In article et, Gary Brady wrote:

I vote for vitex agnus-castus, chaste tree. Makes a large rugged
looking bush or small tree, blooming right now, has foliage that's
smelly when crushed so deer won't touch it, but not poisonous. They're
easy to grow from cuttings and after 10 years the twigs will have caught
up with the 5 gallon plants. Comes in blue, or less common white.

Got any special tips for making the cuttings? I cut a handful of newer growth
and put in water to root. But they never did anything. The bottoms of the
stems looked like they were rotting apart. Maybe I need an older, more woody
stem?

I'll second the suggestion though. I planted a twig last year (that had
already been rooted) -- it was a single stem less than a foot tall. By this
year it is about 3 feet tall and around, and growing daily. And the deer
didn't mess with it at all. I had a small oleander planted, and while they
didn't eat it, they pulled it up.

The only "downside" is that vitex drops its leaves in the winter while
oleander doesn't.

scott