A new mural in downtown Montgomery aims to highlight the history of the rapidly growing city. 
Montgomery’s history dates back to the 1800s and a livery stable would have been seen in the city’s downtown, historians say.
After getting three livery tokens discovered near their property, Anthony and Rebecca Noreiga of Texas and Beyond and North Houston Art Gallery commissioned a mural to commemorate the history of the building that once served visitors conducting business at the former courthouse or shopping in town. 
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The mural — displayed on a wall of the North Houston Art Gallery off Liberty Street — depicts two men, one who works at the stable and the other dropping off his horse. In the background, “Easter eggs” are scattered all across the mural that showcases Montgomery’s history, such as the Texas flag, the old Methodist Church and the famous goat that would hang around town begging for water. 
But as the star of the mural, the stable stands above everything else. 
Rebecca Noreiga said commissioning the mural was a way to preserve history. “We want folks to come down and appreciate it,” she said. 
Learning about local history
When the Noreigas first moved into the downtown area, they inherited three livery tokens. 
Brothers Billy Ray and Donald Duncan found the tokens in the early 1990s after doing some metal detecting near the property across from the N.H. Davis Pioneer Complex and Museum.
In the 1800s a livery was a stable where horse owners paid a weekly or monthly fee to keep their horses. Montgomery’s history dates back to 1837 and a livery stable would have been common in the city’s early history. 
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The Duncan brothers have been prospecting in the historic city for decades. In 1994, on what was then a vacant lot across from the museum, they found these three tokens with the numbers 19, 18 and 4. 
On finding them, Billy Ray said he thought they were probably livery claim checks because they knew there had been a livery stable in the area due to historic records. 
The tokens were used to claim the owner’s horse that was staying there. 
Mural serves as inspiration
Local artist Amy McCain grew up in Montgomery, which made her feel that she was a good candidate to paint the mural. After being commissioned, it took her about three weeks in May to finish the mural, she said. 
Prior to the Montgomery mural, she was commissioned to paint a mural that depicted Conroe in 1942. Being a part of Montgomery’s history is something that she loved about painting the mural.
“I think it’s really fun to be a part of, because my grandfather grew up in one of those houses in the Historic District,” McCain said. “It just makes me feel proud to contribute. I think it’s really great that (the Noreigas) are keeping the history of Montgomery going.” 
Working on the mural has already inspired her, she said. 
“It was kind of an eye opener for me,” McCain said. “It makes me feel like I just want to get more involved.”
Visitors and residents of the city are encouraged to view the mural and take pictures. 
The Noreigas have owned the property at 14259 Liberty St. since 2022. The property was previously Pecan Hill Florist. 

The Texas vineyards along the Gulf Coast have been harvested of their hybrid grapes. The vineyards further inland containing the vitis vinifera, being the classic wine grapes, are maturing nicely with expectations of another great grape harvest in Texas.  Vineyard owners and winemakers have a lot of promising fruit coming along in various vineyards. Here is what they have to say:
Pedernales Cellars
David Kuhlken, Co-Owner and Executive Winemaker, Pedernales Cellars
Our estate Kuhlken Vineyards, still in young-vine mode from replanting several years ago, is looking good and vigorous and we expect to get 1 or 2 tons of fruit from it, with first pick in the latter half of July. Quality is on track given the generally moderate temps and timely rains.  We expect to get the majority of our fruit from the Texas High Plains, where everything is looking better than most of the last few years. At the moment, most of our vineyards appear to be carrying anywhere from 2 to 5 tons an acre on most blocks, with only a couple trending toward higher yields. Thankfully, almost all of our vineyards have hail nets, which has helped reduce hail-damaged fruit. In all, harvest is trending well and we expect to our first High Plains harvest to be Viognier around the first two weeks in August and the rest of the varieties to be on schedule over the course of September.  
