How utterly devastating! My heart goes out to you! Don't quit forever - things will come back. Does sound like a period of mourning is in order, though. Peace be with you.
Susan
P.S. I know a guy with a cross-bow who does depradation....

And I thought I had a huge problem with the bunnies eating my mailbox petunias....

Your situation is beyond sucky. I would have thrown in the towel as well.

I would be heartbroken - and calling fence companies.

I'm so sorry. You must be devastated.

Thanks for the support. We are in a community that only allows a fence from the house back wall (which we do have), but not sides and front. I have a few plants inside the fence that we can still enjoy, so I guess all is not lost (unless they jump in, which they can). And of course, no hunting allowed. What a shame, 'cause I am a trained sharpshooter.
Today I was able to cut some hydrangea flowers way up high that the deer could not reach (yet), and bring them indoors. Because sure enough, they have been back again. Now the perennials are mowed almost to the ground.
Next house, it's venison for dinner at least once a week!
I've considered moving more plants to the back, inside the fence, but that might just tempt the deer enough to learn to jump the fence; not worth it.
BlueBars

The deer population has certainly skyrocketed during the past 10 years. I live between two heavily forested parks. It's a deer crossing zone to be sure!

You can probably save the hydrangeas with a combination of netting and spraying deer repellent. My neighbors swear by a hot pepper concoction. As for everything else in your yard, you'll want to move to different flowers. In part sun, try foxgloves and monkshood. In full sun, any flower with a smell to it will do. Agastache is very nice. The bees love it. Joe Pye Weed attracts butterflies. Grow lots of lambs ear (stachys). It's inexpensive, it spreads nicely and it flowers in full sun. If you need big and dramatic shrubs, look to the vibernum family.

At any rate, unless you decide to move, you're stuck with starting over. And wouldn't you be tinkering anyway after ten years? I know I am!

Bluebars--get thee to a free neighborhood! ;)
I am thankful beyond belief that I don't have a problem with deer. I've got many of the plants that you lost, but they're fine. Perhaps it's because I've always had two dogs and their scent carries even when they're indoors. Maybe it's the major state highway on one side of my property. I don't know and I don't care.
Rats with antlers.

Think of the people injured in car accidents or killed when hitting a deer.

Try a fence. Solid 6 foot or a double fence.

I wonder if you just pegged them with a b-b-gun a few times (its not hunting) that would make them find greener pastures?

Greg

Well Greg, I certainly could, but if I have to sit out there all night with the mosquitos waiting for them, we're having venison. Anyway, I'm sure they have moved on to someone else's garden by now.
BlueBars

BlueBars,

The Deer topped some of my tomatoes last night. They did it last year but I figured it was a drought fluke. Then I used deer netting. I will put it back on tonight. You may want to consider it. It works and is hard to see so your flowers will not be diminished.

Greg

Careful! Some of my neighbors have used netting. One morning they found all their shrubs crushed. Not eaten, just crushed. What the deer cannot eat, they will destroy some other way. They hate marigolds. So one year, I planted marigolds, about a hundred of them. Each one was plucked out by the roots, and left to die. Not eaten, just plucked out and tossed around. I think there was one little lonesome marigold that survived.
I'm not making this stuff up! We even tried barberry bushes with big stickers. The deer stepped on them and broke them all up. I have watched them eat barberry. I don't know how they get around those stickers!
Daffodils are my only salvation. Daffodils are the only thing I have that is really successful. They do bite off a few buds, but so far (fingers and toes crossed) we still have lots of daffodils in the spring.
BlueBars

Bluebars,

Thats and interesting story. I don't doubt it. My good fortune is that my tomatoes are in cages (5 feet tall, 3 feet wide) and the net is held up by the cages. This means that the deer can't crush them.

I suppose your flowers wouldn't have that advantage. You could make some kind of structure to support the netting but this is going pretty far I suppose.

Greg

I knew deer could be destructive, but I had no idea they would destroy plants just for the heck of it!!

Watergal,

I'll bet they were trying to eat the stuff behind the net and just get pushing on it. I can't figure the pulling up flowers part however.

Greg

The pulling up flowers part, I think, maybe they were tasting them as the were gobbling up everything, and then spit out the plants they don't prefer. The marigolds were not well rooted yet, just market pak plants (hundreds of them). So as they were bitten, they came right out. And like the barberry sticker bushes that got trampled to death, they were in the way as the herd chomped on everything in their path.
P.S. They have been back several nights since my original post, eating the perennials almost down to the ground now, and the hydrangeas are stripped all the way to the stems. Like there is no food for them in the forest! This is the worst year I have ever seen. Bambi Go Home!

