One method of protecting your plants from deer and rabbit damage is by the use of Plantskydd Deer Repellent

The following tips are courtesy of Steve Macbe, Coordinator of Research and Education, of the UCSC Arboretum.

Rather than fighting deer, sometimes it is best to choose plants that the deer just don't like. See what works for your neighbors. Unfortunately deer don't read the "deer don't eat" lists. For example, deer don't eat narcissus, but a friend found that the deer had bitten off the narcissus flowers and left them there. Deer may taste any individual plant once, even though that particular deer may never take a bite out of it again. If it is a small, newly planted plant, it may be uprooted. Replant it and put a small cage around it for a while. Some plants will get tougher, less palatable leaves as they age or only be eaten in some seasons (e.g. natives: toyon, coffeeberry and non-natives: some correas - though the correas are nibbled hard in bad deer areas). Once my apricot trees got taller, the deer haven't eaten them much above the four feet level, though the deer could reach higher. Some people cage everything for the first 6-12 months. If a deer trail changes, things that weren't eaten before may be eaten now. Myrica californica, most manzanitas, redbud, and monkeyflowers, and Ceanothus impressus are natives that usually work. Things deer love, like most roses and many ceanothus should be put in a place the deer can't get to. A deer fence around a large area should be seven and a half feet tall or a little taller. Deer tend not to jump even 5-6' solid fences into smaller yards. Though I can't guarantee the short fence will work, it has worked for me for more than a decade. Deer have been known to walk up onto low decks. If you really have some plants you feel you must have that the deer like, you can let aromatic shrubs the deer won't eat grow through the delectable plants. Examples of aromatic plants include most sages (a.k.a. Salvias), bottlebrush or rosemary. Native sages like hummingbird sage or white leaved sage can be used or non-natives like the white, red, orange or yellow-flowered forms of Salvia greggii can be used. Bird netting can be used to cover plants, allowing the deer to crop, not eat the plants, but you may risk catching some birds inadvertently. Wire cages or plastic deer fencing may be safer for the birds and protect the plants a little better.