Spicewood Vineyards
Ron Yates, Owner, Spicewood Vineyards
Harvest is looking quite promising is on track to be about two weeks early in the Texas Hill Country. Bud break occurred in February instead of March so it’s not surprising that we are ahead of schedule for verasion. We have had abundant rain – about 13 inches since March – so everything is looking good. We will harvest Sauvignon Blanc first, probably in mid-July. While our crop will be slightly smaller than last year’s record estate harvest, we are excited about the quality of the fruit. We also get fruit from the Texas High Plains and far west Texas in Dell City. It has been unusually hot in Dell City so I expect to get that fruit in before the High Plains.
Bending Branch Winery
Dr. Bob Young, Co-Owner and Executive Winemaker, Bending Branch Winery
We are looking forward to quality fruit from across the state. Spring hail caused mixed levels of damage for a few of the Texas Hill Country vineyards where we get fruit. And in general, the wetter spring and summer had a lot of benefits, but in many cases, it has also created additional work in the vineyards. We are expecting fruit to begin arriving mid-July. Again this year we are working with around 30 different vineyards and approximately 30 different grape varieties. This will be our second harvest of Charbono from Tallent Vineyards, and we are eagerly anticipating higher yields from these vines after another year of development.Tallent Vineyards in Mason County, which has avoided hail damage and enjoyed good rains this spring and summer, is expecting a good quality crop. Fruit from a couple of the vineyards located closest to Bending Branch is also looking really good. 
Duchman Family Winery
Dave Reilly, Winemaker, Duchman Family Winery
The 2024 crop is looking terrific – a big crop, coming in a bit earlier than usual, and excellent quality. We source our fruit from some of the most experienced Texas High Plains growers. Our 18-years-long relationship allows us to make last-minute decisions on the absolute best time to harvest based on the weather and fruit maturity. We expect harvest to kick off in August, with Roussanne coming in first, followed by Vermentino. For the reds, Sangiovese will be the first, followed by Montepulciano and then Aglianico.
Texas looks to have another great winemaking year!
Ron Saikowski may be reached at rsaikowski@comcast.net. 

Twisters
Rated PG-13 for intense action and peril, injury images and some languageRotten Tomatoes Score: 77% at time of writingIn Theaters
I have very fond memories of the original 1996 Twister as I was attending the University of Oklahoma (Boomer Sooner!) as it was being filmed.  And to give the film gravity, I saw a tornado as I was driving home from the theater.  Talk about a scary moment!  So now, almost 30 years later, we are getting Twisters, which sounds like a sequel, but actually doesn’t have any relationship with the original, other than it is about life-threatening tornadoes in Oklahoma.  
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung (director of the multi-Oscar nominated film Minari) the film follows a young woman (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who is a smart young meteorologist who loses three friends during an attempt to do tornado research.  After her tragedy, she moves to New York but is lured back when one of her former research buddies (Anthony Ramos) gives her a new opportunity to finish her studies.  But while attempting to once again tame a tornado, she meets a tornado chasing YouTuber (Glen Powell) who seems like a dangerous villain at first, until she starts to get to know him better.  
And of course, all of this is set in the middle of a bunch of storm chasing with maybe too many deadly tornadoes destroying everything in their path.  While I was looking forward to watching the film, based on seeing the trailer, I wasn’t expecting a whole lot.  The original was a guilty pleasure, and I expected this one to serve as much the same.  But there is a lot to like here, and the two-hour experience should be a thrill for most audiences.  Yes, it is a big, loud roller coaster of a film, but I really liked the characters, the story and the special effects-driven adrenaline rush.  
Director Lee Isaac Chung, who was so impressive with his film Minari, with help of The Revenant screenwriter Mark L. Smith, infuse the action with organic but fun characters who really help you get invested in the plot, even if it is a bit unrealistic.  And while the acting is good throughout, actor Glen Powell really drives the movie through both action and romance as he attempts to both chase storms, while at the same time chasing the leading actress, pushing the audience to really hope they change the world and possibly even end up together.  
The icing on the cake here is a terrific soundtrack that I can’t wait to check out in my car once it is released.  It has a Top Gun kind of feel, only with some rocking country music filling both the quiet and the action-packed sequences.  And by the end you get an even better Twister movie, with better action, better characters, and much better storytelling.  B+
Danny Minton may be reached at danny@dannyminton.com. 

