California Gardening: Rats on stilts ate my tobacco!, 1 by nmcnear

nmcnear wrote:
I have a difficult place in my yard under a large Myoporum laetum tree - it gets dappled sunlight throughout most of the day, which narrows down plant choices on its own, but the real problem is that there are tons of deer around here that aren't afraid of people or dogs and eat just about anything in people's yards. A few days ago I bought a couple Nicotiana alata "Crimson Bedder" plants, hoping that would solve the problem since they are both shade tolerant and poisonous. But this morning when I looked out the window, I saw that both plants, which were previously at least 12" tall and growing fast with many large leaves, had been eaten nearly to the ground by the deer! So much for them being deer proof?

Are these plants actually poisonous enough to deter predators? Will they make the deer sick (preferably severely) so they will not eat tobacco in the future? I was looking forward to seeing the beautiful blooms on these plants, but I guess that's been delayed a bit until they recover - that's assuming they will recover eventually? If these plants aren't enough to deter the deer, does anyone have any other suggestions for shade tolerant, deer resistant species? The area is irrigated and gets watered by the sprinklers every other day I believe, so drought tolerant plants aren't necessary. I would prefer something evergreen if possible and that stays under about 36", since they are going under a window. I am a beginner and don't know much about the soil, but because the tree above is constantly shedding leaves, flowers, and berries, there is a relatively thick layer of decayed organic matter on top that I presume would be fairly rich in nutrients.

On the bright side, I also planted a couple ferns yesterday also in this spot, Pyrrosia lingua "Variegata" and Dryopteris erythrosora "Prolifica", and the deer have left them alone. I like ferns, but because they grow so slowly, filling this spot up with them would take forever and/or be extremely expensive (the area in question is about 8' x 15' I'd say?). Thanks in advance for any help!