Mystery Solved: Hungry Critters ARE Garden Vandals!

My online research has led me to the discovery that deer love noshing on flowers, especially sunflowers!  I also examined my parent's hydrangea, which has become the main course of numerous late night deer feasts this summer.  My parent's hydrangea and the plants in the Patch bear the same random pattern of missing flowers and leaves.

So, now what?  The most obvious (and expensive) solution is to construct a fence to keep the deer out of the garden.  Another solution is to plant fragrant plants, such as lavender, in the garden to mask the scent of tasty plants.  One website suggested dropping powerfully scented soap shavings throughout the garden area to accomplish the same goal.  Other options include scaring the deer away with a "scare deer" that looks like a person, wolf, or bear.  Many resources suggest leaving bags of human hair in the garden.

Now I know that posting signs, which I mentioned as a solution in a previous entry, won't work, unless we figure out a way to teach the deer to read!

In any case, we need to implement something immediately before our garden is completely decimated.