    “Are you ready to be scared?”    That’s the fragment of a conversation I overheard in the lobby of Main Street Theater before heading into their production of “The Woman in Black.” But having just eked through Hurricane Beryl and the days without power in the Houston heat that followed in its wake, I was sure nothing could scare me except maybe the words, “CenterPoint” or “Entergy!” As I awaited the dimming of the theater lights, I couldn’t help wondering if Main Street hadn’t been cursed by having a horror story on its schedule just as its audiences would be trying to recover from the horrors, both petty and great, of a hurricane.
    They were not.    For despite its tricks with lights and veiled Victorian women floating on and off the stage, Main Street’s “The Woman in Black” trumpets the power of theater—even theater whittled down to bare bones–to explore and work to exorcise our nightmares and fearful memories. Based on a novel by British author Susan Hill, this adaptation by British actor Stephen Malatratt opened in a pub in 1987 and ran in London’s West End from 1989 to 2023—the second longest playing non-musical (outpaced only by Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap”) in English theater. It knows what it is doing, and, not surprisingly, it has actors and acting at its heart.
    An older man, Arthur Kipps (Ian Lewis) has hired a young actor (Danny Hayes) to help him stage a reading to his friends and relatives of an account of his ghostly encounter when he traveled into the northeastern edge of England to settle the estate of the elderly woman, Mrs. Alice Drablow. But when Kipps’ reading is dull and prosaic, the actor insists that he dramatize, act it out, and with the blink of the lights, the two men switch roles: the actor becomes the young Kipps experiencing the encounter, and Kipps enacts the frightened locals who shy from visiting Mrs. Drablow’s aptly named Eel Marsh House and try to steer Kipps from going there. But go he does, and the haunting ensues—all brought to life with lights, sound effects, and brilliant acting on the part of Hayes and Lewis who even manage to bring to life a never seen dog—Spider—that they interact with.
    In short, director Philip Hays has done a masterful job of polishing this gem of an English script and transplanted it beautifully onto Main Street’s stage. He has blocked the movements of his actors in their claustrophobic space to create illusions of a host of unstagables: a horse-driven cart, a railway car, a cemetery, and a deadly causeway into the marsh. Moreover, he keeps a steady pace, never rushing toward the thrill moments yet letting them have a full run when they arrive. His work is amply supported by Jodi Bobrovsky’s ingenious set design, Andrew Archer’s lighting, and Shawn W. St. John’s sound design. These mesh to evoke the tangible and the supernatural, the explainable and the terrors of the unconscious.
    Though I found the script’s ending a big foggy, I’m not sure fog is a bad thing in a play such as this whose focus is not solvable mysteries but inner ones that have to be dealt with. And, sitting in the dark of the theater certainly helped my thoughts drift away from the harsh things just beyond the theater doors. Did you read in the paper about our odds for another visitation by a hurricane?
“The Woman in Black” is at Houston’s Main Street Theater through Aug. 11.
Robert Donahoo is a professor at Sam Houston State University and writes theater reviews for The Courier.         

Nominees for the 2024 Texas Country Music Awards have been announced and a Montgomery County radio station and several local performers are on the list. 
Five finalists were selected in each category and the public can vote on the awards through Aug. 15 at the Texas Country Music Association website. 
Winners will be announced Nov. 10 at Billy Bob’s Texas in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The top fan and industry-voted awards are in 26 categories related to Texas Country music and Christian Country music as organized by the Texas Country Music Association. 
Here’s what to know about the Montgomery County nominees:
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KVST K-Star Country 99.7 FM
The radio station based in Montgomery County with a headquarters near Lake Conroe has been nominated for Terrestrial Radio Station of the Year. 
The station has a 25-year plus history in the community providing local information along with a mix of new Country, classic Country and Texas/Red Dirt country. 
Mary McCoy and Larry Galla host “The Larry and Mary Show” with classic Country from 10 a.m. to noon weekdays.
