very sad to see what the deer did., yes, they can be terribly destructive in the garden a real pain in the wazoo to the gardener. (so far) they haven't bothered any of my rare Mexican pines and some of my cypress trees have been (so far) ignored while others have been nibbled unmercifully. my guess is that a mass planting of "monkey puzzles" (araucaria) or "china firs" (cunninghamia) and maybe some redwoods and pines for example MIGHT do o.k. on their own but the deer have proved me wrong on many things before so that's just a guess. you might also try planting lots of scotch broom (cytisus) and gorse (ulex) like we have down here growing "naturally"---sadly the buggers seem to ignore them and go after the good, rare, and expensive stuff, LOL.

Here, this kind of damage is highly seasonal, only occurring during the Nov-Dec. rut ("buck rub"), assuming that is what it is (and not other mechanical damage). I have a lot of deer and it seems that anything new to the landscape will get rubbed. Maybe lucky, but they have not repeatedly rubbed the same tree (though know they can). Among my conifers, I have had damage to...ginkoos, and Cedars, but they have left my hemlocks, Dawn Reds, and Bald Cypress alone (having low hanging branches definitely deduces the risk, which helps the Southern Magnolias greatly, btw). I have worried so much over the years over various trees from this kind of damage. But, the trees have always recuperated, and the injury gets sealed up over the course of two to three growing seasons.

zephyrgal, it's good that you're not letting the deer upset you.

Here (western WA) the bucks can start trashing trees as early as late August, so I need to protect trees from Aug-Dec. I haven't always guessed correctly which trees have become large enough to be left alone. I take the barricades down in January as I don't like to look at them year-round. The deer seem to especially like firs (Abies lasiocarpa, Abies koreana) with their short stiff branches

My husband took this photo this fall. Supply your own caption.

good protection. cool picture. sometimes the only way for plant and critter to co-exist safely together.

Yes, last year my four footed friends rubbed and broke the top of my abies, thankfully, the abies is recovering. Fortunately, I have enough variety planted and it's always interesting to observe what deer will or won't eat. It's such a scrumptious setting that I don't blame the deer. Pictured is momma and one of the siblings, the other little guy is hidden behind the weeping hemlock.

It helps having neighbors clueless about what to plant and so they end up planting a veritable deer smorgasbord.

Deer can see UV colour very well. This winter I experimented with wrapping my yews in the green fine mesh that is sold mainly for keeping birds off fruit bushes. It actually shows up brightly in low light like huge spider webs. I've seen deer hoof marks right up to some yews and turning round. So far there has been no attempt to dislodge the netting anywhere in the garden. I also took the hair from my last home haircut and put it in the string mesh that oranges are sold in and staked the ball at one of the animal entrances to add to the nervousness of any entrant. I urinate in places just to say 'I'm here, I may be around' though it's said urban fringe deer are familiar with human urine. I had a deer in yesterday and chased it off but if you can make them nervous and keep them guessing then they are going to be less comfortable to wander and munch. Try the net, it's very cheap and just wrap and drape, it could be enough to turn a deer away.

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Good comments and ideas from bboy and severnside. Fencing, crates, wraps, hairballs, etc can help and be a deterent. At least I don't have a herd of elk wandering through the garden as has been the bain of those who live north of me. Check out these videos!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b223JztrIRQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obV5Rm2yarI

Here is a link that might be useful: elk herd tour gearhart oregon

Somewhat different context, but in "native" plantings around some of our stormwater ponds and stream restorations, we've surrounded newly-planted groupings of Thuja and Larix with nothing more than steel T-posts, to which we strung orange baler twine in 4 tiers, making sure the lowest is within a foot of the ground-deer like to scoot under stuff-and to date, had no damage. This is not deer-proofing, it is deer-inhibiting, and it seems sometimes that's enough. Then again, there's no saying I won't go to one of these sites some day and find that a deer has entered one of these enclosures, gotten confused and riled up, and tore the place up. Hasn't happened yet though, and at least around here, Thuja is a big icecream cone to hungry deer in winter.

+oM

zephyrgal, here's an Abies lasiocarpa that was badly damaged more than 15 years ago. It was a scrawny tree, likely collected from the wild. Branches were stripped off and the trunk was girdled. I cut the trunk off below the girdling but above the collar of branches remaining at the bottom. Since I did not cut back the new leaders that developed, the tree now has 5 main stems.

On the other hand, later on an Abies amabilis was trashed by a buck, leaving no branches at the bottom. I cut the trunk back, but it didn't survive.

Trees with the bark not completely girdled, I leave and they do recover. Since in nature, I would guess that many trees have had some mechanical damage, I accept that in my yard too.

OK, another deer photo, taken in our yard by my husband last spring

Where I live in western Washington state, the deer appear to browse on grass and forbs in winter, leaving conifers alone. Does anyone know if they munch on the old leaves of the ubiquitous Himalayan blackberry, or only on new shoots?

In my yard, their favorite food are apples. In the fall they lie under the apple trees, apparently waiting for apples to fall. After that their favorite here is Douglas maple, Acer glabrum var. douglasii, which sends out a lot of new shoots in response to browsing.

bboy is right, because of the number of barricades I have to put up, metal enclosures like the one in the buck photo are not economical. But I cannot think of any way to place a deer fence on our lot that will look OK, as the 2.5 acres is very irregularly shaped and is on a visually exposed sidehill.

Deer fences or aggressive dogs, neither of which I have, are the only way I know of keeping deer out of the garden. I don't think deer repellents stop bucks intent on rubbing their antlers.

I've used barriers like the one below to protect trees, and they worked well. (I still have 9 of them corralling rocks we pick up from our lot). However the stiff wire rolls take up too much storage when we take them down for the season, and in addition I cannot install them myself. I disposed of them when we recently replaced our decaying barn with a smaller shed.

In my area deer will destroy any small tree or shrub that I plant unless I cage it, which I have learned to do. Any size shrub or sapling with a small diameter exposed trunk will get rubbed, smoke bush comes to mind. I have planted many green giants and keep them caged until they are about 8ft tall (only about 3-4 years) after that the deer won't touch them, they have proven to be deer proof. An occasional nip and no more.