Eastern Red Cedar certainly would have fit, with its berries and such, but as you mentioned it does host some sort of "rust" that is detrimental to apple trees.
I'm not real familiar with it but perhaps White Cedar would fit. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in.

Thanks for the replies.

Just as an illustration, here is a picture of ERC
http://www.christmastreelocations.com/images/redcedarnature.jpg

I'd describe it as being, well, "fluffier" than Thuja GG. I spent hours looking at different pictures of TGG and I just kept thinking "if only they got a little wider". Maybe someone could post an example of one that was planted farther away from other trees than 5-6 feet. Maybe they take on a more natural shape when grown with greater space around them? The uniformity of their shape just does not appeal to me :-(

In regard to rust fungi being introduced to my yard, I'm still unclear how detrimental this could be. Would it just attack the fruit or the whole apple tree? Since the bugs do a good job of eating up half the fruit before I can get to it I barely harvest it anyway. The deer come in and much some of the fruit but they seem to prefer my pear and plum tree more than the apples. If noone is using the apples and the rust fyungi won't kill the tree, maybe it could be tolerated?

White Cedar looks like it may be a alternative though it grows slower than both ERC and TGG.

Looking for more opinions...

...Upon further reading it appears I'll have to avoid the White Cedar since deer appear to treat the saplings like candy!

If you want something informal and untamed, plant a variety of trees.

The one central leader on a Green Giant is actually more natural than the multiple leader plants you see. Many actually considered the Green Giant to be rather coarse, not formal. Green Giant and T. plicata are advertised as more "Deer resistant" than Eastern Arborvitae (true so called White Cedar), but i don't know what really happens.
And as far as natural, the Green Giant is a unnatural hybrid, if you care.

You can find something "wrong" with every tree. But it is boring to have no trees.

Granola Girl.....with very descriptive "terms:"

Your best bet would be needles that are extremely sharp if you want to avoid deer! ALL SOFT-foliaged plants are vulnerable, there is no avoiding this. You can try, and that's the best work I can use to describe vulnerability to place two metal sawed off and hollow electrical conduit poles, e.g. at East or West, or North or South sides. It drives em wild.

Standing water for a day, excellent! Even a week! You should be able to grow most anything, sharp! :0)

And I still wish you, luck, avoiding deer.

You may 'try' these:
Picea abies
Picea omorika
Pinus virginiana
Abies firma

Good luck!

Canadian Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) or Eastern White Pine (Pinus strobus) - Natural looking, informal. You may need to improve drainage. You probably will want to no matter what you plant.

Red Cedar is a slow grower. I would not consider it an alternative. Can be a pretty tree but there are thousands of them here. They don't excite me much. :)

I would second Picea abies and Abies firma (check the hardiness on firma). Also I don't think there is anything wrong with Thuja GG. Look into Picea orientalis, Abies numidica, and Abies nordmanniana.

If deciduous is OK look into Taxodium ascendens, Taxodium distichum and Metasequoia glyptostroboides.

No need to spike the deer :-)
I'm trying to reach a compromise with the critters in my yard. So far just spraying with deer repellant has allowed me to bring a black bamboo grove, three weeping willows and a young pin oak into the third year mark. We won't speak of the 6 other trees I lost before I found the wonderful spray that stinks to high heaven.

I've got an over-load of deciduous already which is why I'm on the evergreen hunt to balance things out. These will be the final trees I add to the yard to act like a backdrop to the deciduous trees.

Thank you all for the suggestions, 'preciate you taking the time. I'm printing this thread out so I can take my time researching a bit later. With a quick glance I love the Canadian Hemlock and the Picea Abies. I may throw a Norway Spruce or two in there as well. I'll settle for a little slower growth to get the look I want.

If your main complaint regarding green giant is its narrow growth habit, then why not plant some Western red-cedars? They grow quite large, twice as wide as GG and are still pretty fast growing. They will be broadly conical in shape, but by no means appear manicured. They should be able to take your poorly drained location too. The only possible drawback for a residential location is their eventual height - 70 feet or better here in the Eastern US. Just a thought.

Since cedar rust and apple trees were mentioned in one of the posts I like to mention that one mature crabapple tree died from cedar apple tree rust in my yard. I was told junipers harbor that rust. So I looked for a rust resistive crabapple tree cultivar, paid $250 including transport for it and had a beautiful 'Prairie Fire' tree last year in my front yard. This year inspite of spraying with a fungicide, the leaves show the characteristic orange puffs of rust, what a pain. One shadblow seems also to have died from it. Cornus Kousa is not effected by it.

That seems to indicate that apple trees might die, a lot of work spraying every 2 weeks, then removing tree and finding a replacement.
Bernd

You know, I did not realize that "any" juniper could harbor the rust fungus. This may explain why some of my fruit trees have died off. There are juniper shrubs lining the border of my neighbor's property. When I first bought the property 4 years ago I had 3 peach trees and several apple trees including a stunted apple that looked blistered and burnt. All of the peach trees have died and I had to finally cut the apple down because only half of it awoke from the winter sleep. The fruit trees have really proven to be a pain with all the mess they create and for how susceptible they are to illness, but I am reluctant to remove them because the critters love them so much.

Treeguy - I am so sorry about your loss. With the trouble I am having already I've just decided to not even look into the red cedar, which saddens me because they are majestic.

bernyz5 - western red cedar are some serious trees! Thank you for the suggestion. 1-3 feet of growth a year is not bad. I love the height that these trees reach and the thick base makes me feel more secure that the tree won't be uprooted in a strong wind.

I've decided to purchase 4 Western Red Cedar and 4 Norway Spruce next spring. I hope to get 3-5 foot saplings. Two of the sites I'm considering purchasing from are below:

http://www.norwayspruce.com/index.html#dp

http://www.nurserytrees.com/Western_Red_Cedar_Page.htm

Do these prices look pretty good? If any of you have suggestions for trustworthy online conifer dealers, please share. And I thank you again for your help.

Treeguy, bernyz5

Just an apology, I mixed the two of you up with the information you provided, I hope you know what I meant, just switch the names :-)