McCoy, 86, is the Guinness World Records title holder for the longest female radio DJ. She’s been on the air in Conroe for 73 years. Another fan favorite is the Funny Farm from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays with Lisa Christi and Producer Josh. 
Other K-Star on-air personalities include Brad Witt, Dave Horton, Cindy Bell, Kelly McClain and Doc who works the weekend airwaves.
“K-STAR Country is proud to be nominated as the radio station of the year for the Texas Country Music Awards,” Christi said. “We sincerely appreciate all of the listeners that nominated us and we’re also extremely happy to see many of our local favorites on the list too. I’m so blessed that our station is independently owned and they allow us to share Texas music in regular rotation with our community. We truly do appreciate the support.”
Payton Riley 
After winning Young Artist of the Year in the younger than 18 category in 2023, Conroe native Payton Riley is up for the honor again in 2024. 
She started singing at age 7 and wrote her first song at age 9, performing it on the Dosey Doe Big Barn stage in The Woodlands. To kick off 2024, she is now performing with a band and had the Conroe venue Table at Madeley’s first sold out show in January. 
Earlier this year, she appeared on the television show “American Idol.” She sang her original song “Fireflies.” She did not move on to the next round, but the judges were impressed and want to see her keep growing as an artist and return in a few years.
“I am honored to be named a finalist for the TCMA Young Artist of the Year,” she said. “(Fan support) would mean the world to me as I strive to win this prestigious award at the upcoming TCMA Award Show at Billy Bob’s in Fort Worth. Thank you for recognizing all the hard work and dedication I have put into my music.”
Payton Howie 
Payton Howie’s bio says she’s leading the next generation of redneck women. The singer/songwriter with ties to Willis is up for “Female Artist of the Year.” 
In 2023, she was named Texas Country Music Awards Emerging Artist of the Year.
Her debut EP, “Youngblood” — a nickname for her hanging around seasoned musicians — has been streamed more than 2 million times on Spotify.
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Josh Ward 
In 2020, singer/songwriter Josh Ward, of Montgomery, brought home “Entertainer of The Year” and “Country Album of The Year” for “Live at Billy Bob’s.”
This year he’s up for Male Artist of the Year. 
Ward grew up in Montgomery and competed in bareback bronc riding in high school. But he also liked playing guitar and the country music legends.
With encouragement from his friends, he soon figured out he was better at singing and playing guitar than on the rodeo circuit and his music career was launched.
Now he plays across Texas and has shows booked in Arkansas, Nashville and Alabama later this summer. 
Worth a mention 
While not from Montgomery County, these artists often play in Conroe including Johnny Falstaff, the Will Carter Band, Curtis Grimes and Tionna Campbell and are also nominated for awards. 

Hurricane Beryl left 75 percent of Montgomery County residents without power. 
This was a tough week for many of us. Trees fell on cars, roofs, roads and throughout the county. Gas was a premium commodity especially with the need to keep our generators working as back-up power. It seems a little crazy to tell you about upcoming events this week, but hopefully power is restored, and you will want to do something to make you laugh a little louder and make your smile a little brighter. 
I have listed a few community events that might make that happen. 
This is the last weekend to see “Beauty and The Beast” at the Crighton Theatre presented by Stage Right through Sunday, July 21. CrightonTheatre.org
Magic returns to the Owen Theatre on Wednesday, July 17th at 7:30pm with Comedy Magician C.J. Johnson at Conroe Conjuring. It is family fun and interactive show with an expert hypnotist. His awards include Hynotist of the Year, Best Comedy Magic Show, Best Game Show, and Outstanding Novelty Awards. Tickets available at OwenTheatre.com
McDonald’s will host a Coffee with a Cop event on Wednesday, July 17 from 7:30 am to 10:30 am at 821 West North Loop 336. Guests are invited to enjoy a complimentary cup of coffee and dessert, engage in conversations with local law enforcement officers, and experience police and emergency vehicles up close. Talk to our local Conroe PD officers and build community connections!
It is also the last weekend for The Players Theatre Company fundraiser at the Owen Theatre. “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” has showings for Thursday, July 18- Sunday, July 21. Audiences will be able to purchase “props” to be used during the performance, so please leave your water pistols, newspapers, rice, and hot dogs at home. Tickets for are available at OwenTheatre.com.
