Gardening and Horticulture - Deer resistant evergreen hedge - what are my options?

Hello,

I live in NY (near the PA border) and am either zone 5 or 6 depending on which site I go to to check.

We want to plant a privacy hedge to block out our neighbors backyard. It will be about 25' feet long, and we need it to be at least 10-12' tall to provide privacy to our bedroom window. There are LOTS of deer around here (they walk down the middle of the road in the winter like they are out for a evening stroll), so we need something that they won't eat or destroy. There's also wild rabbits around too, though I don't know how much damage they could do.

We'd like some sort of evergreen so there's privacy year round. We had arborvitae's at our old house in another city where deer weren't an issue. We'd like something like that, but we know arbs won't survive the deer. We also don't want full fledged trees that'll grow 40' tall.

Anyone got some suggestions? Thanks for the help.

Mark

Mark, to be deer proof, it will need to be green plastic.....JK. Cedar comes to mind, and you can buy the low growing type that will help form a privacy abutment, as opposed to large trees. Just a thought to get you going.

Larry

Larry,

What kind of cedar?

Cedrus atl. Hortsmann grows about 8-10' with a full body. Not sure of it's hardiness zone, but quite often the evergreens do well as long as there is water. Here's sort of a synopsis of cedars and what they look like mature: cedrus - Google Images (http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rls=RNWE,RNWE:2004-34,RNWE:en&q=cedrus&sa=N&start=0&ndsp=20)

A neighbor in a neighboring townhouse (about a block away) found one solution - I heard two fairly quick shots at 5:45AM. It had to be him since the city usually notifies if a hired professional hunter will using a gun, but there are exceptions. Usually, they also use bows and the meat goes to charities, since laws prohibit the sale of it.

People and lush vegetation attract deer and we have many more deer in the state now than ever in history.

If the problem is big enough, your city/municipality may take care of it and thin out the population.

For specific types, contact you county or a local specialist, and then look into the stinky repellents.

Dick

one of my friends from church found a deer repellent that works great. I will check the brand and get back to you.

Murphy was an optimist

What about Eastern Red Cedars? I've read a little about a variety called Taylor that's supposedly narrow and fast growing.

Anyone have experience with Eastern Red Cedar in general?

Or the Taylor variety in particular? Thanks.

Mark

I want to make it clear that this is not an advertisement but an attempt to help you. Go to the Spring Hill Nurseries and get their catalog. In their catalog, they identify shrubs, plants, and trees, and bushes that deer do not eat. They are located in Tipp City Ohio. They probably have a web site. Good Luck

Toll Juniper, Christmas trees (toller), Boxwood (small-they are slower), PJM-rhodedendron (medium-flowers in spring), Lilac (medium-flowers in spring). I have forcythias (deer loves it), rose of sharon (deer nibbles it), Snow-ball (deer nibbles it).