Opinions on Successfully planting a hedge.

[miller755]

Hello, I have a house that it pretty close to a county road, and I am hoping to be able to plant a hedge of Arborvitae, or possibly something that can be trimmed into a formal rectangular hedge. I would be trying to plant it on my side of the white fence in the pictures. My main question is regarding shade tolerance. This hedge would be planted on the north side of my property, the road in the pictures is an east-west rd. I can post an aerial photo if it helps. The photos are all taken facing northish, the further away photos with the house for scale are to show the scale of the trees situated south of the planting location. Looking for opinions here, thanks.
Justin

 

[kenmbz]

What state or approximate location? Growth zone?
Do you have deer of other animals that would find arborvitae tasty?

 

[miller755]

Just about 15 minutes south of the tip of Lake Michigan, northwestern indiana plenty of deer and other animals, I don't see a lot of damage to other people arborvitae, due to deer, but I suppose I haven't looked that closely. The deer or rabbits did eat my tulips before they could bloom. Was more concerned about shading issues, but deer could be another thing to consider

 

[kenmbz]

Most Cedars and Junipers would work.
We had arborvitae at our last house, deer ate the bottoms up to about 5 feet.
How tall do you need these to be, I guess sound + privacy?

Good place to start:
https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2020/05/which-evergreen-shrubs-privacy-are-deer-resistant

 

[miller755]

There is a property that I drive by that has smaller arborvitae 50+ of them lining their driveway which are only green above 5-6 ft, maybe that is from deer? I was thinking some disease or something. Others near me dont seem to have problems. So you don't think the shading will be an issue then?

 

[miller755]

Yes sound and privacy, 10 ft tall would be fine, I dont need the huge 30ft tall ones. My other idea for sound is too take out the white vinyl fence and put up a 4 ft brick wall, at least in front of the house, wish the house was about 50 feet further back, but im sure when the house was built it was a dirt road and they were using horses and buggy's.

 

[cookies]

put up a wall, hedges take years to grow