For something different, go to the Lone Star Convention Center Friday, July 19th or Saturday, July 20th for the Balloon Glow and Laser Show. There will be a Kids Zone, games, rides, live music, vendor booths, and hot air ballons! Tickets: https://bit.ly/3xMxmwl 
Help our local business owners by remembering to shop and patronize the restaurants downtown as much as possible. The stores are not crowded and have AIR CONDITIONING!
Enjoy the summer!
Margie Taylor may be reached at margie@taylorizedpr.com. 

Hurricane Beryl turned out to be a windy situation with about six inches of rain.
There was minimal flooding, but the power grid took a beating from 60-70 mph winds in Montgomery County and 80 mph winds in Houston. It is interesting how we so rely on our electricity. Although the temperatures cooled down on Tuesday morning, the widespread power outages caused serious problems. It was not until Wednesday afternoon and evening when power was restored in many parts of The Woodlands where power systems are underground. Those served by aerial power lines are still waiting in many parts of Montgomery County for power.
Rotarians stepped into action working with various nonprofits to assist those in need. Rotarians have found it best to work with established organizations in our communities like the Salvation Army, Interfaith of The Woodlands, and the Montgomery County Food Bank to assist those in need. Since power was out in much of Montgomery County, hot meals were a scarce commodity.
Rotarians are assisting in food lines to serve hot foods. Many Rotarians are providing food to those that are food needy via Interfaith of The Woodlands and the Montgomery County Food Bank. With power out and generators scarce, a lot of refrigerated food has been thrown out.  Many of those that were not food needy became food needy since hundreds of dollars of refrigerated foods and frozen foods were removed from their refrigerators and freezers.
Individual Rotarians are also helping in cleaning up neighborhoods of tree debris and fallen trees. They work with others in their communities to help where needed. These Rotarians also check with the elderly to ensure their power is back on and their systems working properly.
Individual Rotarians are helping those who cannot speak English to assist them in getting their needs translated and assistance provided. There are also those who are stuck within their homes due to down power lines. Cell phone communications are improving as the power grid comes back on.  
Rotarians serve our communities and the world in a variety of ways. We serve our communities with compassion and work within our communities to make the world a better place. If you have compassion for your community, then perhaps Rotary is for you.  
The Rotary Club of Conroe meets at noon Tuesdays at Honor Cafe at 103 N. Thompson in downtown Conroe. 
For more information on Rotary, please contact Ron Saikowski at rsaikowski@comcast.net. 

There’s perhaps nothing more stressful than when house guests overstay their welcome, don’t you agree?  And it gets even worse when you discover dirty towels on the bathroom floor or unwashed dishes in the sink as they’re pulling out of your drive.  Sorta like Beryl.  He didn’t stay all that long but he sure left a huge, dirty mess.  Lots of folks are still cleaning up, and will be for a while.  You and all your neighbors likely lost power at some point and, as you read this, there are still areas here in our corner of Texas where the power is not yet fully restored.  So, considering everything that’s happened and is happening, we here in Bentwater fared pretty well through it all.  
And, not meaning to sound too much like a Pollyanna, I usually find that there’s a silver lining somewhere around every bad situation if you really look for it.  And, sure enough, there it was.  Folks standing in groups in the middle of the streets chatting, sharing experiences and comparing stories.  Neighbors helping to cut up fallen trees and cutting off broken limbs from others.  Sweeping up debris.  Sharing space in their refrigerators and freezers.  Offering the use of spare bedrooms.  Feeding others.  Running extension cords across lawns to provide a little relief for neighbors who didn’t have generators.  Anything and everything to help others.  Neighbors helping neighbors.  Though some suffered more expense or discomfort than others, the sense of community Beryl caused was downright uplifting for everyone.  Of course, we don’t need such outside forces to appreciate our neighbors so, when you get a call from one of Beryl’s cousins-in-law asking about maybe paying a visit sometime in the future, just don’t answer the phone.
