What is your geographical location?

8 ft. tall = shrub and not tree

Active soil erosion not reliably stopped by planting alone; where significant enough direct soil stabilization methods like walls needed

Perhaps consult your local agricultural extension office.

my zone is 7a. Not necessarily for soil erosion but to help as I would rather plant some deer resistant shrubs, small trees then a wall.

I like arrowwood viburnum, calycanthus (sweetshrub), deciduous hollies, and Spicebush (Lindera). Never have seen deer damage on any of these.

zone is minimum winter temp.. it gives us no other info ... not summer heat.. elevation... etc..

give us big city name.. or its not worth answering ... are in in GA.. VA.. nevada.. califonia mountains.. pnw??? ...

trees NEVER stop growing.. especially at some magical height.. there is no such thing as an 8 foot tree .. as noted above ...

ergo.. you are down to shrubs... and the same can basically be said about them ... they dont stop .. but they dont have the life long Potential ...

ken

Sorry NYC biggest city 45min North in Westchester NY. I hope that helps. Would I be able to cut the trees to stay a certain height? If not what a good big shrub?

There are trees that can stay or be pruned to stay small - but 8 ft. is a difficult ask. 10-12ft is more likely.

I have a healthy Sargeant's crabapple that is about 10 ft. without pruning, likewise a Kousa Dogwood which may be staying smaller due to competition. Dwarf fruit trees (semi dwarf also take well to pruning) such as apple & plum.

Viburnums are a great choice, shrubs that can grow to ~8 ft and be pruned to more of a tree form. Variegated weigela also, and elderberry.

I can't comment on road salt resistance or deer resistance - although deer will attack the fruit trees - I've not noticed damage to the dogwood, crabapple, elderberry or weigela.

I'm wondering how much sun this area gets. Viburnum dentatum "Autumn Jazz" is a nice taller viburnum that is used a lot around here for applications like lining a narrow area next to your house. It's fine with partial shade. I have a few myself. Right now they are starting to turn a nice burgundy red color. I don't know about their salt or deer tolerance. If you have some sun, you could do a hedge of rugosa roses like "Hansa". They are salt tolerant.

The area has trees so its get more shade and filtered sun. Any other shrubs? Arborvites I know deer attack which makes it worse. I am liking the viburnum I will have to check my nerby nurserys this spring.

Call your cooperative extension agent and ask which larger shrubs the deer in your county are mostly avoiding. County specific advice is always going to be preferable and they just might suggest something we haven't thought of.

Anyway they are an often neglected resource that is free.

The Rutgers deer resistant plants list gives viburnum dentatum a grade of A (rarely browsed). It's the only viburnum that received an A.

What about lilacs?

As @cecily 7A already mentioned, the Rutgers list of "Landscape Plants Rated by Deer Resistance" is a great resource, but not totally exhaustive (nor a "guarantee"):

https://njaes.rutgers.edu/deer-resistant-plants/

Deer sample plants to find out if they are possible foods. So that there is some damage even when particular kinds are not on the existing menu*. With each new generation of fawns seeming likely to try a lot of things. Otherwise what is eaten varies with weather conditions, with heavy snowfalls producing pressures to find browse that are not there the rest of the time. Cottontail rabbits will also browse kinds like small conifers and deciduous shrubs during snow, clip conifer branches for nesting material. And during the rut bucks strip bark and branches from accessible young trees whether they are kinds that are browsed or not - the only sure guarantee against all of the preceding is effective fencing. Otherwise the effort, money and time put into plantings is then left subject to whatever the involved animals happen to do.

*One day I saw an adult doe who was standing and looking around with her head near where some bigleaf maple leaves were hanging down from above pick and eat them. As though her response to the situation was since the leaves were right there anyway she might as well have some. Even though most of the time this and other maples are never browsed here.

In my small suburb, we have a deer overpopulation problem that is worsening every year - we've gone from occasional sightings of 1-2 to herds of a dozen or more roaming the neighborhood - and that means that browse is insufficient, and they are now eating plants that we've not seen them ever eat before, like peonies and heuchera.

I think it is partly because someone took it upon himself to rid the area of our local coyotes, and there are at least 2 residents who feed bins of corn and apples in the winter.

Check out redvein enkianthus:

I will look into redvein. What about crepemyrtle trees? Does anyone here have them and thought on them.

Crapes need full sun. Also you're a little north for them - they would likely die to the ground every decade or so in especially hard winters so you'd get a twiggy bush form instead of a tree form.

What deer eat is impossible to predict. It's like asking what do people like to eat. I've had plants that were supposed to be deer resistant that have been regularly eaten and some that are deer food left alone. I've had plants in the back yard eaten and the same plant in the front yard not eaten. The only thing that works is a tall privacy fence, something obviously you won't have.

I'm starting to have deer in my front yard several times a week while all summer they never visited. I'm thinking of building a motion controlled wolf who's eyes will turn red and make a growling noise when it detects motion.

To add another suggestion maybe a dwarf japanese maple.

Deer resistance plant lists usually do not indicate which species of deer they are based on. This is something that matters, as historically there has been a difference in what plants each species of deer favors and what it has tended to ignore.

Also, 26 of the 38 subspecies of whitetail deer live in north America.

Go figure. :o)