The common ground woods along a large part of my backyard are infested with bush honeysuckle, which I don't like and have been getting rid of as much of it as I can without upsetting my neighbors since it provides most of the privacy. I may talk to them to see if they would be willing to try and tackle the honeysuckle with me and replace it with native bushes and plants that wouldn't allow the honeysuckle to come back (hopefully). That being said, and area that was recently cleared out was taken over by pokeweed, and while it's pretty, it's poisonous. I have very young children and while I trying to plant a somewhat edible landscape (raspberries, gooseberries, etc) I don't want my 3 year old to get bold and think pokeweed berries are edible. If it's not honeysuckle in the woods, it's silver maples. So, I believe that the existing trees and shrubs that would "take" over are honeysuckle and silver maples and I don't really like that. I really should post a picture, which I know would help IMMENSELY. Do you (or anyone who sees this) think that the white pines/green giants will look too refined next to the woods? Maybe plant a columnar deciduous tree to two to help "blend" it is a little bit?

Got it. So, if the exotic invasive honeysuckles are present, then yes, they will happily move in to fill any newly-created space. Again, I'm right there with you, having dealt with numerous similar situations. You're on the right track in knowing that nature abhors a vacuum. as soon as one element is removed, something is going to move in and fill that spot.

So, are you at all familiar with the cut-stump, or as I prefer to call it, cut/treat method of removing and eradicating non-native invasive woody species? We've talked at length about it here and elsewhere, so some kind of search should turn something up. That's the technique you're going to need to use if you are to have any hope of beating this honeysuckle back. It is doable.

I get what you're asking, that of the possibility of the conifers appearing too stiff. I happen to like conifers a great deal, under the right conditions, and my favorite woods have both broadleaf and coniferous species. One thing that can help to soften the effect is to plant in groves, the way nature usually does. So, in nature, some disturbance-fire, windstorm, etc. -would have cleared an area. Often, conifers are among those species able to colonize such sites. As such, they are often quite closely-space initially, with the stragglers dying out over time. What is left is a rather dense grove, especially true of the genus Thuja, which is what the Green giants are. I'd rather see a grouping of them than one blob here, one blob there. I'm sure you don't have any native groves of Thuja occidentalis down your way, but up here, it is a common feature of primarily low, wet woods. And everybody-and I do mean everybody-loves the effect of these groves. From any distance at all, it looks like big, oversized moss to me. In any case, that is the type of effect I'd go for with the GG's.

+oM

Better to grow Spruce trees rather that Deer Food like Thuja... When the deer finish the winter your thuja is dead sticks to about 5 feet high...

It all depends^. We've had pretty good luck with some very simple and inexpensive herbivory enclosures, consisting of nothing more than polygons of steel T-posts, set so as to surround the grove of trees, then using nothing more than orange baler twine, we set tiers of twine around all of the posts, such that any deer that would attempt to get in there and do some munching would be bothered by those strings. They don't seem to like it! And that's victory-so long as the plants don't get munched, what do you care if somebody says "well, deer could jump over that fence". As it happens, so far, they never do.

+oM

Yes I hear you. We used electric fence to keep the deer at bay and for many winters it worked great. Then we had the brutal cold that never stopped and the snow that never melted. Winter came early and stayed late. The deer were getting DESPERATE and the electric current didn't ground through the snow and they had a Field Day with the shrubbery.

I hear you, Maplebirch. I fully expect that at some point, due to some set of circumstances, we may indeed see something like that happen here. My main objective is to keep the trees protected until such a time as their growing tips are out of reach of the deer. So, I can tolerate some browsing of lower branches. But we can't have the terminal leader continually clipped back. BTW, the main plant we seek to protect in the example above is native Thuja occidentalis, indeed, a favored deer food in the winter. We shall see. Also in these "pods" are tamarack-Larix laricina-but so far, deer don't appear to much care for their flavor.

+oM

White pine won't look too refined...perfectly good woodland tree. I don't like the green giants...I think they tend to look too "refined" and go with a more formal/artificial look.

I'm used to gardening with more constraints...trees that tolerate salt, trees immune to Japanese beetle, etc. You could plant almost ANYTHING.

What do you want out of a tree? Do you want edible gardening? American Persimmon is pretty fast growing and makes edible fruit. Black walnut isn't fast but provides nuts humans and wildlife can eat. Also kills silver maple by releasing a natural herbicide into the soil. There is paw paw. These are all native "edible" trees that are also good for wildlife and might colonize the woodland.

Do you want an evergreen hedge? American Holly, spruce, fir and hemloock provide evergreen privacy and a "wooded" look. American holly has poisonous berries, though.

Are deer a problem? Do you have enough space for white pine and green giant?