Meanwhile, a special shout out to the grounds crews of both the POA and the country club for their efforts and dedication to keeping Bentwater beautiful.  While we have a right to expect that the debris left courtesy of Beryl be efficiently cleared from our streets and common areas, these crews went above and beyond despite the heat.  I hope you’re also paying attention to what’s going on throughout our community.  It’s like that proverbial butterfly emerging from her cocoon.  
You don’t even have to be a golfer to see how many of the treed areas have had the undergrowth cleared and the canopies raised.  Even dozens of those messy Bois d’ Arc trees have magically disappeared.  There’s an obvious and concerted effort to groom our community to appear larger, more open, more appealing and more desirable.  The next time you roll past a golf hole bordering Bentwater Drive, take a close look.  Take it all in and, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll find it impossible to ever take for granted where we’re blessed to live.  
Send Bentwater fun news and social tidbits to Bruce at Bruce@TheLakeConroeGroup.com

Pure Mutts Animal Sanctuary owner Priyanka Johri is typically the one helping others so she feels lost now that she needs help. 
Johri has run the nonprofit Pure Mutts since 2007 on 2 acres in an unincorporated area of South Montgomery County near College Park. 
Following the worst of Hurricane Beryl’s winds Monday, she stepped out of her home on the property and was shocked to find many fallen trees and toppled fences where she runs Pure Mutts. 
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‘Mother nature won the war’
“I was not expecting this much damage,” she said. “It’s 2 acres of disaster. Instead of paradise, it feels like 2 acres of war zone where mother nature won the war.”
She has started a GoFundMe page to help with the sanctuary’s recovery. By Thursday mid-day $3,400 of her $25,000 goal had been raised. 
Johri has 32 dogs on the property but has housed anywhere from 24 to 45 dogs. None of the dogs were injured in the storm, but they are currently contained to her house or in a fenced-in area on her property because of fallen fences. 
In her 20-plus years of fostering dogs, Johri developed a special passion for giving older dogs, dogs with medical or special needs or terminally ill dogs a forever home. 
Nothing like Hurricane Ike
Hurricane Ike in September 2008 hit Galveston Island as a Category 2 storm and traveled northward through Montgomery County. 
At the time, the storm helped launch Pure Mutts because so many dogs needed her help.
“We had a few trees down (during Ike) but it was nothing like this,” she said. “I was expecting it to be like Ike.” 
There is a main house with a fenced-in yard, an area with several cabins that is fenced in and several storage buildings. The main home is for elderly and terminally ill dogs. The cabins are for younger dogs with shorter-term medical issues with the hope they can be adopted. 
When it was safe to emerge from her home Monday, she turned out of her front door and saw a pine tree crashed through the storage building. Then she walked around the other side of the home and saw the damage to the area for younger dogs. 
“It was heartbreaking and scary and overwhelming,” she said.
Some friends came to help with chainsaws and clear some of the debris Tuesday. 
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‘I just don’t know where to start’
“I’m grateful nothing fell  on the house and all the dogs are safe and no one was hurt, but I just don’t know where to start,” she said. 
Entergy had a crew on Bill Smith Road to do an assessment earlier this week. Because she’s near the end of the road they told her it could be weeks before her power was back. 
She also looked into having some of the fallen trees removed. 
“I am told that estimated costs can be any where from $50,000 to $70,000. I can’t wrap my head around that,” she said. “But I need to start somewhere. I want to get the trees removed and at least fences secured so dogs have room to roam like they are used to.”
Johri also runs an assisted living facility for elderly clients in the area. 
“She has given so much to her residents both dogs and seniors,” said Kim Kimberly whose son, Jayson, runs the Leave It For the Pooch nonprofit in Montgomery County.  

There is nothing like having deer around the house or in your neighborhood. This is a love/hate debate just about everywhere. The fact is, that deer love to graze our landscapes throughout the year. We sometime even have to dodge them with our vehicles. The fact is, there is not much we can do to avoid them, however, there are a few options that might help reduce or tolerate the “four-legged plant pruners.” 
