Anticipating bare legs on the arbs, I’d plant deer-proof shrubs that will reach 5 feet. If they are all the same the wffect will be a deep groundcover.

@kitasei2 its a good thought thank you, i could imagine a juniper bush as it doesnt require yearly pruning. its tough as my neighbors property is close to the edge of this bed and id just be hesitant to entrench myself with shrubs there as well at this moment. ill have to look up some pictures or maybe someone else doing it. thank you

Deer generally wont touch these as they are part red cedar. Even in desperation, deer tend to avoid them unlike other arborvitae. Generally, netting is not nevessary. For this reason, GGs are a favorite is areas where deer are a problem.

They are eaten all the time in my area, extremely high deer population and many of the standard rules are out the window. I wont mind or be able to stop them once the trees get big enough but for now easier just to net them. I lost one to antler rubbing two falls ago no sense in taking down now to put up again for fall and winter when deer are starving.

How about Russian sage, lavender or catmint, deer don’t like the smell too.

Hi William.

That’s interesting. Here in North Central NJ, I’ve seen them go after junipers before GGs.

Have you tried a deer repellant spray? Bobbex has always worked well for individual plants.

@sheila83 i actually just picked up some walkers low catmints and plant to divide each to get 2 per pot. in the future could i dig them up and split them again?

Hi Jordan, didnt realize you were NJ too. Im in Hunterdon for reference. i just dont care to continuously reapply repellant. i figure in a couple more years they will be respectable enough im size that the deer can do as they will. ive seen limbed up ones before and they look fine enough. actually considering liriope in that area along with catmint. i know people are hesistant about liriope but a nice man at a nursery in bucks county PA kind of put me at ease about certain plants people think are the devil. liriope muscari in particular seems to not spead much at all for me though thats in a rock bed

Yes the catmint can be divided. I dig out half of the plant to divide as digging the whole thing is way too much work. I also love Russian sage. They need cutting back yearly so there will be nothing there in the winter.

I was just at a nursery and saw some much cheaper catmint 1 gallons and some sages, it didnt specify russian so ill have to look up the varieties i saw and see if any are russian

If you specifically require Russian sage you need to check the botanical name. It's either Perovskia or Salvia yangii. The latter is a recent renaming, so garden centres are likely still to be using Perovskia.

ok thank you, i know nothing about them and so have no preference just sounds like two people specified russian so i took it as a sign that its the way to go

Russian sage is quite different looking from other members of the sage family (Salvia) so it isn't really like just another sage. I suggest you look at some pictures to see if you even like it.

That said I don't think lavender, Russian sage or catmint are optimal suggestions for the long term. Your trees will grow and shade the ground around them and all three plants prefer full sun.

@floraluk2 its a good point, i guess i figured the catmint would grow around the trees and if the trees eventually shaded them then thats fine as they are kind of placeholders for weed supression. but yes i still have a feeling i should just go with mostly liriope, unsure if muscari or spicata. likely spicata as theyll spread well by themselves so i wouldnt have to plant a million.

In case anyone reads this, looking through some of these online plug selling sites got me wondering if prairie dropseed would work massed here. I’ve had a hard time finding forum posts about this topic but I’ve seen some pictures of them mass planted and it looks nice. Sometimes that can be misleading though.