What have you used that WORKS to keep deer from eating your flowers? (Irish Spring soap shavings?) HELP! Thanks!

[HappyGrace]

We had a terrible problem last year with deer and are about to plant our flower garden and don't want the deer eating our $$$$ investment in flowers! Thanks!

[Serenade]

One thing that has worked for us is rosemary plants.  We had a border of rosemary around our front bed, and the deer never crossed it.    Unfortunately, our rosemary died off in a really deep freeze (0 degrees) a couple of years back, and we have not yet replanted, excepted for a few.  We are trying some lavender as well, which is also supposed to work.  From my personal experience, deer generally do not prefer silvery plants.  I have some beautiful dianthus, and while they have nibbled it a tiny bit in the fall, long past it's blooming time, generally they stay away. 

We have a lot of deer here.  Like I've had herds of deer in my front yard, and I would say the rosemary can be as effective as a fence.

[KungFuPanda]

Just plant stuff they don't like.

[Vida Winter]

10' fence!

[Luckymama]

I fence in the veggies and the fruit gardens. I have 6' tall cages around young trees that are considered to be tasty. The cage is removed once the tree's growing tip is too high for the deer to reach.

 

I follow the recommendations on this list https://njaes.rutgers.edu/deerresistance/for items that cannot be fenced. That beingsaid, dd loves sunflowers something fierce, so we have a netting fence around that bed (it's against the house--not enough room for deer to jump over the fence).

[Orthodox6]

My parents placed fencing around plants needing protection.  Deer would wander clear up to the kitchen eating area window and look in at us!

[Pam in CT]

If there are enough deer -- we've had as many as 20 in our back yard at once -- nothing works except a VERY high fence.  8' minimum.

 

I don't want to feel like I live in a garrison, so we don't have a fence.  There are a lot of plants they don't prefer, mostly ones that have a strong scent (like rosemary referenced above -- many herbs do well).  Over 15 years here, I've managed to find a number of plants and shrubs that they don't prefer.  And I sic my dog on them, and I spread blood meal as fertilizer, and I've cleared out the brush areas that they like to hide their fawns in.  I've managed a reasonable garden, but it's far more limited than it would be in a different habitat/lot and I'd never, ever try vegetables without first reconciling myself to the garrison.

[momto10blessings]

Lots of kids running around. Deer don't come within 100 feet of our house and that's the only reason I can figure.

[Momling]

We have a ton of deer who live nearby and would like to live in our yard. Forget the deer repellant and deer resistant plants and motion activated sprinklers and draping netting over your yummy plants. The *only* thing that works is a high fence.

[redsquirrel]

For just flowers? I planted stuff that the deer wouldn't eat. So, lots of iris and hollyhocks and day Lilly and daffodils and a kind of hosta, there was quite a lot.  We had packs of deer eating the lawn but the flowers were untouched.

[FaithManor]

Uhmmmm do you have males in the house? It has been fairly effective to send them out after dark on a fairly regular basis to "water" the plants as deer tend to shy away from the stron human odor.

[KungFuPanda]

Uhmmmm do you have males in the house? It has been fairly effective to send them out after dark on a fairly regular basis to "water" the plants as deer tend to shy away from the stron human odor.

Who needs boys? Just pee in a cup and DIY! No stressing about the neighbors this way :-)

[FaithManor]

Snort, panda! It is just easier to send the teens out there! LOL