Everyone I speak to lately has deer problems.  People in suburbs that have never had deer suddenly find bucks in the front yard chomping on the daylilies and does in the back munching on the hostas.  If you can't afford deer fencing (or are still saving up to buy it), the best thing to do is plant species that deer find distasteful.  For the spring garden there is nothing like allium, which you should be buying and planting about now.

Alliums are onrnamental onion plants, and they can work in both formal planting schemes as well as cottage gardens.  Kids and adults love the big 'Globemaster' variety, that stands almost three feet tall and has big, round purple flowerheads--sometimes as much as ten inches across.  For contrast, mix your 'Globemasters' with an even taller white allium like 'Mount Everest'.  If you have a container garden, try the shorter 'Blue Drumstick', which has the same round flowerheads on two-foot stems.  The flowers are a lovely sky blue.

Alliums look great in the garden and in arrangements and the spent flowerheads even look good after the blooms are gone.  For a lovely deer-proof planting, mix them with an array of daffodils.  The deer may come and go, but you can still have a great spring garden.