A friend of mine planted about 100 Green Giants about three years ago. They were about 18-24" tall when he planted them. Green Giants are pretty deer resistant, but where my friend and I live there are just too many deer in a small area (island) for that to mean much. The first year he planted these 100 Green Giants, the deer destroyed about 25 of them. After he replaced them, I recommended that he start using Milorganite fertilizer around the trees to keep the deer away. (It's an unadvertized fact that Milorganite acts as a deer repellent.) He started dumping Milorganite around the base of the trees on the perimeter of his property and the following year those were nearly 2ft. taller than the other trees (same growing conditions). Needless to say he started using it around all the Green Giants and this year some of the ones that he started using it on first are taller than me (6ft.). I started using Milorganite on my lawn a few years ago to keep the deer away that were eating my plants and it did wonders for my lawn. I started dumping it around all my perennials, mixing it in with the potting soil for my annuals, and tilling it into my vegetable garden. Everything improved! The stuff is like the Frank's Red Hot commercial... I put that s*#& on everything! I'm not sure it's the "best" fertilizer for your Green Giants, but it's definitely good. In the past I was always afraid to fertilize because I'd overdone it too many times and killed/burned too many plants and lawn. Milorganite is organic, so you can't really use too muich... it will just sit there on/in the soil until the soil microorganisms can consume it. Good luck!

I heard not to plant a green giant in a place where it's slope (don't like too moist, though soil has been fixed, and plant high, etc... b/c reportedly quite drought tolerant once established... is that more BS... It was on a place where it was catching water, and temporarily moved into pot, needs to be very temp... Also heard they fair miserably in compacted clay, another myth??? Plant high, find flare (That was fun, it was buried so so deep, extend whole wide, DONT ammend)... OBviously, the clay around roots needs loosened, mulched so feeders can grow out (the root prunings been done, the crap nursery soil washed off)... but i want some bigger feeders before ground gets too cold........... Do they care about acidic (more) or alkaline? more?? some say they are resistant to phyphorta (will I ever spell that right)?? the westerns only... we'll see... they do get deep tap, correct?? Amy

Heck mine have been growing like crazy, up to 18" so far, planted them the end of september 06 barely watererd them last year ( yes I know that was wrong)wrapped the smaller ones in late december unwrapped them in april watererd well from then on and they just took off. I am pretty sure I am pushing the zonage up here in Ontario Canada. They get full sun and seem to enjoy lots of water in our silty sand & very little clay type of soil. the 3-4 ft ones have done better than the 6ft ones but that could be cause I didnt wrap the larger ones, next few winters will tell their survivability in the north. So far these seem to be tough little trees Martin

I think many conifers grow very slowly. Pine trees are the exception. They grow very fast. You may consider those, but they are wayyyyyy more than 20ft. Another fast growing conifer is the Witchita Blue Juniper. It will get 4-8 ft wide and 15-20 ft tall. If you plant them, make sure to plant 4 feet next to each other. It can be used as a screen or a windbreak and will need no pruning. It also has appealing color. Goodluck with what ever you choose.