Understanding deer is one of the first helpful steps.  Deer will eat most anything during the spring.  Why? It is because plants are tender and have the highest nutrition in their leaves.  As we move into the summer, heat and drought will drive them into your landscapes.  The plants are green and typically healthy. They typically rely on their sense of smell to decide which plants are safe and palatable. However, they sometimes will just sample plants for the heck of it.  Also, consider that during the fall, they start shedding their velvet from their horns and use trees and shrubs for assistance. It is at this point when physical damage to trees & shrubs occurs from the horns rubbing against the plants. 
The only way to keep deer out of the landscape is to install an 8’ or larger fence around the perimeter.  I am pretty sure most homeowner subdivisions do not allow this. Since such a fence is typically not feasible; instead, we turn to planting deer resistant plants.   However, a hungry deer will eat almost anything.  I bet that can be true for some of us too.  Selecting deer resistant plants is a realistic option that can reduce plant damage or loss. Just remember that “resistance” is a sliding scale.  Some plants will never get touched and yet some will.  So, any plants considered “deer resistant” can still be fair game.  It just depends on how hungry the deer are, or if they have not sampled the plant before or if it is something new.When you have young or newly planted trees, they should be protected by a wire cage or other material.  Just remember that deer will stand on their hind legs to get to leaves or branches if they really want it.  So, a protective cage will allow the tree(s) to grow until the leaves and smaller branches are beyond the deer’s reach.
There are deterrents that are sold to help minimize plant damage. There are motion sensor water sprinklers that when triggered will provide a nice passing bath or startle them.  However, it tends flush to another area of the yard.  There are also sprayable liquids that can be used. Typically, these products are scent related.  Other natural solutions include human hair or shredded bars of soap.  The problem with the hair and soap tactics is that deer within a subdivision already and continuously encounter our scents and eventually will not respond.  Eventually the scent barrier will be breached.  It may be wise to alternate products regularly to throw them off and buy some time.
I hope a few of these hints, tips, tricks and information help you understand deer better.  Sometimes we just have to live with what we have.  
This is a short and not complete list of some of the more successful deer resistant plants in our area: 
Shrubs
• Boxleaf Euonymus (Euonymus japonica ‘Microphylla’)• Cenizo or Texas Sage (Leucophyllum spp.)• Elaeagnus or Silverberry (Elaeagnus pungens)• Esperanza (Tecoma stans)• Firebush (Hamelia patens)• Viburnum (Viburnum spp.)• Yaupon Holly (regular and dwarf) (Ilex vomitoria)• Pineapple Guava (Feijoa sellowiana)• Firebush (Hamelia patens)
Ground Covers 
• Prostrate Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis Prostratus)• Thyme (Thymus spp)• Wedelia (Wedelia trilobata)• Frog Fruit (Phyla incisa) • Pigeonberry (Rivina humilis 
Perennials• Ageratum (Eupatorium coelestinum)
• Amaryllis (Hippeastrum x Johnsonii)• Mexican Bush Sage (Salvia leucantha)• Hummingbird Bush (Anisacanthus wrightii)• Indigo Spires Salvia (Salvia ‘Indigo Spires’)• Silver King Artemisia (Artemisia ludoviciana)• Autumn Sage (Salvia greggii )• Bearded Iris (Iris spp)• Blue Plumbago (Plumbago auriculata) • Hummingbird Bush (Anisacanthus wrightii)
HerbsGarlic Chives, Lavender, Thyme, Mexican Mint Marigold, Mexican Oregano, Rosemary. 
Ornamental Grasses• Inland sea oats (Chasmanthium latifolium)• Maiden Grass (Miscanthus sinensis)• Gulf Muhly (Muhlenbergia capillaris)• Lindheimer’s Muhly (Muhlenbergia lindheimeri)• Pampas Grass (Cortaderia selloana)• Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum)
For a more complete list of deer resistant plants for our area, visit this website:https://aggie-hort.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/deerbest.html
Don’t forget to send your garden questions to Plant Answers at 9020 Airport Rd., Conroe TX 77303 or e-mail me at mpotter@ag.tamu.edu.