Deer Resistant Plant Spotlight #3

Fall is a time when many people choose to plant arborvitae (Thuja) along their property line as a natural barrier. This is one of the most effective plants to use for a privacy screen. However, due to being one of the white-tailed deer’s favorite winter foods, they lose nearly all their value if deer are in the neighborhood. Unfortunately for New Jersey residents, this is the new normal resulting in excessive arborvitae damage all around the state. It is so common in the state of New Jersey that when shown the picture below, many residents have told me “I thought they just grew like that” or better yet “I thought people intentionally trimmed them that way”.

With so much deer damage, these arbs aren’t providing much privacy at all. This is a deer RESISTANT spotlight though, why am I talking about arborvitae? Well, this post is actually about alternatives!

If you’re looking for a natural screen with similar growth habits as arborvitae, look to the juniper (Juniperus) family. Moonglow Juniper (Juniperus scopulorum 'Moonglow') is one variety known for being VERY deer resistant and has similar growth habits to emerald green arborvitae- they just have a little more size. It also adds a nice tinge of blue to your landscape, see the picture below (Photo credit: www.thetreecenter.com).

Just this past Halloween I drove down a rural road in Freehold, NJ. The combination of rural and suburban areas make this town ideal habitat for deer. The residents along this road with arborvitaes all had excessive deer damage to a point where the plants were no longer pushing out new foliage at the deer “browse line” (about 5 feet and down). There was, however, one property I noticed that was surrounded by over a dozen junipers, all UNTOUCHED by deer.

There are a ton of varieties ranging from ground juniper like the Prince of Wales (Juniperus horizontalis 'Prince of Wales') to large trees like the Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). Yes, our native eastern red cedar is not a true cedar, it is actually a juniper! Spartan (Juniperus chinensis "Spartan”) and blue arrow (Juniperus scopulorum 'Blue Arrow') are two other common varieties used in place of arborvitaes. Overall, junipers are a diverse family of evergreens that can be used in a diverse set of ways to accent a property through all seasons. If you are looking for privacy but have a high local deer population, consider juniper shrubs over arborvitae. As with any plant, deer-resistant does not mean deer-proof. That being said, planting resistant will give you a better chance in preventing deer damage on your landscape.

Editor’s Note: R.J. Curcio is the staff ecologist at New Jersey Deer Control®, LLC. For more information about our service, check out WWW.NJDEERCONTROL.COM.