For a large screen bush for the background a photina for zones 4 -24 is really pretty, new growth is is a bronzy red and very pretty. Deer shy away, well they left mine alone when I lived in the mountains. There are 4 varieties, the one I had got to be 10 to 15ft, but it prunes done nicely to whatever size you'd like it to be.
Just a suggestion if you're going to do tall down to small and bedding plants. Sage and lavenders are pretty and don't need care either.

Look in the Western Garden Book for deer resistant plants.
You can also buy some spray at the pet stores called Bitter End or Bitter Apple.
I have to agree with lesdvs on the sage and lavender.
Hummingbirds also luv the sage/salvias.

I have A LOT of Salvias, mainly because nobody eats them. Some are more drought tolerant than others and all need some kind of pruning at least once a year. Some droop, some upright, some mound. Lavenders are good too, but are less colorful than the Salvias. You could work some of your roses in among these as well. i've found that not much bothers the ground roses... of which I have several kinds..... I guess they're too prickly.

Why not a couple of fountain grasses, or even one plotted in pictures can be deceiving but this looks like a lot of space. I like the arch of the plumes and the blowing in the wind and the different colors of the different species. These would be either some of the taller or interspersed with the taller or in front of the taller, I don't believe deer eat them, the year I grew them in the mountains the deer left them alone but them proved to be an annual and died that winter and I didn't try them again. If that interest you double check that one out.

Deer also used to leave my day lillies alone and there's a dwarf variety now I've discovered that repeat blooms all season that comes if some very striking colors. For some of the lower plants.

It also looks to me that you would have better results with almost anything you plant if you add drip irrigation and heavily amend the soil wherever you add plants. this looks to be a very tough, rocky/poor soil and full sun spot that will dry out quickly and not facilitate good growth. Two Salvias that come to mind that will resist deer and take poor soil if they get supplemental water would include the various forms of Salvia leucantha, as well as our native S. leucophylla. Santolina would also do well here, and various of the Phlomis, such as P. fruticosa, lanata, or russeliana.

I know you said you would prefer not to use succulents, but various Aloe species would love this spot, and give great color in winter/spring. You could also combine with the great blue foliage color of Senecio mandraliscae. Various Euphorbia species would also resist deer and take the poor soil conditions, especially E. characias. Some of the South African shrubs like Dietes and Coleonema might also be good choices.

In any case, do add drip irrigation with drip emitters for individual plants, and select plants that can widely spread rather than ones that need close planting if you want to avoid having to soil amend the entire area. Regular applications of compost or soil amendment such as chicken manure and fir bark will also help keep the plants healthy, I use both as mulch.

I can only share with you what deer and rabbit DON'T eat in my yard. Ceanothus, manzanita, some sages, rosemary, (lavender, as some suggested is eaten by the rabbits) rockrose (which comes in pinks and purples) coffeeberry and a bush called dedonia (hopseed bush - turns purple during the winter it you get the purpera (sp?) variety).

By the way, I LOVE your wall and boulders!

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses. I have printed what you all suggested and will share with my hubby. Lesdvs9-I love the English and French lavenders but they do not do well here. Only the Spanish ones seemed to thrive here. I would love to grow some daylilies here and will definitely put some into the ground for color. Bahia- you are so right about adding drip irrigation and ammending the soil. I have started amending compost already. Five big bags seemed like nothing in this big area! I will continue to add ammendments. Gobluedjm, someone gave me a bottle of Liquid Fence which I will try to keep the deers at bay. Is Bitter End or Bitter Apple better? Tressa- thanks for sharing what rabbits and deers don't eat! I do have some sages further up the hill. I will do research on some of the other ones you listed.

I'm a new fan of lantana for ground cover and as a low growing plant, long blooming season comes in a variety of colors and is for your zone also if this was for full sun, I never asked. Doesn't care what soil condition is and maybe the person who commented on ground critters know if they like this and if you have cats, that's not a concern to you, but this sure is pretty and it will spred out 3 to 4 feet depending on the variety.. You can look this up. Very nice and is an evergreen. I think you would like this one in the front, and I think the Spanish lavender is very pretty also. Good luck and what a very pretty place to plant. Leslie

Since you also mentioned gophers (oh, I feel your pain!), you might want to protect each plant's roots with hardware cloth. Those little stinkers have not only stolen whole plants from me, but they've also damaged some to the point where I wished they were dead (the plants and the gophers). :) Then, I smarted up.

It sounds like your plants will have to fight off attacks from all fronts! LOL

Brenda

Boy, what we have to do to garden!!!!!! I guess we wouldn't want it any other way.....(well, maybe, LOL)
Malibu Rose.....thanks for thanking each one of us...makes us feel important!!!! LOL

Hey Malibu Rose - everyone here has terrific ideas. I just wanted to add a few plants I have really fallen in love with and wish I had a place to put - trailing rosemary and creeping thyme. The thyme makes a pink carpet and is great in a rock garden or between stones, and the rosemary cascades with beautiful little blue/purple-ish flowers and dark green foliage, also great with rock gardens. And they smell so good!

And I also have and love scented geranium. I've had them for years. The flowers are non-descript but the leaves have a wonderful smell, especially if they're in a place you might brush them when you walk past (years ago, they lined paths to scent the air).

In some places, these three are annuals, but here they're perenneals. I'm in North Orange County, and I here and in Redondo Beach, I have not found any winter-back.

Best of luck,

Gigi

Yes, I second everyone's addons also and the wall and the rocks are beautiful and when you've planted please take a picture and post your before and a year later an after picture so we can all see what it looks like later. Even if you've taken the ideas and run with your own, it's a beautiful spot with alot of potential and I think we'd all like to see what you end up with. Leslie

Thanks again for more of your comments! I loved your idea of trailing rosemary, Gigi! Where do I get them? I see regular ones which I have in other parts of my property. Creeping thyme sounds great too! As for the geraniums, I love them but so do the deers! I am not giving up! Not even the roses!
Youreit- you are so right about gophers! I wished I had followed your advice when they ate my Iceberg further up the hill. I thought these Icebergs were protected by the chicken wire I had around them but these darn gophers went underground and chewed one of the bush at the main joint completely and it is now gone! I had better get busy researching some of the suggestions and yes, I will post later when I feel I have made some progress. Thank you all for your time and thoughtful advice.

I saw some Rosemary at Target today, I didn't pay much attention to which kind it was though sorry, I like Nature Hills Nursery online to order from, they're very nice. Others might have something better though if you wait. I have some friends in the mountains who do cage their roses, not as pretty that way, but they can still have their roses. What I did before I got cats in the mountains was to plant using a wire mesh encircling my planting hole to try to protect the plant if you still want to try. And adopt a full grown cat, Keep it outside to keep the critters away and don't get a mini rose. I've got a thread going how to keep my cats out of my new mini garden!!
Good luck to you and I'll look forward to your pictures.

The bitter stuff you would spray right on the plant. They take one bite and they will move on and leave it alone.
It could get rather costly with that large area, but if something is blooming then you could use it on the blooms.
My garden center has recommened liquid fence also. THe Western garden book lists deer resistent plants. The link below at gardeners.com has some ideas for animal control.
Everybody has given lots of great ideas, you'll eventually find what works, but that is the fun of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: animal control