Greetings fellow Philly metro area friend! Watch out for that empress tree and rose of sharon. They have a bit of an invasive habit. Same with that wisteria - my twenty year old vine is about to pull over my fence.
You should consider playing with some of the Smilax species to thwart the deer. I've been wanting to this on land I steward. I'm imagining thin strands of wire across heavily trafficked deer paths that lead into higher value restoration sites. Smilax is naturally an understory species, so it would be trained up this little barriers. Some permie nuts swear smilax shows the most potential as a new edible crop.
