Gardening for coexistence

Strategic planting, deterrents & fencing that actually work

Living alongside deer and other wildlife doesn’t mean giving up your garden — it means gardening a little smarter.

With some strategy most yards in Montclair can strike a balance where deer and other wildlife pass through without being a nuisance.

A combination of proven dense, deer-resistant planting, and/or motion-activated deterrents, repellents and/or fencing handles the vast majority of residential conflicts.

The good news: many of these strategies and techniques work for other wildlife that tend to munch our Montclair gardens equally — rabbits, groundhogs, squirrels. Montclair Animal Control has a detailed guide to coexisting with smaller wildlife, species by species.

Quick resources

Our favorite resource on humane, sustainable gardening is Nancy Lawson, The Humane Gardener.

Plant densely, plant smart

Deer are creatures of habit and efficiency. An open, easy-to-browse yard with a few prized ornamentals scattered around is an invitation. A densely layered landscape — where deer-resistant plants crowd out easy sightlines and easy snacks — is a deterrent in itself.

Design tips

  • Layer your plantings. Combine trees, shrubs, and groundcover so there’s little open, “grazeable” lawn near the plants you most want to protect.
  • Put your most tempting plants in the middle or close to the house. Deer are cautious near human activity and structures — use that instinct as a buffer zone.
  • Border vulnerable beds with deer-resistant plants. A thick perimeter of unappetizing texture and scent (fuzzy, spiny, fragrant, or bitter foliage) discourages deer from pushing further in.
  • Protect newly planted trees with a wrap or temporary fence until they are mature. This will prevent deer antler rubbing from harming the trunk.
  • “Interesting — my friend’s house backs up to open farms. They don’t even have a fence, but they surround their entire veggie garden with marigolds and the deer don’t touch their plants.”

What you’re doing is actually moving the deer around your landscape yourself and deflecting the herbivory away from the plants that you really like.

Oswald Schmitz, Yale University professor of population and community ecology
Design for coexistence infographic
Design for coexistence.

Deer-resistant plants for Northern NJ yards

This is drawn from Rutgers Cooperative Extension’s list of landscape plants rated for deer resistance, developed with nursery professionals, Rutgers NJAES staff, and Rutgers Master Gardeners in northern New Jersey. Another great list comes from the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Many of the plants on this list are native, benefitting other wildlife as well.

Driving around Montclair you can see many beautiful, lush, native, thriving gardens.

Startle-based deterrents: motion-activated sprinklers

Motion-activated sprinklers work by combining a sudden burst of water with movement and noise — enough to startle deer without harming them. Some Montclair residents swear by these. A great idea as well if you are not able to install fencing due to topography.

A few things to know

  • Placement matters. Position units to cover approach paths and vulnerable beds, not just open lawn.
  • Rotate location and pattern periodically. Deer can habituate to a predictable deterrent over time; moving the sprinkler or adjusting timing keeps it effective.
  • Pair with plant choices. Sprinklers work best as one layer of a broader strategy, not a standalone fix.
  • Consider your neighbors and foot traffic. Aim away from sidewalks and shared paths.

Fencing: a reliable long-term solution

Fencing is widely considered the gold standard for protecting a yard from deer — it’s humane, and highly effective when done right. Many residents already use fencing for privacy and dog protection, making it a commonly accepted tool.

Avoid fencing with spiked tops. Deer and other wildlife have been known to be injured or impaled on them. The same caution applies to any fence an animal can be caught in — soft netting, narrow vertical rails, and wrought iron.

Key considerations

  • Height matters most. Deer are excellent jumpers; fencing generally needs to be tall (commonly cited guidance is 7–8 feet for full exclusion) to reliably deter them. Montclair residents also report deer staying away from yards with 4-foot fencing.
  • You don’t have to fence the whole yard. Targeted fencing around vegetable gardens, prized ornamental beds, or young trees is often enough — save full-perimeter fencing for yards with persistent wild visitors.
  • Choose fencing wildlife can’t get caught in. Skip soft plastic netting, which can snare and strangle birds and other animals, and avoid vertical metal rails and wrought iron, which can trap deer by the head and neck. If you use a metal grid, make sure the openings are large enough for rabbits, snakes, and turtles to pass through freely, but small enough that deer can’t get caught.
  • Consider aesthetics. Options range from unobtrusive mesh to more decorative styles; many homeowners choose to fence specific beds rather than the whole yard.
  • Double fencing works well in tighter spaces. Two shorter fences set a few feet apart can be as effective as one tall fence, since deer struggle to judge distance across parallel barriers — useful where an 8-foot fence isn’t practical or permitted.
  • Use shrubs as fencing. Deer need to see inside the place they are jumping and they don’t like narrow spaces. Plant a tight hedge, or install a lower fence with a tight row of shrubs or hedges inside.
  • “I thought I needed an 8 foot fence, but no deer browsing since I installed my 4 foot fence.”