The deer in my neighborhood stayed out of my garden and on a 3 acre meadow for 13 years. Then they discovered my front yard, the back was fenced in. I was so mad, I built a 6 fooot fence with 3 feet of straight wire 12 inches apart above that. The gates are huge, but I don't care. Now no deer and wonderful growth. It was worth it.

I think you'll have to move your prized plants (like the hydrangea) to the back, where they are protected.

Then you need to establish the "anti-deer zone." Some deer will eat anything at any time. Sounds like you have these deer.

You might want to try paving some areas around the plants you want to put in the front. I've noticed that the deer tend not to touch the hostas that grow along my stone walkways. A wide stone path around shrubs might be something to try. And the shrubs in the front will have to be nasty to deer (viburnum) just to drive home the point.

They've never touched my lavender and rosemary, stachys/lambs ears, agastache, tirella, heuchura or pulminaria. The stachys and pulminaria are low growing and might form a barrier if you plant a wide enough area. The deer will root and sniff and if the first thing they encounter is nasty, they might wander off elsewhere.

And the only other thing I could suggest would be a sprinkler on a motion sensor--although this is your front yard and some human passerby may get a surprise sprinkle!

If you move the prized plants to the back, definitely get one of those motion sprinklers!

I have experienced the same troubles as you with the deer. My house is at the end of the street next to the woods and the deer look at my yard as the all you can eat place.

Last year when it was so dry they were bold enough to come up on my front porch and munch on my window box blooms and containers. My husband I watched in amazement as 3 deer ate all of the flowers except the marigolds. I have yet to find a plant they dislike besides the mentioned daffodil.

We are trying to grow vegtables this year but have put in containers on our back deck. The deer cannot reach them there. I do feel your pain - I have a bare yard with nothing to show for all the weekends of yard work!

Motion sprinklers don't work. The deer think it is raining. So what? They get a nice bath.
Forget paving or stones, they climb right over my stone edging, parade right down the driveway, onto the sidewalk, and leave their droppings right on my front steps. They've already trampled and destroyed my little wire fence, which was no deterrent at all. Hmmm, I've another idea. Rolls of chicken wire. They might not like stepping on that. Naaaah, they would just jump over it. What was I thinking?

I read on another forum that human urine deters groundhogs. My neighbor laughed at me but when she tried it, her groundhog left for greener pastures. Don"t know if it would deter deer or not

Well, you can't move, can you? Try selling your house with your landscape in this condition!

You said your community does not allow a fence. Have you looked into the specifics of that? Do they prohibit only permanent, hard fence structures? If so, you may be able to protect your yard with a soft fence structure that's almost invisible.

You'll need a 7 1/2 ft high fence. Yes, deer jump that high. You'll need to keep it closed or you'll have to keep your driveway out of your fence. You'll need to be vigilant about closing the gate.

I would also contact County Animal Control about your problem, along with your Councilman. Get your neighbors to do the same--and don't take "We can't do anything" for an answer. They CAN do something. Deer poop and ticks are a serious health problem. And it sounds like your yard is being overrun.

I live near two forests, so there's not a whole lot I can do about my deer. I also have a large yard, so I can accomodate them, although raking up deer poop before the kid's birthday party is a pain!

I also have several foundation plantings (holly, viburnum, magnolia) that the deer don't touch. I fill in with as much deer resistant stuff as I can.

The landscape has changed in Maryland. Development has encroached on areas where the deer used to roam and the foxes used to thin them out. And two years in a row of serious drought have made them desparate and quite tolerant of plants they wouldn't normally eat. I noticed the onslaught about six years ago and have been able to convert my yard in the meantime.

Here is a link that might be useful: McGregor Fence Co.

Any updates? Gah, you must be pulling your hair out!
All that time and energy wasted....

We have a fence around the backyard, as allowed. Unless the deer jump in, and they could, I grow whatever I can there. So far, I've been lucky, but any morning it could be all gone. Keeping it to a minimum, so as not to be too tempting. Sometimes kids cut through our yard (without permission BTW), and as long as they don't leave the gate open, the gardens inside the fence will be fairly safe from the deer...
Outside the fence, all bets are off. I think I will gradually just take those gardens out. The perennials are so thin and short now, that weeds are taking over faster than I can manage.
BlueBars

Wolves !! thats the answer!