideas as I was, the book seems to start off a little slowly, expecting you to understand something about the animal itself before you start scheming to keep it from eating up your yard. And eventually you wind up appreciating that; it's helpful in understanding all the ideas to follow. Many, many ideas do follow, far too many to start in listing them here. It's easy reading that's well-written and well-organized, with illustrations where needed.

A fantastic web site is found here: http://www.deer-departed.com/. Even with this wonderful website, I think you are still better off having the book too, because the basic deer knowledge you'll get in the book is helpful.

The one piece of information that I don't think I saw in the book: a six-foot fence will work on the Eastern white-tailed deer (that are a bit smaller then the kind found in the West) if the fence is solid and cannot be seen through. A deer wants to see where it's going to land before it takes off jumping over something like a fence. Our six-foot solid wooden fence around a portion of our yard has successfully protected that area for decades now.

Note: Don't expect Liquid Fence to bring you good luck past the two-week mark, and sometimes, when it rains a lot, it won't go two weeks. But Liquid Fence is the brand we ended up settling on after reading and comparing ingredient concentrations of similar products.

One of the interesting ideas in the book is to string a strand of dark fishing line around the area to be protected, making it tight enough that the deer will bump into it, not seeing or noticing it in the dim light when they usually come around. Deer do instinctively run from a sudden touch and they'll recall that your yard is a scary place. (They have good memories.) You need to make sure that the fishing line is high enough off the ground that small children won't run into it.

Last thought: a hungry, starving deer will eat anything, even things it ordinarily won't bother with. Ours, after gobbling up around $125 worth of crocus bulbs, ate about two feet off the top of a young dogwood tree. Then the next night they came back for the last two feet of the tree, eating it right down to the ground.

Good luck with your deer problems!
Mary

Here is a link that might be useful: Book - Deerproofing Your Yard & Garden

they make a sprinkler that activates when it picks up movement. Might be a simple idea for the lady. Might not be to good during the winter though.