Repellents: taste and scent deterrents

Repellents work by making plants smell or taste unappealing to deer, rather than physically blocking access. They’re a useful layer for beds where fencing isn’t practical, but they require consistency — a repellent applied once and forgotten won’t do much.

Commercial repellents

These tend to be tested and formulated for effectiveness, and many now include “sticking agents” that help them adhere to foliage through rain — some brands claim protection for up to five weeks before reapplication is needed. They come as ready-to-use sprays, concentrates you mix with water, or dust-on solids.

What Montclair residents say

Residents use njdeercontrol.com, a natural spray service — a safe and convenient method of deterrence.

  • “My cousin’s business specializes in deer control. They use a natural spray that is harmless to people and pets but works great to repel deer.”
  • “We have found deersolution.com to work! We have almost an acre, unfenced, and I have seen a huge change. They come once a month and spray the things in your yard that the deer eat.”
  • “Do it yourself. Use a product called Liquid Fence. It’s a spray application. We use it with great success. It’s about $30 a gallon.”
  • “Bobbex works well regularly sprayed on the plants they eat. This year I just threw some netting over my hydrangeas, hostas and yew and that seems to be a deterrent.”
  • “I used that liquid deer repellent, DeerBGone. Smells like sulfur and eggs. You need to reapply it after a big rain. It worked very well!”
  • “I bought Deer Scram and sprayed it, seems to be working.”
  • “I used to use little cheese cloth bags full of blood meal attached to branches inside of bushes and had great luck.”
  • “I use Deerstopper once a month like clockwork. It works.”
  • “Liquid Fence is amazing! You do have to be diligent and apply at least weekly. After a while, the deer learn and leave your garden alone. I also plant a lot of marigolds and Russian sage around the garden.”
  • “This year we sprayed Bobbex on the plants they like the most (e.g., hostas, tulips) every 3–4 weeks and saw a major improvement over last year.”

Homemade repellents

A commonly recommended recipe

Blend 2 cups water, 5 cloves garlic, 1 cup chopped onion, and 5 tablespoons powdered hot pepper. Let stand 24 hours, strain, then mix with 1 gallon of water and apply with a sprayer.

  • Egg-based sprays are generally considered the most effective homemade option — the smell mimics predator scent cues deer instinctively avoid.
  • Human hair or pet fur in mesh bags, hung about 3 feet up near vulnerable plants, uses the same predator-scent principle.
  • Expect more frequent reapplication. Homemade repellents are inexpensive but typically need reapplying more often than commercial products, and tend to work best in smaller plantings rather than large areas.

Application tips for any repellent

  • Apply before deer start browsing, not after. Once they’ve found a food source, repellents are much less effective at driving them off.
  • Spray from the ground up to about 6 feet, since that covers a deer’s typical browsing height.
  • Reapply after heavy rain. Even light rain can cut effectiveness significantly.
  • Rotate between different repellents (scent-based and taste-based) so deer don’t habituate to a single deterrent.
  • Focus first on your garden’s perimeter and on deer favorites (hostas, roses, tulips, daylilies) — treating the outer edge heavily creates a scent barrier before deer reach anything else.
Deer coexistence one-pager infographic
Deer coexistence at a glance.

Spread the blame

Deer are often held solely responsible for the state of our forests. The causes are more varied than that — climate change and logging among them.

An emerging and frightening culprit is the Asian jumping worm.

Soil is the foundation of life — and Asian jumping worms change it. In fact, earthworms can have such huge impacts that they’re able to actually reengineer the ecosystems around them.

Mac Callaham, USDA Forest Service soil researcher

Jumping worms devour the leaf litter that forms the top layer of forest soil — the layer that seedlings, fungi, and countless small creatures depend on. What they leave behind has the texture of coffee grounds and holds neither water nor nutrients well. Where they take hold, the forest floor stops regenerating.

They have been confirmed in Essex County and in residents’ own yards. New Jersey is one of at least 38 states with sightings.