Do you have a night-time visitor to your garden? Find the foliage on your hostas gone in the morning? Flower buds missing from your rudbeckia or autumn sedums? Then you may have a deer problem. Troy, especially in the northern areas, actually has a fairly large deer population. I have found their trail of hoof prints all along the back of my yard. You can try to keep them away from your favorite plants with deer repellants. You can also plant those plants that they find most unpalatable in your gardens.

There are very few plants that deer will not taste, at least once. Generally they avoid poisonous, pungently scented, fuzzy or prickly foliage plants. However, I've known them to give even these at least one taste in browsing. Though they don't usually return to them. Because deer are browsers they don't tend to eat enough of a plant to totally destroy it, only to make our gardens unsightly. They do the most damage in spring and fall. Here is a least of some of the plants that deer generally will avoid eating:

Ageratum
Amaranth
Castor Bean
Cosmos
Cupflower (Nierambergia)
Dusty Miller
Globe Amaranth (Gomphrena)
Heliotrope (Heliotropium)
Marigold (Tagetes)
Nasturtium (Tropaeolum)
Petunia
Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)
Spiderflower (Cleome)
Sweet Alyssum (Lobularia maritima)
Wax Begonia
Zinnia

Astilbe
Black Cohosh, Black Snakeroot, Bugbane (Cimicifuga racemosa)
Bleeding Heart (Dicentra)
Bugleweed (Ajuga)
Catmint (Nepeta cataria)
Chrysanthemum (Dendrathema)
Coneflower (Echinacea)
Coreopsis
Daffodil (Narcissus)
Dead Nettle (Lamium)
False Indigo (Baptisia)
Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis acutiflora)
Ferns - many varieties
Fleece Flower (Polygonum)
Foxglove (Digitalis)
Gay Feather (Liatris)
Gloriosa Daisy (Rudbeckia hirta)
Iris
Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium)
Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla)
Lamb's Ears (Stachys byzantina)
Lavender (Lavandula)
Lavender Cotton (Santolina)
Lenten Rose (Helleborus orientalis)
Lily of the Valley (Convallaria)
Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium)
Lungwort (Pulmonaria)
Lupine (Lupinus)
Maiden Grass (Miscanthus)
Mayapple (Podophyllum)
Onion, Garlic (Alliums)
Oriental Poppy (Papaver orientale)
Peony (Paeonia)
Prickly Pear (Opuntia)
Rue (Ruta)
Rhubarb (Rheum)
Russian Sage (Perovskia)
Sage (Salvias)
Soap Weed (Yucca elata)
Spider Wort (Tradescantia)
Stone Crop (Sedum acre)
Turtlehead (Chelone)
Thyme and other herbs, except basils
Wild Bergamot, Bee Balm, Horsemint (Monarda)
Yarrow (Achillea)
Yellow Archangel (Lamiastrum)

Barberry (Berberis)
Bayberry (Myrica pensylvanica)
Blackberry (Rubus)
Boxwood (Buxux)
Buckeye, Horse Chestnut (Aesculus)
Catalpa
Currant, Gooseberry (Ribes)
Forsythia
Holly (Ilex)
Honeysuckle (Lonicera)
Hop Tree, Water Ash (Ptelea)
Lilac (Syringa)
Magnolia
Maidenhair Tree (Ginkgo biloba)
Oregon Grape (Mahonia)
Prickly Ash (Zanthoxylum)
Sagebrush, Wormwood (Artemisia)
Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa)
Smoke Tree (Cotinus)
Sirea (Spiraea)